Took a Good Friday visit to Blashford Lakes, on a bright spring afternoon. As spring starts, so does the battle for the best breeding sites. This pair of black-headed gulls were laying claim to this floating raft on Ivy Lake, near the front of a hide. They squawked at any attempted trespassers and flew often in circles round it. Making a good platform to photograph this common seagull. This first
Over the past weekend, the woodland hide at Blashford Lakes, has been free at times to photograph some of the wild birds out of the windows. There have been a lot of Siskin there this year, and the selection of birds photographs taken over the weekend starts with a selection of shots of them. Other winter visitors included a Lesser Redpole and Reed Bunting. More all round visitors to the
I was fortunate to see a couple of Treecreepers today at Blashford Lakes, and managed to get this one in the frame, before a barking dog scared it off. In the rush I had not quite dialed in enough exposure compensation, so had to lift the bird in Adobe Camera raw. I am fairly pleased with the rescue of the shots. This first shot I have rotated into portrait format.
Yet another dreary grey Saturday, as seems to be the case this winter. However I decided to try to make the most of it photographically in the poor light this afternoon. Upon spotting this Common Sandpiper reasonably close to the Lapwing Hide at Blashford Lakes, I attempted some shots of it at various ISO’s – all the way from an ISO that is normally ok, ISO 800 on the 760D,
Finally a bright Saturday in 2016! After many grey days at the weekend it was a pleasure to walk around Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve today, and chase some of the elusive wild birds that are there. Well not literally chase, but try and get them in the frame of the lens, not easy, as the birds seem to have a sixth sense that means, once you point the lens their
I have been visiting the hides at Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve over Christmas and New Year – but no real keepers in 2016 until today. Like much of the Christmas / New Year period when I was off, it was grey and overcast – before turning to downpour. Here a the first three still keepers this year. However – despite having no stills before – I did take some video
A Christmas Eve visit to Blashford Lakes, and some very un-Christmas spirit was being shown by a Cormorant, as it attacked a male Tufted Duck.
Not my best video, but I liked the action.
Nasty grey wet weekend weather wise, so not ideal for birds photos. And as it was wet, the only option was to go somewhere with sheltered hides, so I visited my local Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve. I did manage to photograph a male Black-necked Grebe for the first time. Although they are large 50% crops. The advantage of a reserve like Blashford, where you have several habitats, and importantly several
Whilst Storm Clodagh blew through on Sunday, the best location in my mind was to be inside, and the bird hides at Blashford Lakes beckoned. With the adverse weather the light was low and so a higher than normal ISO was required to get a shootable speed. After the tern hide, and Ibsley hides provided nothing close by in relating to wildlife, a short visit to the Woodland hide provided
Over the autumn of 2015, a Juvenille Osprey has been resident at Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve in Hampshire. The Osprey is best viewed from the Tern Hide, when it sits on a perch in the middle of the lake. This perch is a fair way away, so the views are distant, and photos from here need a lot of cropping. These two images I took on an overcast day –
