For many of us, swifts, swallows and house/sand martins will be swooping and chasing after insects. They're not the easiest of birds to capture in flight, however, feel free to share whatever photos or videos you get here.
I'm happy to report, I've seen the first swifts here, a bit late, but they've arrived, and hoping in the next week or two to go and see some swallows.
TJS said:Hi Mike,
Thank you Trevor.
They were certainly easier to capture on camera than the swifts using the Sigma a few weeks back, and I had a tighter field of view, but I didn't zoom out on the Canon 100-400, like I did on the Sigma, (though that was often between 400-500mm).
The lens was faster than the Sigma and seemed to lock on better, but it is early days and I've still more experimenting to do. I certainly don't regret the new purchase, nor do I regret buying the Sigma, and I will find it hard to relinquish the Sigma to free up some more pennies.
This one obligingly sat on a branch while I took the photo yesterday evening.
Good shots everyone, well done Mike, in flight those birds are so hard to catch. Just want to put up two of the nest in my daughter's barn, young swallows still nesting, bit late but hope they will be ablke to feed and catch up with others.
This was last week, but they are still there as son-in-law took another photo yesterday, with parent on wire looking on. They are in the stable with horse, nice to have a guard that big!!
The previous nest was in adjacent bard but had been trashed, so maybe that is why they are so late fledging.
Nice photos Gaynor and thank you.
There seems to be lots of swallow sightings around and about, and I'm sure I captured some on camera at Conwy last week, along with a swift or two.
Seen on the coast by the Yacht Club on the River Alde at Aldeburgh a few days ago, Swallows and House Martins gathering prior to their migration soon. All the yachts had their own selection of birds.
Best Wishes
Trevor
"Ship ahoy mi harty...."
Fabulous photos Trevor, and that looked a good sunny day.
All contributions to this thread were brilliant. These birds can be very challenging to photograph, and I take my hat off to all who tried, and shared their photos during the 2021 season. It would be nice to see your photos for 2022, and the new thread is live;
https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/all-creatures/279853/swifts-swallows-martins-share-your-photos-and-videos-here-2022
So get snapping away, have a go, any photos of Swifts, Swallows & Martins are welcome.
No darting swallows in this post, the swallow chicks, probably around 7-10 days old by now, quietly waiting for food to arrive.
Then, all of a sudden, they must have heard the call, "lunch is on its way" and all hell broke loose!
Me, me , me, me, me.....
Though the photos are record shots of only one chick being fed, the others didn't come out too well with the light being poor and no flash used, I did note the feeding of the chicks was very orderly.
It was a case or left to right by both parents, automatically, so no chick had more than its fair share.
There were five chicks, though only four are seen in this series of photos, though I have some video to add, taken using the 5D4 on a tripod, which I'll add at a later date, once i've sorted and uploaded them to my Flickr pages.