Keep trying!

In the end I'll get a decent shot of a corn bunting, but the venue continues to frustrate, so it might be a while.  Too many multi-stemmed twiggy bushes on the wrong side of the road!  Factor in my ineptitude - grab the camera on arrival to dash off a few shots of an unexpected clear sighting, then remember you didn't reset it after the last outing - and sad to say not the first time I've failed to learn that lesson.  That said it looks like what it is, an early morning shot and I quite like it.  Didn't seem to be an oft used perch though, but an earlier start, some good camo and who knows.

There are still a few buntings around, but frustrating to get full frame shots, so these are all crops.

The linnets were a bonus.  I just wish the site was a bit nearer to allow me to get a feeding station running.

Talking of camo I have taken quite a lot of shots in full view, but lying down, for example at my woodland puddles, and a bit of patience can bring surprisingly close views.  However I have felt that softening the outline further might help, leading to the purchase of a ghillie suit.  If you have ever seen one you would realise that it is quite easy to feel a prat in one!  I put on the hood and jacket when snapping the linnets, lying on the ground.  I didn't have time to move the camera when I saw a bird glide effortlessly along the hedge bottom.  It landed no more than 8 feet from my head and spent the next couple of minutes looking round, and at times having a good peer straight at me.  No alarm though.  If I can fool a sparrowhawk maybe it really does work.

In the briar patch

Although I enjoyed the lovely weather last weekend I didn't manage to get out with the camera, so apologies for the fact that some of the following were taken on grey days shooting into the light - never the best combination!  My puddles have been found by some 'wildlife photographers' whose idea of the art is to chop down to ground level all the reedmace and sedges that provided the shelter, and the tangled buddleia that the birds would work down to the pools.  Add in the horse jumps they created as camera rests and you have an idyllic micro-habitat ruined, at least in my eyes.
So I have been to some pastures new(ish), and have found much of my time spent amongst brambles or in thickets ................
Blue tit

Robin

Dunnock

Yellowhammer

Corn bunting (one day I will get a shot with the sun behind me!)

Great tit

and to close a stray wagtail that wandered onto the scene, and a crow.

 

I try, but the birds don't read the script!

On Saturday I headed back to Marshfield, still hoping for a decent corn bunting picture. Despite previous plans it was a struggle again. They are quite wary birds, quick to see you. They still use the bush to sing from, but hide on the far side. I did notice this one use these teasels a couple of times though. There wasn't any cover, but the next morning I was back early with some camo net and positioned myself (lying down)on one of the piles of topsoil dumped nearby. Whatever I might have looked like it wasn't a person! As you can see the light was from the right angle and the view should have been ideal. After what seemed an age (certainly well over an hour) the bunting flew in, swerved, and started singing just out of view. A quick adjustment and there it was, 3 feet off the mark. You can see what the shot could have been ............................
Sadly it didn't reappear despite another long wait- the motocross event and all the traffic probably didn't help. Que sera sera. after a few days I'm starting to wonder if it's worth just one more try. For. Glutton. Punishment. Please feel free to arrange in your own order.
Chastened at the time, on Monday I headed for the Forest in search of 1) Wood warbler and 2) anything else that came my way. Not brilliant warbler pics - grey day meant high ISO, but they'll do for starters - this is a new species for me.

When I was a kid I remember reading a description of the way small birds will mob a roosting owl. Chris Grady had told me about finding an owl that way, and finally it happened to me. I could hear several different species making a row in the trees away from the path, so in I went. Narrowly avoiding a broken ankle as I stumbled along I found the source - and was delighted to find it was indeed an owl. My first ever roosting tawny. Very high up and no good for pics, but I was still chuffed.

As usual some better quality pics in the 'latest pictures' web album HERE. I've also added some more shots to the USA blog HERE.

In Search of a Corn Blob

Ever since I 'found' Marshfield last year I've been hankering to try and get a better shot of a corn bunting (corn blob is the Yorkshire name). You just don't see them most places these days, but the website revealed they were being consistently seen. They're not really exciting to look at - the name bunting originally described a plump or thickset person, which is apt - and colour-wise they are streaky brown. But I wanted to snap one, so back it was to the high ground.
On Saturday I saw a few, but realised the problems that the light was going to pose. All the perches I found where I felt I could wait in sufficiently close ambush were on the south side of the accessible land, and the fact that we did have some sun meant the lighting was all wrong. I did manage a rather distant shot, and took great pleasure in seeing my first wheatear and swallow of the year, but photo-wise it was basically yellowhammer and a rather tame chaffinch.
I stuck a branch in the end of a hedge where I'd seen one showing a couple of times - the books say they like to sing from elevated perches - and resolved to come back for a couple of hours the next day.
I arrived in fog. The buntings were there, the light wasn't ...
and when I first got out the car one was on the branch. Success. Not!
Despite a long wait I couldn't get it to use the branch again. Maybe I was too obvious, but later in the day the same bird happily sang from a few feet over my head. It sat on the hedge near the branch, but never went back up. A goldfinch in cliched teasel pose felt scant reward.
Eventually I got a few shots (from the portable hide I have made by Honda) and the light although quite harsh and awkwardly directed turned out to be better than I feared when I got the shots on the PC.
I know I can get better, and now think I know (probably) the two potentially best places to try. But that's for another day.

As always better quality shots in the 'latest pictures' album HERE.

The Wrath of Turdus

There was a promise of sunny spells, and as I planned to be over the bridge anyway I headed back to Marshfield, where there continue to be reports of finch flocks and winter thrushes on the Birding South Gloss website (here). I met Martin Hayes when I was wandering around, and should have thanked him better for keeping this going, especially for us out of towners. As before the birds were around in reasonable quantities, but getting near enough for a snap was more tricky.

Eventually these field canaries and I came to an understanding. I would crouch in the raised field in full view and keep still. They would fly in and out of the hedges ad eventually get the confidence to come close enough for a snap. The background is a bit twiggy, but the yellowhammer is such a cute little thing I can live with that.

However when it came to the winter thrushes the same old problem arose. I am convinced that Turdus the Thrush God has put a hex on me. Even when the buggers come close enough for a snap the camera/lens can't get the focus right. Sit in a tree and 9+ of 10 are ok. Sit in the grass and the lens misses. They don't look too bad at this resolution, but none are pin sharp. And look how close the redwing was. I could understand the fieldfare which was, obviously, more distant. Alright probably less divine intervention than some kind of pre/backfocusing issue which occurs with the camera pointing down and a grassy background. It even happened here last weekend with these local song thrushes from Caldicot Castle. Right, you might look and think - not that bad, but I binned loads. The one on the molehill was the only one at that range in focus. Ok if you fill the frame it works, but not at usual shooting distance. And that redwing was fairly close (for once).

The dunnock and robin at Collister Pill were the same. Sit on a gate and bang, pin sharp. Down in the straw and one of perhaps 20 dunnock in focus, and every single robin blurred.

I've tried all the autofocus options. And yes I've tried manual focus, but the viewfinder on the 400D is so small and crap that my iffy eyesight can't tell if it's sharp. It looks sharp, but I'm worse than the autofocus when I get them on the big screen! I know I'm hard on my kit, as I invariably use a 2x converter on the 300mm lens, but I have to get as close as I can! Maybe Turdus would be appeased if I sacrificed a cat? Pass the antifreeze ....................

As always better images can be seen in the web albums HERE.

Click on latest to see these ones.