Good news!

I am delighted to be able to announce that I have a highly commended image in this year's Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition (2012). The image will therefore feature in both the book and the exhibition, which tours around the country, starting in London in October. To say I am pleased would be an understatement. This is the biggest competition of its kind in the world, and to have by image among those of some of the best pros in the world is amazing. Here is the image, and the story behind it.

It was taken in the winter of 2010/11, when there was a cold snap just before Christmas. Great Bitterns regularly overwinter at the London Wetlands Centre, but it is only when the water freezes over that they become more conspicuous as they are forced out of the reedbeds to look for food. The day before this, I had enjoyed fantastic close views of them in front of one of the hides there. I returned the next day, and settled down in the hide. There wasn't much activity close to the hide for a while, and then the heavy snow set in. It was unlike anything I had experienced in London before, but really gave the photographs something special. At times it was so heavy that the camera's AF struggled to lock on to the bird, preferring instead to focus on the falling snow! My dad was meant to be picking me up, but he was worried that because of the heavy snow, if he left it too long he wouldn't be able to, so he came back early to get me. Just before I had to go, I turned to see this bird stepping out of the reedbed, and onto the ice. It summed up the environment they were living in perfectly, showing the habitat and weather conditions they have to endure. It was the last image I took of the day, and turned out to be my favourite of all. It was also the last time I saw the birds so well until the last winter, when the cold weather again had the same effect.

Common Terns and some news

I have spent a couple of occasions photographing Common Terns this Summer, both of which involved 4am starts! It was worth it though, as the light was superb both times. Just after the sun came up, I tried some backlit images, and would follow the bird as it flew, taking images when it passed through the light from the sun.

After the sun had risen a bit more, I turned my attention to the adults feeding the juveniles on a raft on the other side of me. It was a bit of a job to get low to the water, but I think I just about managed to get low enough. I waited for the adult to catch a fish, before lying down and waiting for it to come to the juveniles.

I also got some shots of individual birds.

In other news, I was asked about a month ago if I would like to have an online gallery of my Bittern photos featured on the BBC Wildlife website. The gallery is now live, here: http://www.discoverwildlife.com/gallery/beautiful-bittern-photo-gallery-oscar-dewhurst

My new website is also up and running (almost), and you can see that here: http://www.oscardewhurstphotography.co.uk

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Sicily

I spent a week in Sicily during the middle of July, and managed to get out with the camera a couple of times. Here are some shots.

 Grasshopper

 Kestrel sitting on the road

Zitting Cisticola (what a name!)

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Skomer Puffins part 2

Following on from my last post, here are some more Puffins from Skomer. This time it's portraits:

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Skomer Puffins part 1

Following on from my last couple of posts with images from my trip to Skomer at the beginning of July, I only have the Puffins to come. As there are a lot of them, I think I'm going to split them into two or three posts, the first of which will be Puffins with sandeels:

More in a couple of days...

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Small birds from Skomer

Following on from my last post, there were also a lot of small birds present on Skomer, like Meadow Pipits, Sedge Warblers, and Whitethroats.

Meadow Pipits:

Sedge Warbler:

And a couple of Swallows which were around the houses on the road down to the landing station:

Next time, I'll have some Puffins to show

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Seabirds from Skomer

I recently returned from staying two nights on Skomer. It's a fantastic island, and what's especially good is that by staying overnight you have the island to yourself (except for the wardens, a few volunteers, and the other overnight guests) up until 10am, and from about 4.30pm. Here a few shots of seabirds other than Puffins.

First up a couple of Guillemots:

And a couple of Razorbills:

And now a couple of a rather unusual find, a Manx Shearwater out of its burrow in daylight.

Here's a few of the ubiquitous Lesser Black-backed Gulls

And last but not least, a Kittiwake in front of one of the hides:

Next time I'll have some more Skomer shots to show.

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