Category Archives: Landscape

Buzzards and a skylark

February 17, 2015 by Words | Comments Off

Well, the promise of sunshine held good. Good walking weather, so I headed out to the fields. Little in the way of wildlife, but some nice views, and great dappled light in the woodland that fringes the area.

Woodland

Out in the open, the skylarks are beginning to make themselves known, their trilling song breaking through the quiet.

Skylark

And buzzards. Several of them, but generally too far distant to trouble camera. This one was a long way off, but just about in range.

Buzzard

Buzzard

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.

Also posted in Bird of Prey, Birds Tagged , , |

Woodland Abstract

February 10, 2015 by Words | 4 Comments

The weather is very settled. Unfortunately it is also heavily overcast during the day (nice and clear at night). Anyway, opportunities for photography are inevitably limited by the poor light.

I headed for some woodland at lunchtime.

woodland

Not the most inspiring scene, so I tried something slightly different.

This is the same scene. There are no filters, and the post-production has simply been some tweaks of the contrasts and white balance. It’s taken with a slow shutter, small aperture and is zoomed during the time the shutter is open. I quite like it, though it’s probably not to everyone’s taste.

woodland abstract

Woodland Abstract

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.

Also posted in Wildlife Tagged , |

Fieldfare at Falmer

February 6, 2015 by Words | Comments Off

Having featured the blackbird yesterday, today’s bird is a close relation. It’s another of the family Turdidae, this time the much less commonly seen Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris). Like the blackbird, it’s a member of the thrush family, but it tends to keep well away from inhabited areas, preferring woodland fringe and fields (hence its name).

I’d hiked across a couple of fields at lunchtime. It was beautiful out, but cold, so a walk seemed to make more sense than freezing at the edge of the pond. I headed for a small wood just to the south of Falmer (and just inside the South Downs National Park).

woodland

There hadn’t been too much to see, and maybe it was the cold but I got a little creative with the camera. It makes a change to try something different every now and then.

tree detail

Emerging from the woods, and still having seen little if any wildlife, I came across a lone fieldfare. It’s something of a winter bird so it was probably less bothered by the cold than I was. It was bracing itself against the chill wind.

fieldfare

fieldfare

fieldfare

It was a treat to get such a clear shot, even from quite a distance away.

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.

Also posted in Birds, South Downs National Park Tagged , |