Black-bellied Dipper - PtII ~ Thetford, Norfolk - 10.02.13

Follow the light ......

With most parts bathed in rain, the east coast was the place to stay dry that is as long you don't fall in the river !! .... so close to going all in but one arm wet is better than a complete soaking ...

Took awhile to locate the bird, I found it down at the next bridge and after about an hour or so it returned back to it's favoured spot.

We then set about coaxing this superb bird with the outcome hopefully of some different images ..

F8 ~ 1/20 ... F4 ~ 1/50

Image were taken with these settings, given the lack of light it was the best available ..

The images weren't great straight off as Raw files and needed extra work, but have polished up ok. 

Black-Bellied Dipper

Love to have some light on this stunner so will probably go again if nothing else turns up !!

If you haven't been yet are you crazy !!

 

Yellow-Legged Gull - 1st. W ~ Jolly Farmers, Crayford, Kent - 06.02.13

This 1 st. winter bird is still staying around the area, seen earlier on the Flood along Bob Dunn Way then this afternoon on waste ground near the Jolly Farmers Pub

Yellow-Legged Gull ~ 1st. W

Slavonian Grebe - Pt.II ~ Littlebrook Lake, Kent - 03.02.13

This should really be Pt.IV

First was in the snow - delete !!

Second can be seen Here ...

Third couldn't see an image

And this time being the fourth visit Jono, met Me, Richard & Kev and also joined by Steve Hiscock.

The wind was creating small ripples on the waters surface that was catching the light which didn't make for a nice image and I thought that maybe again the shutter wouldn't get pressed ...

Two area's looked the best bet.

Both had carm water one sheltered by the reeds, no sooner had I waded in ..

  

The bird approached within feet ..

The other area was sheltered by trees and gave some nice dark backgrounds.

This is my favourite from the morning, nice pose, great ripple on the water and good diffused background colour.

Slavonian Grebe ~ Littlebrook Lake, Dartford, Kent - 21.01.13

With news that the Grebe was on the smallest lake, near Littlebrook Power Station we tried to locate it on our way home Saturday, but was looking at the wrong lake.

So Sunday morning the right lake and the bird was still there !!

Both Me & Richard had a great day with the bird and the constant snow falling, a few others also came for a look.

Not happy with any of the images, the lot went straight in the bin !!

Snow V Auto-focus

Snow won ...

Now i've got a problem, the weather is meant to get colder. The lake will freeze and the bird will move on ..

So it was either work or Grebe !!

I had a plan get all my gear on and take the camera, if the bird's there stay and get trigger happy !!

If not go to work ...

One end of the lake was frozen over but the best end, where it was possible to get down to water level was free from ice. 

For the next 3 hrs, I had the privilege of having this superb bird all to myself and what a little stunner it was !!

Manual Exp

 speeds of 1/500 - 1/1000

iso 400 ~ F4 - F5.6

Some with fill-flash 580exII with Better-Beamer

on High Speed Sync at - 2 1/3

Back Button Focus - wink wink Jono ..

Slavonian Grebe

It tried to get to the trees twice, where it had rested the day before but the ice formed a barrier which it couldn't work out how to cross and both times charged back down the lake !!

It then went in to this alert type posture 

Upright and  head shape changed

Amazing encounter with a rare Grebe.

Which moved lakes the next day.

A few more on my Website !!

Black-bellied Dipper ~ Thetford, Norfolk - 12.01.13

With the weather forecast ruling out taking an image in the South of England, a quick search revealed the East to fair much better.

So we targeted the Dipper in Thetford, Norfolk parked in the car park by the Three Nunn's Bridge walked across to the other side ... Easy as that ..

There it was, such a confiding bird ..

Didn't take long to work out where I wanted the bird, it took longer to wait for it to move away so I could do some tiding up, removed some offending twigs and waited for the bird to do as it was told !!!

Just didn't quite happen quick enough, 3 hrs to wait, whilst everyone else went trigger crazy in the shadows !!

But it eventually came ...

Black-bellied Dipper

 

The lack of light as is the norm at the moment meant iso 800 ~ F5 ~ 1/200

More dof  would of been nice, should of tried it !!

Two nits ....

The background was perfect without highlights on the water earlier in the morning !!

And i wished i'd removed that straw stem whilst tiding things up !!