Staffordshire Birding

Friday saw me heading to Harrington Airfield in Northamptonshire in search of a reported Wryneck. I have been to this airfield before for a reported Red Backed Shrike a couple of years ago, I dipped then, and I dipped this visit too. I arrived around 11am with the bird last being seen at about 10.15am. There where quite a few birders searching the area, but it was never relocated. I left at around 3pm.

Bank Holiday Monday and another Wryneck reported. Even better, it’s in Staffordshire. I set off and about an hour later arrive at Berry Hill Fields. This is a site I have never been to before and to be honest I had no idea where to go. Grabbing all my gear from the boot I ventured onto this large expanse of scrub land and horse paddocks. I hadn’t walked that far when I crossed paths with another birder and he pointed me in the general direction saying, “Just keep walking that way until you see a group of birders.” 

About 10 minutes later a group of birders in a small copse of trees came into view and a few minutes later I had joined them. 
The place was alive with Spotted Flycatchers and a few Whinchat also put in an appearance.

Eventually the bird I was there to see put in in an appearance. This was my first Wryneck, what a great bird. I watched it flitting between bushes and Hawthorn trees, occasionally dropping out of sight onto the ground. Once I was pleased with my views of the bird, I set about trying to get some record shots.

While the Wryneck was out of sight, I set up my digiscoping kit. To be honest I didn’t think this would be of much use as the bird was very mobile and trying to follow an active bird with digiscoping gear can be a frustrating exercise. The camera was going to be my best bet of achieving a record shot, but the bird was distant, light was poor and as it was a bank holiday, it was obviously raining. 
I had to push my camera well into digital zoom to achieve these record shots due to the distance involved. As record shots go, they are OK!

Then, the Wryneck disappeared for about 15 mins, when it again appeared it landed back in the Hawthorn tree, and just sat there. The digiscoping gear was set up. I lined it up, focused and the Wryneck was most obliging. 

I even managed to Videoscope some footage.

More than happy with my views and record shots of my first Wryneck, I started to think about packing the gear up when a Pied Flycatcher put in an appearance.

One of the regulars told me that the previous evening, there had been at least 8 Common Redstarts in the same area. I was very impressed with this venue and it will be a place I will be visiting with some regularity in the future.

The hunt for a new walk about camera

I have for the last few years used a Canon SX40 Bridge camera as my main walk about camera when out birding. I have always been happy with this camera and it is still going strong, but I now feel the need to upgrade. This decision has meant a lot of internet research, in fact I have spent hours going through the various options open to me.

First and foremost I like to watch wildlife, photography is a secondary interest. I have over the years through trial and error discovered that when real distant shots in difficult conditions are required, I can usually get better results using my Scope and either phone or digiscoping my target. Now if I go on a twitch or just out for a full days birding, my scope is always with me and so is my phone, so extreme distance photography is covered. So now, my requirements for a walkabout camera are a little different. 

Extreme Distance I Digiscope

Approx 400 yards - Good Light.

 

Approx 350-400 Yards Poor Light.

300+ Yards - Very Poor light but still a heat haze.

Although I haven’t included them the results from my SX40 Bridge camera did not compare to the above digiscoped pictures. So, I have distant record shots covered.

I now want a camera that can cover from macro to middle distance and although photography is a secondary interest, the quality of the pictures I take is becoming more important to me. Many times recently I have seen the opportunity for an interesting picture, but because the light is poor and knowing my small sensor SX40 bridge camera will struggle to give me a picture of reasonable quality as it will need a high ISO, I don’t even attempt the shot. So, I want a camera that will perform a bit better in lower light situations and still give me reasonable reach. 

Such a camera has been released. Canon has just released its 1” Sensor G3X with an equivalent 600mm (25x) Lens. It hasn’t got the reach of the small sensor cameras with some like the Nikon P900 sporting a 2000mm lens, but with a sensor 4 times the size and 20MP the image quality should be good. It has its negatives, it doesn’t come with an electronic viewfinder. Now a lot of the forums contain photographers down crying this camera for that. I must admit, it’s an expensive camera and I would have liked to have seen one on the camera as standard. However, Canon’s electronic EVF can be purchased and used separately if required. That does however bump up the cost. I gave this some thought and considered my own camera use at the moment with the Canon  SX40. To be honest the EVF is so poor on this camera, I very rarely use it. I have learnt to use the display screen for my photography. 

