Canada Geese landing at Lackford Lakes

Not so much synchronised swimming as synchronised landing. This group of Canada Geese were startled from their spot at the far end of the Plover Lake at Lackford Lakes, and flew straight towards our hide, landing perfectly together. I counted over 70 Canada Geese and 50 Mute Swans on the lake that day.

My Canon 60D was mounted on the digiscope at this time, so I caught this on my old Canon 450D. After being dropped, it only focuses on the centre spot, but it did a good enough job here!

Canon 450D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm at 50mm, 1/400 sec at f/10, ISO 400

Last Poppy standing

The poppies at Cambridge Botanic Gardens were just going over, but this one was still giving a good show. You can see that it has dropped its stamens as the seed head takes over. The petals would follow soon after.

Digital cameras can struggle with high colour saturation. In order to preserve any texture in the petals, I had to turn the red saturation down quite a long way in Lightroom.

Canon 60D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm at 200mm, 1/250 sec at f/11, ISO 320

Palmate Newts

This pair of Palmate Newts were in the Fenland Pond at the Botanic Gardens, here in Cambridge. I'm pretty sure there were Smooth Newts in there, too.

Canon 60D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm at 200mm, 1/80 sec at f/5.6, ISO 320

Dragonfly surprise

Here's another case of serendipity. I went to Cambridge Botanic Gardens this week, and spent most of the time at the Fenland pond. This dragonfly was laying eggs. It would land on a lily pad, dip its tail over the edge and feel around for a stem to lay an egg on, then move on. I took several pictues of it, and this is not the best, by any means - it's a bit blurred and out of focus. But it is the most interesting. Because it was only when I veiwed it at home later that I noticed something on the twig in the top right of the picture, behind the dragonfly's wing. If I'm not mistaken, it's a dragonfly larva, just crawled out of the water, ready to shed its underwater skin!

Canon 60D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm at 200mm, 1/160 sec at f/8, ISO 320

Here come the gang!

This family of Mallard ducklings were both cute and well-disciplined. They paddled along in a row chasing insects on the surface of the water, with Mum at the rear keeping a close eye. By spreading out, they each had a chance of making a catch.

The light was pretty good, but I still needed to push the ISO a little to allow me to both stop down (for depth of focus) and shorten the exposure (to freeze the action).

Canon 60D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm at 110mm, 1/320 sec at f/16, ISO 400

Dragonfly

Here's a Four-spot Chaser Dragonfly, which landed straight in front of our hide when we visited Lackford Lakes recently.

Canon 60D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm at 200mm, 1/1600 sec at f/8, ISO 500

An unusual view of the London Eye

Here's the proof that we were inside the Houses of Parliament! From the room the Reception was in, you could see across the Thames to St Thomas's Hospital, and round the corner (just) to the London Eye.

Canon 60D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm at 50mm, 1/100 sec at f/11, ISO 400

Trip to London

We took an evening trip down to London to a reception at the House of Commons celebrating 400 years of Bible translation last week. Unfortunately, photography is forbidden in the actual chamber, but here is a shot of the evening light catching the top of the tower at the opposite end to Big Ben. Very patriotic!

Canon 60D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm at 70mm, 1/1600 sec at f/14, ISO 200

Red Kite at Fermyn Woods

Was this after the mouse? It was circling over the play area and car park, quite oblivious of the crowds of people there that day.

One tricky thing photographing birds in flight is getting anything other than a silhouette. For one thing, the camera tries to average out the exposure, and the sky is very bright, plus the bird is often between you and the sun. But on this occasion, the sun shining through the feathers actually makes the shot for me.

Canon 60D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm at 200mm, 1/4000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200

Baby mouse

Not sure if this is a Field Mouse or a Wood Mouse, but it was very cute, and seemed quite unafraid. It hopped out of the undergrowth as we were having a picnic at Fermyn Woods.

Canon 60D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm at 200mm, 1/125 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200

Muntjac at Lackford Lakes

Here's a change - a deer! This Muntjac wandered out in broad daylight onto the banks of the lake where the geese graze the grass short. Maybe it likes the fresh growth there.

Probably my crispest digiscope shot so far.

Canon 60D with Celestron Ultima 80 at 1/200 sec at f/6.3 (fixed), ISO 400

A rather damp nesting site

These Great-Crested Grebe were on the Plover Lake at Lackford Lakes recently. They had found a very shallow spot about 20 metres off shore, and were piling it up with weed, apparently to see if they could build a nest there. They only did this for a while, so maybe they decided it would not work, or perhaps they just called it a day.

This is another digiscope shot. The Grebe were about 50 metres from the hide, and filled the frame at minimum zoom on the scope. There is pretty obvious softness at the edges of the frame at this setting.

Canon 60D with Celestron Ultima 80 at 1/400 sec at f/6.3 (fixed), ISO 320

Ely Cathedral - the Ship of the Fens

Here's why Ely Cathedral is sometimes called the "ship of the Fens". It stands tall above the lakes and wetlands, for all the world looking like a great ship docked beyond the trees. Here it is beyond the Fishing Lake at Roswell Pits.

This is a High Dynamic Range (HDR) picture, made with the assistance of Photomatix Pro. It is built from three shots at different exposures (+- 2EV on this occasion, as it was extremely contrasty into the evening sun). The software then combines the images, adjusting brightness levels in different parts of the picture, and preserving detail in both highlight and shadow areas.

Canon 60D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm at 18mm, 1/100, 1/200 and 1/400 sec at f/23, ISO 200

Bird spotting, train spotting

This Grey Heron seemed to be looking for somewhere to settle down for the night on the edge of the Sailing Lake at Roswell Pits. It stood here for a while, but when a train went by on the nearby Ely to Peterborough line, it stood tall and watched the train go by. It soon decided this was perhaps not the best spot, and moved off to the corner of the lake.

Canon 60D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm at 200mm, 1/320 sec at f/5.6, ISO 250

Hungry Grebes at Roswell Pits

First visit at the weekend to Roswell Pits, on the edge of Ely. All seemed quiet at first, but in the far corner of third lake, we spotted a Great-Crested Grebe with a couple of young. And not only that, but the adult was fishing and feeding them. They would hang around when the parent dived, and then race to be first to get the fish when they popped up again.

This is my first "digiscope" blog image, taken through a telescope with the camera attached to the eyepiece. A tripod is a must, and even then it is really hard to get a steady image. These birds were over 100 metres away, so it's pretty good for a first attempt.

Canon 60D with Celestron Ultima 80, 1/320 sec at f/6.3 (fixed), ISO 400