The temperature dropped this week. I went to scrape the ice off the car. I started the engine and noted that the external temperature was -6 degrees centigrade. It was sunny, but very cold. The car’s gearbox was frozen and at first, I was unable to put the car in gear. Eventually it thawed out sufficiently and I headed to Holt Heath, a local area of Dorset heathland managed by the National Trust, to take Pippin for his walk.
The sun was low in the clear blue sky casting long shadows. I was wearing four layers of clothing, good sturdy walking boots, a thick woollen hat pulled down over my ears, and thick gloves. I also had my camera with me. Despite the cold the birdlife was quite active, more active it appeared than previous weeks when the weather was more temperate. There were several Robins at the carpark and in the woodland. I could hear a couple of woodpeckers tapping tree trunks, and then I could see them chasing each other through the canopy. Unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn’t get a clean shot. The birds moved so quickly and the autofocus would get distracted by all the foliage and branches. From the colours I glimpsed, I think they were Greater spotted woodpeckers.
When we got out onto the heathland, I could see the unmistakeable outline of a buzzard perched in a denuded deciduous tree. The sun was to my right, at ‘about 3 o’clock’. It was about 200-300 yards away. I could just make out a slight head movement as I viewed it through my telephoto lens, scanning its surroundings. The footpath I was on passed the buzzard on the left, so as I progressed, the sun was increasingly angled behind bird. It didn’t appear disturbed either by Pippin running back and forth along the path, or by me as I pointed my camera lens at it. But then it got spooked and took to the air. It glided with the occasional flapping of its extended wings over the heathland toward the treeline on the horizon, and then it was gone.
We got to see Stonechats and Dartford Warblers. Both these species like to perch on top of gorse bushes and flit around. Sometimes they are visible taking a prominent position, then they drop to the ground out of sight before rising again. I have my camera to Aperture priority of between F8 and F10 when photographing wildlife. Then I push the ISO up to between 400 and 800 in good light like today. This results in a shutter speed high enough to freeze movement enough to get a sharp image. The only adjustment I make for each shot is the exposure compensation. For a bird against a bright sky, I push the exposure compensation up to between 1 or 2 stops, just enough to brighten the image without blowing the light background through the highlights.
Seeing Stonechats didn’t surprise me, but the Dartford Warblers were unexpected. I don’t normally see them at this time of year, even though they are resident all year round. My quest was not made any easier by Pippin’s presence. He is a young, energetic, skittish, Springer Spaniel. At one point I had lined up to take a shot of a Dartford Warbler sitting on a gorse bush. The light was perfect, and I was slowly stalking the bird to get as close as possible without spooking it. Just then a black and white bundle of energy charged past me crashing through the heath causing all wildlife, including my Dartford Warbler, to flee. I was livid as Pippin returned to me, tail wagging, tongue lolling out of what appeared to be a broadly smiling mouth.
I walked on a little further and met another photographer out with his dog, a black labrador. We chatted about the respective merits of each other’s cameras. He had a rather nice compact mirrorless camera with a telephoto lens of 18mm – 150mm. It was much easier to carry around than my bulky full frame DSLR with a 100mm – 400mm lens, but it didn’t have quite the reach for wildlife. I also think the battery life of the DSLR was better than the mirrorless. We were approaching mid-day and he felt that he had missed the best of the light. We exchanged information on possible photo ops on the way back to the car park and carried on, on our respective paths. It was interesting to meet another photographer and share different perspectives. Different equipment is interesting, but the conversation just made me feel again that it is photographers who take photos not cameras. The equipment simply records the photographer’s vision.
I will return to this location, without Pippin, but I’m not sure when. We are promised milder temperatures, but there is also a yellow weather warning (recently upgraded to amber) in place for the next couple of days as Storm Isha is on the way with winds of up to 80mph. The country is bracing itself for more floods and property damage. The ground is already water-logged and the prospect of more rain and high winds is quite concerning.
Added to the threat from Storm Isha I discovered a probable mains water leak this morning just outside my front drive. Fortunately, it is draining away from our property, but our front lawn is getting quite soggy. I have reported the leak to the water authority, and they have promised a response, but the timing isn’t great.
Winter Watch returned to our TV screens this past week. The BBC team were located at Arne on the south-west edge of Poole Harbour. It’s about 20 miles from home by road, but only about 12-13 miles as the crow flies. It’s good to see such mainstream interest in a local RSPB site, but it is probably a mixed blessing. I can imagine that visitor numbers to the site will increase because of the increased publicity. The road from Wareham to the Arne car park is 3-4 miles along a single-track road with occasional laybys for passing places. I didn’t see much of the coverage, but there was a piece on the successful reintroduction of the White-tailed eagle. It’s a huge bird, colloquially referred to as a flying barn door because of its size. A buzzard’s full wingspan is just one wing length of the White-tailed eagle. I haven’t seen one yet, but there has been a lot of excitement generated by its reintroduction in recent years.
Whilst visitor numbers will increase at Arne, it remains to be seen whether other local sites such as Holt Heath will also see an increased footfall. Holt has a mixture of woodland and heathland but is inland. It is primarily used by dog walkers, but there is some cattle grazing and horse riding. During spring and early summer, the heathland has nesting birds such as skylarks and so dog walkers are under instructions to keep their dogs on a lead and under close control during the months that nesting takes place.
I anticipate not being quite so active over the next few days as we batten down the hatches. I have enjoyed getting out this last week. The colder weather brought its challenges, but the brighter crisper weather did improve the light quality for photography and brought out the birdlife more than the recent wet weather. Hopefully, Storm Isha will pass quickly. I will be giving time to some of my indoor projects.
The archiving of old family photos is progressing well. I found an old studio photo of me from 1962 or 1963, which I am now using as my Facebook profile picture. I should be able to make quite a bit of progress whilst Storm Isha rages outside.
I will also give a bit of time to improving the look of the Tuba I am playing in the brass band. It is a silver instrument, and the silver is tarnished in places. I’ve used a mixture of bicarbonate of soda and water to get rid of some of the tarnishing. I also gave it a bath to clean it up. There are a couple of dents which it would be nice to get sorted, but they don’t affect the sound. I’ve ordered some silver cream, which is recommended by the manufacturer to restore the silver to its original condition.
Stephen's Wildlife 