I weighed up the Pros and Cons and decided I would bite the bullet and go for this camera. A purchase was made.

  

I still want to stay with a Bridge Camera format due to their versatility without having to carry and swap lenses in the field.

My Efforts with the Canon G3X

So first of all I tried a bit of Macro. 

Then some at the extreme end of the lens 600mm

 

Now I am very happy with the quality of these pictures. However, I did have the lens give a lens error message and close twice in the the three days I had the camera. I also noticed that at the extreme of the lens there was a difference in quality in the photographs of the same subject. I believe that there was a fault with the camera and returned it.

However, the more I think about it and go over the pictures I took with it, the more I think I should get a second one and give it another go. I had the same issue with my first SX40 and returned it. The replacement is still producing the goods today. I will give it some more thought. I must say though that the camera build really impressed me, and if the first model had a problem and I can get a perfect model, this could be exactly the camera I am looking for. 

Red-Footed Falcon Staffordshire

When a Red-footed falcon was reported at Chatterley Whitfield, Stoke on Trent on Thursday the 9th of July, I was interested. When it was still being reported on Sunday the 12th and considering some of the excellent pictures I had seen of this gorgeous falcon, I couldn't resist it anymore and set off to check it out myself.

I took the new Novagrade Standard smartphone adapter with me intending to put it through its paces "in the field," so to speak.

The bird gave great views coming close enough to delight all the photographers. The only sound to be heard whenever the bird moved was a barrage of rapidly firing shutters from behind the artillery battery of massive lenses. I set up my iPhone5 on the universal adapter, pointed my scope in the same direction as the other lenses and attempted to get some record shots myself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A very enjoyable Sunday afternoon, with a bonus Black Redstart thrown in for good measure. Incidentally, this was my first Black Redstart, it's one of my "If you had been here 5 minutes earlier......" Birds.

The Versatile Bridge Camera

I do like messing about trying to capture record shots of the Birds and Nature I see when out and about on my travels. If the wildlife is cooperative I can use my Phonescoping or Digiscoping set up. However, by cooperative I mean stationary. Unfortunately, a lot of wildlife won’t be this cooperative and some other way of recording the moment is required. 

Obviously there is the dedicated DSLR paired with a suitably large and impressive lens. The drawback here is mainly the astronomical expense of a decent long lens, and the issue of carting it about in conjunction with binoculars, scope and any other birding paraphernalia. I am first and foremost a birder/nature watcher rather than a photographer, so I just want record shots without carrying too much more equipment with me. This is where bridge cameras come into their own. Yes, they are a compromise on image quality compared to a DSLR, but in exchange you get incredible zoom facilities. I hadn’t used my bridge camera for a while, but recently I have taken it out and about and can’t understand why i ever decided to leave it at home when I’m wandering about? It’s an old Canon SX40 that has already been superseded  twice by Canon with the SX50 and SX60 and if rumors are true, another is imminent. I am in the market for an upgrade, but I’m taking my time researching what model of bridge camera my replacement will be.

Getting the record shot

Friday, and the first White Winged Black Tern for 10 years was reported in Staffordshire at Middleton RSPB.  I arrived home from work, changed, and was soon out the door again with the birding gear and on route to Middleton.

On arrival I soon located the Tern on the Jubilee Wetland section of the reserve. It was feeding on the wing and putting on a great display. I really wanted to try and get a record shot, but the speed the bird was moving made Digiscoping impossible. I had brought my old Canon SX40 Bridge Camera along and turned to that to try and capture a record of this bird. 

If you have tried to capture a fast moving bird in flight with a bridge camera, you will know it is far from easy. It is however more likely to succeed than trying to focus and Digiscope a fast moving target. I persevered, putting the camera in various modes to see if any would produce an acceptable result. The outcome was I managed a few record shots of the White Winged Black Tern that are acceptable to me.

