Birding Braunie

Hmmmm. It’s funny but I’m getting a bit fed up with the Bittern. I want this rubbish weather to dissipate and for us all to be basking in glorious spring sunshine. The spring migrants are a month away and what a joy they will be as they sit atop scrub or tree and sing while I – in shirt sleeves – shoot away on my little Nikon with a decent shutter speed for a change. It’s true though that digital cameras are sophisticated enough to give reasonable results in the darkest of days but couple that with a moving subject and things get bad, really bad. So for now, I have had to rely on the elusive Bittern as a subject. This can be an uneasy and often unproductive partnership. So while I wait for the Bittern, I used this female Mallard to practise my digiscoping skills on. A few people have asked me how I get the shots I get. Well, most of the time the shots are pretty poor. I occasionally get a decent image and then hastily run it through Photoshop CC and bingo, better results. When...

There aren’t many small birds that get audible gasps from people when they see one. Apart from perhaps a kingfisher, it is usually the big ones that take that honour. A Bittern or a Crane, an Osprey or a Golden Eagle maybe, that kind of thing usually does it. There is one however that when seen gets people very excited. The Dartford Warbler. Not only is it a pretty and characterful little bird, it is also a very vulnerable bird and has suffered in the past from harsh weather – only a couple of pairs breeding in the 1960s to to severe winters. Fortunately it is now having a small renaissance and can be found in a number of heathland breeding areas across the south and east of England. I picked Dunwich Heath to look for them but the weather was poor. It was overcast and there was a strong on shore wind to deal with. Dartford Warblers prefer to keep low at the best of times and the wind factor just made seeing any quite difficult. Coastguards Cottages, Dunwich Heath I have on...