Bad pics of fab wildlife - part 2!

Old thread here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/chat/f/2542/t/22684.aspx

Because the original thread has, fittingly enough, 'gone bad', it's time for a new 'Bad pics' thread. Here, we celebrate the very worst of our wildlife photography. The subject matter is always brilliant, but the photos are very much not. If it's out of focus, chopped in half, frighteningly under- or over-exposed or terrible in some other way, it belongs here :)

Here's my first (first of many, no doubt) contribution to the new thread, a Goldcrest taken at Barnes yesterday. You need only minor incompetence to take a blurry photo, and the same to take a really under-exposed photo, but to do both in one go requires a special level of cackhandedness.

  • A swift photobombing spectacular....

  • Bempton Cliffs earlier this year.

    And the next click missed the wing tips again.

  • I can assure you there is a Long-billed Dowitcher in the photo ...... but it was so far away I only saw it through someone's scope and can't remember where it was in this pic but probably middle to right;    can't see it in the photo as it was a zillion metres away and think it then became part obscured by a Redshank !    all the effort to get there and not even binocoulars or zoom lens could see it    LOL        

    is it in this pic ...............  nope.... can't see it  :(        just toooooo  far away sadly

    Before we got to Frodsham Marsh,  we visited Burton Mere and had equal success   -   a rear view of a chiffchaff  !!   

  • We'll believe you Hazel lol L B Dowitchers have turned up in our area a few times usually the day before I visit or I'm looking in the wrong direction so never had one in UK
  • Lol Pete, I missed my chance to see it closer at Burton Mere last week before it moved on to Frodsham Marshes; can't say I'm a "Twitcher" as the car would have been revved up, in gear and already en-route after the first mention of the LBD !! I don't make lists, only used to make a garden list at our old house but guess seeing it through some kind person's scope would have counted !
  • Unknown said:
    Lol Pete, I missed my chance to see it closer at Burton Mere last week before it moved on to Frodsham Marshes; can't say I'm a "Twitcher" as the car would have been revved up, in gear and already en-route after the first mention of the LBD !! I don't make lists, only used to make a garden list at our old house but guess seeing it through some kind person's scope would have counted !

    I'm not so sure we didn't see it when we were there, it was visible from the Bunker Hide. If you remember, the guy in the motorised wheelchair was struggling to ID a bird.

    We just didn't know it was there at the time....

  • Michael B said:
    I'm not so sure we didn't see it when we were there, it was visible from the Bunker Hide. If you remember, the guy in the motorised wheelchair was struggling to ID a bird.

    Morning Mike,   yes I remember that guy but wasn't sure what bird he was referring to and with my eyesight it would have to be in front of the hide to see it even with binoculars  LOL     talking of which we're down to one pair as Mike's Swarovski's have had to go back to Austria for a fix to the troublesome thumbwheel which has stopped focusing properly in recent weeks and won't turn easily !    They don't get heavy use so surprising as they are not that old.      Was hoping to get them quickly looked at during BirdFair in case it was an easy adjustment but 2nd year its been cancelled :(       Hoping it doesn't take too long to get them back.

  • Unknown said:

    Michael B said:
    I'm not so sure we didn't see it when we were there, it was visible from the Bunker Hide. If you remember, the guy in the motorised wheelchair was struggling to ID a bird.

    Morning Mike,   yes I remember that guy but wasn't sure what bird he was referring to and with my eyesight it would have to be in front of the hide to see it even with binoculars  LOL     talking of which we're down to one pair as Mike's Swarovski's have had to go back to Austria for a fix to the troublesome thumbwheel which has stopped focusing properly in recent weeks and won't turn easily !    They don't get heavy use so surprising as they are not that old.      Was hoping to get them quickly looked at during BirdFair in case it was an easy adjustment but 2nd year its been cancelled :(       Hoping it doesn't take too long to get them back.

    I was struggling to get a clear view, and that was with the Sigma lens, even the avocet along side wasn't clear, most likely due to the haze over the water. Having looked at the red tailed godwit and long tailed dowitcher, I can see why he was struggling to confirm the ID.

    I guess for Swarovski there'll be no repairing agents in the UK,  and while a pain being away, at least they'll be in the right hands. Fingers crossed for a speedy return, in working order.

    Yes, it is a shame the Bird Fair isn't going ahead, I like events like that.

  • Great Britain's next 100m sprinter in training .........         or is it entered in the hurdles ?   ;)