2011 Round Up

Well it is the end of another year, and I thought I would round up the best bits from it. I have had a good year. I was awarded a highly commended in the British Wildlife Photography Awards Under 18 category, and have had a chance to test out my Nikon 200-400mm f4 lens which I got just over a year ago. I haven't done as much photography as I would have liked to due to GCSEs in May and June, but there have still been a number of images taken. So here are my top images of this year, in no particular order.

First are some images from my local park (Chiswick). This is relatively small which is mostly wooded, but also a canal that runs through it. It hosts many of the common wildfowl such as Mallards, Moorhens, Coots, and Tufted Ducks, and there are also a group of Canada Geese there. As well as this there is a Heron which regularly sits on the banks of the canal fishing.

The first image is of a Tufted Duck from the canal. The canal is such that during the evening the sun shines down the canal, and so as this bird was facing me, there was lovely sidelighting on it, rendering the background and other side of the bird completely black.

This is another taken at the same place. This time a Grey Heron against black water.

During September and October I was down at Richmond Park for the Red Deer rut. On one of the days when I was present due to clear skies and fairly high temperatures in the morning, there was a thick layer of mist hanging over the ground, and I positioned myself so that the sun rose behind it and shone through it. It provided some of the best light I have ever seen. Here are a couple of the images.

While I was there photographing the deer, I was also distracted by the birds there, such as the Reed Buntings and Stonechats.

At the end of August I was on the North Norfolk Coast for a few days where I focused on waders. Here are a couple of my favourite images from there.

My local reserve is the London Wetland Centre, which is only 15 minutes from where I live, so I regularly visit there thoughout the year and it is where the majority of my images are taken.

First some macro images.

 And now the birds.

 I would just like to point out that the Red-breasted Goose is a captive bird, not a wild one.

So that's it from me. Sorry for the mammoth post, I think next year I will split it up into sections so it isn't just one huge post!

Anyway, I hope you all have a good new year and a good 2012. Let's hope for good weather, and confiding subjects!

Oscar

Garden Robins

In my neighbourhood we have several resident Robins which always make good photography subjects. A couple of weeks ago I tried to coax one of them onto the top of out watering can by placing a small tray of mealworms on the body of the watering can before retreating to the cover of the house for lunch! Sure enough, while sat at the table, I saw the first bird come to have a look, and it wasn't long before it perched on the spout, before hopping down to pick off the mealworms. When it flew off, I grabbed my camera and concealed myself behind a chair outside and waited for it to return. Within 5 minutes it was back, and allowed me to get several images of it.

Here are another couple of images taken fairly recently of Robins.

Gulls

So, this is my first post on a blog which I have been meaning to set up for a while. Hopefully this will be a place to share recent images and give some thoughts on issue related to wildlife photography.

Over the past few weeks there has not been a huge amount of interest to photograph at the London Wetland Centre, but there have been large numbers of gulls congregating in front of the hide. These provide ample photographic opportunities with their antics. There species which I have had a chance to photograph are Black-headed Gulls, Common Gulls, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. There have also been a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls.Juveniles of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls are very playful often fighting with each other over scraps of reeds or stones. and dropping them in the water.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Common Gull

There are fewer of these than the others, although they do occasionally come close enough to the hide to be photographed.

Black-headed Gull

The most abundant gull present recently, almost all are now in their winter plumage, although a couple I have seen still have their chocolate brown hood, or part of it.