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.

  • I took a couple of pics of this very interesting patch of tufty weedy grassy stuff. Shame about the photobombing goose in the background waving its blurry pink foot.

  • The Arun Valley once attracted wintering Bewick's swans in their hundreds. Last year there were up to 14. This year to date there are two. Hopefully some more will make it over later in the winter, but of course I worry that maybe these will be the last two. Depressing if true, but a newsworthy moment also. I hope you'll agree that this shot, which shows both birds grazing close together (and to me looking a bit nonplussed), captures the scene with the gravitas it deserves.

    Happy Christmas y'all.

    EDIT 3 JAN: there’s nearly a dozen now, so fortunately this pic won’t be their, er, swansong.

  • I'm glad you captured such an auspicious moment, and took the brave decision to share it with us. My heartfelt congratulations and thanks for your undoubted patience and tenacity. Smiley

  • Merry Christmas to everyone, posters and lurkers alike! May the new year be kinder to all. And may Bird Flu not deprive us of many more birds--one pandemic raging at any one time is more than enough. In fact, wouldn't it be lovely to have no more pandemics of any kind for many decades to come, both for humans and other creatures?! Stay safe everyone and wishing you a safe and a bird-and nature-filled 2022.

    Kind regards, Ann

  • Yellowhammer and friend (not sure what it is) from this afternoon:

  • I recently posted some pictures of what turned out to be a winter Chiffchaff (Ask a Question - Warbler ID?), what isn't evident in the pictures was how many I had to take to get the handful I posted.

    The bird was constantly on the move in and out of vegetation and light and trying to get the bird in the open and still at the same time almost didn't happen. Probably 75% or more of the pictures I got looked like the following.

    Getting closer to success.

    Nearly there.

    Missed again.

    Thanks to digital photography and burst mode (and a bit of patience) I eventually bagged a few clear shots. This low success rate is true of a lot of bird photography, especially the very active small birds when sometimes the success rate is 0%.

    Best Wishes,

    Trevor

  • Michael B said:

    A recent trip to Middleton Lakes, the out takes....

    A blue tit with leg appearing to protrude from its beak!

    What exactly were you feeding them Mike?

    I thought tits were nut eaters, or was this a cannibalistic one?

    Regards

    Benji

  • TJS said:

    This is a particularly fine contribution to the thread Thumbsup

    I would be very happy if my success rate was only sometimes 0%.

  • A wild guess, it looks finch like and I'd have a guess at goldfinch....

    But I could be very wrong, I often am, but I like to have a try. Wink

  • Somewhere we've all been, and will return many more times Trevor. Thank goodness for digital Trevor, I dread to think of the cost if we were still using film!