This has again driven home just how versatile these superzoom bridge cameras are in terms of record shots for any nature enthusiast that doesn’t want to carry about a big and very expensive DSLR lens and camera.

Further Proof

Then on Saturday Mrs Moocher and I ventured further afield and headed to West Wales in search of UK Dolphins. We arrived at the Cardigan Bay area at about 11am and started our search. The place is gorgeous, and the birding was pretty good too, with flocks of Chough being a particular highlight. Eventually, the search paid of and we found a Pod of Dolphins. They really are amazing creatures. One female had a calf and even though I got good views through the scope and binoculars, I could not digiscope a picture. They didn’t stay on the surface for more than a few seconds and then they were gone again. Not enough time to find them in the scope, focus the camera and take a picture. I again tried with the Canon SX40, the dolphins were distant so I was working at full zoom with 1.5x digital teleconverter. It was enough to get me some record shots. Someone from the Seawatch project arrived and got their DSLR out with 300mm lens. They decided not to bother as the Dolphins were too distant. They were impressed with what I managed with the little SX40 handheld.

So, I have again convinced myself of the value of a decent bridge camera for nature photography and birding. The search begins for a SX40 replacement.

Birding record Shots

Monday and the new “Standard" Adapter from Novagrade arrived by post. I couldn’t wait to try it out so as soon as I got home from work I set the Standard adapter up to take my iphone 5 and set off to use it. The first observation other than it isn’t quite as pocketable as the original “Compact” version is that the Standard adapter is much quicker to set up to take any phone in its everyday hardcase. The Standard Adapter will also accommodate the larger sized smartphones such as the iphone 6 and HTC One M8 with ease. It looks like it would probably accept phones the size of the iPhone 6+, but I don’t have one at hand to try.

The differences in appearance.

The Original Compact Novagrade Adapter.

Compact Plus Phone

The New “Standard” Novagrade Adapter.

The “Standard plus Phone.

A big plus point with the Standard Adapter is that as well as being far less fiddly to initially set up, it grips the phone much further down the sides of its body, this reduces accidental depression of side buttons that sometimes occurs with the iPhone and the compact adapter. It can be resolved by sorting through the assortment of grippers that come with the compact version, but the problem doesn’t present itself at all with the new Standard version.

The size difference is only in the arm extension and gripping mechanism. The main eyepiece component is the same size.

So, with the Standard adapter set up I headed for the Corn Buntings I mentioned last week. They don’t allow you to get too close without making a quick exit, so this was an ideal opportunity to phonescope.  If anything, conditions were too bright and the heat haze was also an issue, I am still pleased with these results though.

I also managed some HD Video footage using the phone and Standard adapter. For best viewing, make sure it is playing in HD, You tube often selects lower resolution playback as default.

All in all, I think the Novagrade’s maiden voyage was a success. It was very easy to attach the adapter to the eyepiece, very quick and easy to snap the phone into place, and although this was my first time out using this adapter, no issues became apparent. I will update this information with further use of the new adapter.

Another welcome find on the new patch

Things are really looking good on the new patch that Pete and I have been exploring. It's an area we decided to check out after Pete had been studying Ordnance Survey maps looking for some probable neglected local areas as far as birding is concerned for us to check out. We seem to have really dropped on. 

The breeding Tree Sparrows I have mentioned before are doing very well and there are good numbers in evidence. 

We have also had Spotted Flycatchers but I haven't managed a decent picture as of yet. I also believe these have bred on the patch. 

Hares are a favourite UK mammal of mine and I always enjoy crossing paths with one. 

 

The cherry on the cake this weekend while exploring a different area of this patch was the discovery of Corn Buntings. These birds have become a real rarity in our locality. The spots I used to visit to find them didn't produce one for me last year. So discovering a small population was a result indeed. 

 

On the return trip to the car, a female Broad Bodied Chaser flew by and landed a little further up the lane. I managed a few pictures before it again took flight. 

 

A hunting Hobby topped off the morning. We are enjoying exploring this area and turning up a few of its suprises.