First Attempt

This is my first attempt with the Sigma 50-500 lens, it just about got light enough for a few practice shots but not bright enough to bring out any detail.



All I need now is some sunshine.

Paul.

Carlton Marsh Nature Reserve

I'm off work today, waiting in for the gas man, I was hoping to get some shots of the birds in the garden but the light is too poor for the big zoom lens.

So while I wait for the sun to come out, I thought I'd reminisce about birding days gone by at my old local patch.

When I first started, I came across the most delightful nature reserve I've ever had the pleasure to visit. Carlton Marsh is near Cudworth in Barnsley and is small enough to cover in an hour and big enough to attract an amazing variety of birds.

There's decent sized pond, reed beds and woodland. The footpath leads away from the hide next to the pond and up onto an old railway embankment. On the embankment there is a wooden seat where I used to spend hours in summer just sitting and watching the ducks on the pond with Swallows skimming my ear as if they wanted to play. There was rarely anyone about, I often had the place to myself with just the sound of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs to keep me company.

The footpath carries on along the embankment with small trees on the pond side and with the tops being almost at eye level, it was really easy to get a good view of the birds fluttering down the line.

At the top end of the reserve are the reed beds, I never saw much there but I know there was plenty of life hiding away.

I used to call in every morning before work in summer and spend an hour ambling around watching Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinch and Bulfinch to name but a few. I'd open up the hide which was always kept locked and read the sightings book to see what was about before adding my own list for the morning. At weekends I'd more or less live there, often staying from dawn until lunch time and then returning after lunch until dusk.

I never saw that many ducks there, there were always Mallard about and in winter a few Teal, but that made it more special because other species did occasionally appear and I wouldn't have got the same wonderful feeling from seeing something out of the ordinary.

I got to know all the regulars there, which is how I came to have a key for the main gates and the hide, I saw some magical things with those folks, a Barn Own being chased along the tree line by Crows, an Osprey flying overhead and a Grass Snake swimming across the pond. I would have missed all these things had I not had someone there to point them out. I even got to watch the guys checking the nets and doing the ringing.

I hope to go back there soon and see what's changed during the years I've been away.

Carlton Marsh Nature Reserve - A truly special place.


Paul.

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch - January 2008

I didn't get chance to have another go at this today, but we did go out for walk round the local woods and saw all the birds that were missing from our garden.

The results of my one hour brid watching stint yesterday morning are:

Blue Tit - 1
Goldfinch - 15
Starling - 19

There were plenty of birds about, just all the same three species! It was a little bit disappointing because Robin, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Blackbird, Magpie and Dunnock are all regular visitors and were probably all in a tree down the road having a laugh at my expense.

I managed to get a few shots yesterday but with the poor light and my rusty reflexes, I couldn't get the blue tit in focus before it disappeared.









I've had a quick try out with my new Sigma 50-500mm lens today, the light was fading so I was struggling a little, however, the zoom is amazing! Expect to see some extreme close ups of the local bird population very soon.

Paul.

My Wife Is An Angel

All I can say is I have a very, VERY understanding Wife. I've just purchased a Sigma 50-500mm lens for my Nikon D50. I am more determined than ever to make my bird photographer dream come true.

This mornings effort for the RSPB Garden Watch was not brilliant, I think the regulars were tipped off!

If I I get chance to do it all again tomorrow I will!

Paul.

Mobile Internet Experience

Many of my posts both to this blog, and to Snowbabies are done through the mobile internet. My current phone is a Nokia 6120 Classic and mobile blogging from this little fella isn't as bad as I thought it might be. I have to be realistic though, while a t9 keypad might be great for short posts and twittering, for longer entries with links and stuff, it's sensible to fire up the wifi and boot up the laptop.

Posting pictures isn't nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be either, it did take a while to find out how to do it though. I use a mobile application called Shozu, this sits on your phone and allows you upload pictures or videos to an array of sites such as Blogger, Flickr and Youtube. While I can upload directly from Shozu to blogger, I find it easier to upload to Flickr and then post from Flickr to Blogger, doing it this way formats posts better and allows me to enter a title and text for the post as well.

The most important tool for getting around the mobile web is without a doubt Opera Mini 4. Without this fantastic little browser I probably wouldn't have any hair left! I still use the built in browser from time to time, some things just seem to work better that way, such as radar images from the Met Office. The main reason for using Opera most of the time is that it's back and forward buttons take you there in an instant by showing the cached page, while the built in browser re-loads everything all the time.

So that's how I'm getting around the mobile interweb, now back to our feathered friends and preparation for the Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend.

Paul.

The Birding Equipment

I used to have a pair of Opticron bins but they seem to have gone awol when we moved house. So I'll be using a pair of Olympus 10 x 40 I had before and a Delta 70 scope with a 20-50x eye piece.

As well as the birding kit, I'll be using a Nikon D50 slr with a Sigma 70-300mm lens. I think I might struggle with just 300mm but £500+ for a 500mm lens is a bit pricey, I might try a 2x converter but I've heard they're not very good. I do want to get into bird photography more than anything, I'll just have to see how I get on.

Paul.

Bitten By The Birding Bug Again

It's been a while since I've been out bird watching but last weekend on my 38th birthday, my lovely wife Debbie bought me Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book which was re-published last year.

I read it in a day and I've well and truly got the birding bug back! In fact is was Bill Oddie that got me started in the first place all those years ago with his Guide To Birdwatching. I'll kick start things this weekend with the RSPB's Big Garden Watch and hope that I see a variety of birds as well as the local Goldfinch gang that are never too far away.

Paul.