Kicking off this year's odds and sods with Starlings in a rainbow on that extreme rarity: sunshine.
It was early morning, with the sun barely cresting the tree line. We were able to get out for our morning walk as it wasn't raining. This photo is my trusty Canon 80D and Sigma 18-300mm lens zoomed in at 300mm.
Pulling back a bit.
And finally all the way back.
Oh, 2024 got off to a good start with this.
So far my cat, perhaps two neighbouring cats visiting our garden, a local fox and Tawny owl, and this trap have accounted for at least five of the beasties. Sightings of rats in our garden are getting rarer, so I think I'm winning. Two rather timid and wary rats, that I know of, are proving more elusive to catch. I've resorted to buying a lethal trap. The trap was triggered, yesterday, but no rat, sadly. Though a mouse might have triggered it, and was small enough to be within the kill bar.
90% luck, 5% field craft, 5% camera skills.
Nothing odder than a surfing Guillemot
tuwit said:I'll probably have a no-mow June as well
Good idea ... . Does Mrs tuwit agree?
Great shot Bob. That could be in my garden ... except it would be a Sparrow instead of a Guillemot ...
Billysdad said:I wish I knew about 'No Mow May' earlier! I've been mowing all day ...
I wish I knew about 'No Mow May' earlier! I've been mowing all day ...
Did you miss out on Dry January...
If it wasn't for unwanted rodent attention (along with brambles, bindweed and other invasive species growing profusely next door), I'd quite happily enjoy no-mo-May......
Sadly, with bird feeders and gardens either side that are unkempt all year through, one is rat infested, it enables easy monitoring (trailcams and other observation pointers) and clearing of redundant feeder wastes, or I'd happily let the buttercups, daisies and other grow.
However, around the pond, it is left to grow wild......
Mike
Flickr: Peak Rambler
Brilliant Bob, just brilliant.
Continuing with our walk along the Derwent, we soon noticed that Mandarin chicks are very powerful swimmers. They would hurtle through the fast flowing water, many times upstream, chasing prey and leaping up to catch an insect.
Of course I tried to photograph this, and this is the best I got. Look at that wake, really being churned up.
I decided to resort to Raw burst mode. Bit of a cheat, I feel, not too different to videoing and extracting individual frames, but if it gets the job done...
I've used Raw Burst twice with mixed results - I do tend to forget it's there. One big problem I discovered was severe rolling shutter. Boy were fast flapping wings warped. I also think Raw burst as well as fast continuous are how pros get fantastic action shots, and why rolling shutter is such a problem.
Anyway, here's the sequence I managed. Oh, for some reason my R7 reduced the image size considerably. I need to investigate if it's a setting I've missed or that's what the R7 does.
Mandarin duckling burst mode.
Gotcha!
Now, more cute'n'cuddly for those who like this sort of thing.
Again, observe the wake. These ducklings are powerful swimmers.
Zoom. Light conditions were appalling under thick tree canopy.
Not just fast in a straight line.
Upstream in fast flowing water...no problem.
Brilliant photos nonetheless Angus.
As far as I'm aware, some scenes still suffer the rolling shutter issue, though software updates should now have almost resolved that issue.
Someone shared an interesting video on setting up the R5 RAW vs CRAW (compressed RAW files rather than full RAW), and the theory is the compression reduces the file size and not the quality, therefore reducing the buffering time.I will say at this point, I've not tried to use CRAW, so I'm unable to comment other than to share the YouTube link
The following link takes you to that particular page:
https://community.rspb.org.uk/chat/f/the-tea-rooms/280992/moving-to-mirrorless?pifragment-4313=35
Or you can go straight to the YouTube link
An inquisitive brown hare this morning. Came right up to me on the footpath before changing its mind and whoosh... gone!
Wow! That is sharp. Well done Bob ...
Thanks BD. I used to hide behind hedges (well I do still lol) but I have noticed that even if you are in the open they often come close. I have to the camera on and up before they reach you as a single movement and they are off. :)