And then I looked out of the window .......

 I hadn't been down the track for weeks, but 3 discrete piles of feathers alongside a stretch of hedge told their own story.

This is a classic sparrowhawk ambush location - fly low and hard along the arrow-straight hedgeline and grab the birds that get spooked into flying the wrong way.  

The track is little used so time to pluck and feast without disturbance. Despite the time I've spent here subsequently though I only ever saw one brief glimpse of a hawk in flight.

In the summer we could hear the begging calls of young raptors from a treeline, and I'm sure these were sparrowhawks too, but again I only ever once saw an adult powering over the fields.  Second year we have heard them.  Access to the trees might be possible, at least to look for evidence of a nest, so I'll add chatting to the landowners to the list for this winter, but the chance of getting good shots of the birds is probably very low.

However one day I was washing the dishes (honest) and saw this beauty sitting in the birch tree outside the window.  I know from past experience trying to shoot through glass is pretty useless, and opening a window this close would be likely to spook the bird.  Nipped upstairs and grabbed a camera and lens, sneaked out the back door and slowly poked the lens round the corner of the house.  The bird looked over at me then went back to staring into the tree canopy for it's next meal, completely unfazed. 

I tried edging round the corner a bit more and it remained quite relaxed.  In the end I was standing in front of the kitchen window and it just didn't care.  

When is a lake not a lake?

In winter I live a 10 minute walk away from a lake.

In summer I live a 10 minute walk away from a field.

And twice a year as one shifts into the other I live a 10 minute walk away from a marsh.

The marsh time is my favourite, and the horses, which always have the choice of dry land, often favour the marsh as well.

I've taken some snaps of the wildlife of the lake/field/marsh over the years, perhaps most surprisingly the kingfishers which appeared for a week or two in two of those years, but it was only recently I thought about making more of a project out of it, now I have more time.  So here is instalment 1, spring marsh.

As you look out over the grass small (mostly) mounds stand out.  At first they are bare, a result of my appearance, but wait a minute and the occupants sneak back.

It's nice to see coots at peace for a change, but as always they can manufacture a squabble anywhere.

Interestingly when a horse walks up - much nearer than I ever am - the birds remain glued to their nests.

Other occupants of the marsh also ignore the horses.

The egrets are a bit skittish, but come in if you are still and quiet, breeding colours evident on some.

The grey herons are more nervous and tend to hold back,

and the little grebes are …… well they're like all little grebes, shy and inquisitive at the same time, popping up unpredictably and revelling in my inability to get a decent snap.

The swans built a massive mound, which like most of the nests is now vacant.

The odd coot egg seems to have been predated, probably (whisper it) by a corvid of some kind,

but I hope at least some youngsters have made it through and headed for the nearby reen which rarely dries up.  The lapwings are still chasing the crows, so I hope that's a positive sign for them

and the shelduck are paired up, but not apparently yet hidden down rabbit holes.

The rabbits watched them, but the fox was a few fields away, so they were ok for now.

A lone greylag stood on a coot mound yesterday for minutes, looking around then called a few times before wandering off, still alone.

To see larger versions just click on a picture.

The battle for the last sprout

It's been a pretty poor winter so far, but last year the snow came late so there's still time.  When we do get snow a few apples on the lawn soon brings in the winter thrushes.  Although space constraints mean it's hard to get a clean background with the 100-400 I decided to take a few snaps, in the hope of a bit of thrush grumpiness.
As usual the first few birds are a little wary resulting in the ground level equivalent of bird on a stick shots,

but in time they relaxed a bit and some of the action I was after took place.

  To the victor - still with a bit of attitude - the spoils

If we do get snow this year I'm going to try scattering some apples in our community field where the extra space means it should be possible to get a bit more background blur.

Goldilocks photography

So why would anyone take 3 (or more) photographs of their alarm clock 15 minutes before midnight?
One too dark, one too bright and one 'just right'.

At one level the answer is Paul Hobson and his excellent book Wildlife Photography Field Skills and Techniques. At another the answer is this …….

Have you got it?  The phone picture is a glow worm larva, which I saw crossing one of the local roads back in May.  Scroll forward to July and on our usual late evening (post sunset) dog walk on a different track we saw a glow worm, and then a couple of nights later 4 glow worms, frustratingly all tucked well into clumps of grass, and not snappable without more environmental tinkering than I could justify for the sake of a picture.
Then I remembered the glow worm larva and nipped down to that site, to find another 4 shining away, 2 of which were in more open but less photogenic spots.  It was late and I had work the next day, but I headed home to grab the camera.  But how to snap them?  That's where Paul's book came in as I remembered a section on glow worms in that.  Bit of a practise on the alarm clock and down to the worms, where I again ended up doing the Goldilocks too dark, too bright and just right exposures.  

Not the best backgrounds but a chance to practise in the field - quickly.Still the best ones hidden down in the grass.

Over the next week I tried a few more times - still not great backgrounds and once the glow just wasn't working so well.  It was only later I realised that was because the females both had males attached!  These are long exposures (4-8 seconds) so a bit of blur on the male.  Over exposed to show the males.

Finally back on the original track I got a chance to try snaps with some more exposed worms on 'better' backgrounds.  The first shows how they hold their tails to shine the light skywards

and this last has had more post processing done, but gives an idea of just what the beetles look like.

All too soon the season was over, but next year I will have retired so no concern about work.  Mind you I wouldn't want to spend too long on any one individual - after all they are trying to mate.

And what's the recommended technique …………………. I suggest you buy Paul's book!  Available on Amazon or direct from Paul here.