Early Morning Swans

The most important aspect of photography is of course light and without light you simply can't take a photograph!
Different light conditions can be the difference between a good and bad photograph and sometimes the right light can make for some quite magical images.

Some Landscape photographers chase light to the point of obsession and have an uncanny knack of knowing where the best light will be at a particular place, at a particular time of year.
A bit nerdy then?
Well no, I don't think it is really...I think all photographers of all genres can benefit by studying light a little more closely.
I think it's especially important to the wildlife photographer and even more so if you're like me and you rely 100% on natural light.

Over the years I've learnt by trial and error where the sun will rise and fall at my regular locations and this is particularly important when you have a shot in mind that you would like to try and capture...It's no good waiting 12 hours for that Golden Eagle to fly by carrying it's prey, only to realise when it's too late that you're shooting straight into the sun!
Sounds very basic, but it happens and I would say it happens to all of us from time to time too.

In April, I payed a few visits to Poynton Pool in Cheshire to photograph amongst other things Mute Swans.
On my first visit, I walked around the lake to the far side so the sun would be behind me and this allowed me to get some rather pleasing shots.
On my way back I noticed the sun over the top of the trees and thought that this might be quite interesting at sunrise when the sun starts to break through the trees.

I waiting a couple of days until the forecast was favourable and returned early in the morning and waited for the sunrise.
A beautiful almost misty light soon developed and to my delight 5 Mute Swans decided to fly by...

I'm not 100% sure or not whether this was the effect I was after but I must admit I'm quite happy with the results.

A little bit more predictable a lot easier to pull off was this silhouetted Swan...Just a case of waiting for the bird to swim into the right position (just before the reflected sun) and then firing away!

Great Crested Grebes

I've been sorting through some of the many images of birds I've photographed so far this spring and one species I haven't really given much attention to on this blog is the very beautiful Great Crested Grebe.

I actually spent many hours in April and early May at a couple of local sites trying to capture the elusive 'weed dance' but didn't have any luck.
I did however have some success capturing this courtship dance minus the weed and it is none the less a very beautiful sight.

The Great Crested Grebe is a stunning bird and normally very wary of humans, but now and again they let their guard down and if you sit still and quiet, you may be lucky enough to view them at close quarters...
Unlike most fairly common water birds there is not much chance of enticing these birds with bread all any other food goodies, they are most certainly fish lovers and are very good at diving for them...

Finally the courting...

I focused mainly on one pair of birds at Poynton Pool, because this site is fairly photo-friendly and the lake is not as wide as the other site (Etherow Park).

Even so, these Grebes seem to like to do their courting in private and on many occasions they would swim off to the least accessible reaches of the pool and their displays were often obscured by trees and other obstacles.

Other times they would be smack bang in the middle of the pool and too far away for a decent shot no matter where I positioned myself.

A very frustrating business, but I did mange to get fairly close (although not as close as I'd have liked) the one time...

Local Specialities

We've had some pretty lousy weather here for the past 5 days which has been very frustrating because I've been dying to get out with the camera!
The lack of photography has however given me the chance to look through some recent shots and I'd thought I'd share a few from a couple of weeks back on a sunny afternoon spent at one of my local stomping grounds...Etherow Park.

Etherow is quite unique because it is home to a couple of species that are pretty scarce around the north of England and visitors come from far afield to tick them off their lists.
I have touched on both the following birds before in this blog, but they are a couple of beauties and I make no apologies for doing so again!

Both of the bird species were originally imported into the UK in days gone by to satisfy wildfowl collectors, but escapees have bred in the wild for many generations and are doing rather well.

First the Egyptian Goose, which as the name would suggest is a bird of African origin.
These birds have seen had a steady rise in population over the last few years, especially in the wetlands of Norfolk.
There has been a single Egyptian Goose at Etherow for a number of years, but last winter the population increased when another pair flew in from somewhere...

Next the Mandarin Duck, a very colourful bird of Asian origin.
These amazingly beautiful birds have started to populate a wide range of territories in the UK over recent years and there is a very healthy breeding population at Etherow and also in and around the River Goyt through Stockport.

Mandarins have recently been seen on the River Tame in the neighbouring Greater Manchester borough of Tameside, and I also spotted a single bird at Poynton Pool in Cheshire a few months back...Good news indeed!

Finally a rather exotic creature that has bred well at Etherow and many other local waters at a near epidemic rate...The Terrapin.
The only time you spot these reptiles is on warm sunny days when they like to bask out of the water.

It really is a bit of a mystery to why my local waters have such an abundance of Terrapins (Red-Eared I believe) but maybe it's no coincidence that this population boom started in the late 1980's around the same time as the hit children's TV craze 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'!

Terrapins are very small and cute when youngsters, but quickly outgrow their tanks and develop into a quite large animal...