Wildlife Challenge!

[Autumn]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

This is "chips" the squirrel - a very messy eater.

Pol

What a lovely sharp and interesting picture Pol. Nice catchlight in his eye.

I have taken 4 or 5 squirrel pictures this afternoon, but deleted them all as the I hadn't set the speed fast enough.

[Mike Parr]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

This is a super picture of a "Cyril" How do you do it. The only ones |I ever see are normally playing chicken with my car.
he looks so like he going to turn around and say " clear off I'm avin me dinner"

[Pol]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

What a lovely sharp and interesting picture Pol. Nice catchlight in his eye.

I have taken 4 or 5 squirrel pictures this afternoon, but deleted them all as the I hadn't set the speed fast enough.

I've been failing to get good squirrel shots for quite a while now and binned lots this afternoon. I'd given up and had been doing other things and was about to go indoors when I noticed some warm sunlight on the squirrel at the nuttery - so I grabbed just a couple more snapshots and what you see is one of them. Speed was 1/200 and ISO 400 f/8 on aperture priority......... which just happened to be the settings I'd been using elsewhere.

We have a north facing back garden so it's only just starting to get a bit more sunlight so that should help with getting better bird and squirrel shots - it's hopeless out there in Winter. It's still not dry enough for me to get into a position anywhere other than the patio ..... and it's still too early in the year for the sun to reach that far.

I'd suggest you aim for a sunny day and leave some peanuts in a place where the squirrels will be in good light ....... then you stand a better chance of getting a good speed with a lower ISO. Then pray they don't just grab a peanut then scamper off to bury it before you have the chance to press the shutter.

Pol

[Pol]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

This is a super picture of a "Cyril" How do you do it. The only ones |I ever see are normally playing chicken with my car.
he looks so like he going to turn around and say " clear off I'm avin me dinner"

D'ya mean my picci of 'chips' ('cos he has a chip out of his ear ..... LOL)

There are Oak trees along the bottom boundary so we get squirrels coming into the garden all year round. They used to make a mess of the garden tubs burying nuts, acorns etc until we bought a couple of dedicated squirrel feeders (nutteries) for them. They mostly use those now (as seen in the picture) so we can enjoy watching them from a window or sit on the patio or paths and take shots from quite close.

Pol

[Pol]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

Not a very good shot ........... just another Spuggy on a stick

Pol

[StuartR]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

Has this thread gone a bit quiet?

Here's Mrs (I think) Blackbird just after a dip in our pond. Unfortunately I was away from my bench and the camera while she was in the pond but got back just in time (my wife had been watching and called me) to take this shot of her drying off in the sun. (Typical, I'd sat there for an hour and nothing happened, walk away for 5 minutes and miss the action!)

[Pol]

Sparrow in the Plum Tree

Handheld Sigma 170-500mm - Male Sparrow on his way to a feeder.

Pol

[lumix]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

Image stabilizer works then. 525mm at 1/250 sec. H/held. Great shot. Bet your well pleased.

[Pol]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

Image stabilizer works then. 525mm at 1/250 sec. H/held. Great shot. Bet your well pleased.

Aye, the image stabilizer makes a big difference. I've had a few shots here and there that'd I'd have lost without it.

I'd told that Sparrow to stay right there on that banch, sit still and hold that pose or I'd feed him to the neighbour's cat.

Pol

[Pol]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

A Brimstone Butterfly resting on an Honesty flower. I'm always fascinated that they look like leaves.

Pol

[Pops]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

Bet you wouldn't spot one of them on a cabbage.

[coupekid]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

A Brimstone Butterfly resting on an Honesty flower. I'm always fascinated that they look like leaves.

Pol

Love it Pol!
I like the way you can see the poboscus.

[StuartR]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

Talking about proboscis' - look at the one on this bee! Looks more like a fang

I chased this rather large bee round the blossom on our pear tree earlier today but it didn't linger long on each flower and this is the only shot I considered a "keeper" even though it's about a 50% crop and a bit borderline as a result.

Seeing as I'm scared of bees & wasps I was using my 70-300mm with a Canon 500D close-up lens to let me keep a bit more distance than my 60mm Macro would allow

[Stephen]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

Talking about proboscis' - look at the one on this bee! Looks more like a fang

I chased this rather large bee round the blossom on our pear tree earlier today but it didn't linger long on each flower and this is the only shot I considered a "keeper" even though it's about a 50% crop and a bit borderline as a result.

Seeing as I'm scared of bees & wasps I was using my 70-300mm with a Canon 500D close-up lens to let me keep a bit more distance than my 60mm Macro would allow

Hope you deleted all the non keepers then Stuart You know it makes sense

[Autumn]

Re: Wildlife Challenge!

A Brimstone Butterfly resting on an Honesty flower. I'm always fascinated that they look like leaves.

Pol

Excellent Pol. I was looking for the butterfly.