Ron's Wildlife Photography blog

I am on the Isle of Mull from the  Monday 18th until Friday 22nd October, this is prime time for the red deer rut. I am holding small workshops (max three) to photograph the red deer and other Mull wildlife

Wednesday is now fully booked but I do have availability for the other days at present. The costs are £85 per person, this does not include accommodation.

Accommodation is available at Arle Lodge which is situated between Salan and Tobermory at a very reasonable cost check out the website at http://www.arlelodge.co.uk

If you need any further information please contact me via the comments page below

I went to the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands for a few days. That’s why my blog hasn’t been updated for a few days. I specifically went to visit Chanory Point near Fortrose in the Moray Firth to photograph the bottlenose dolphins.

I spent three days there photographing the Bottlenose Dolphins. I have been in the past but never done very well. These have got to be one of the hardest mammals to get images of. They come out of the water very fast and in random places. If the camera isn’t at you eye as the dolphin leaves the water then you just get the body of a dolphin, which is OK, but if you want pictures a bottlenose dolphin you need to show the bottle nose on the animal.

This is where the problems begin. It takes time and patience combined with a severe learning curve and lots of tolerance of all the unruly kids and  adults who keep pushing in  in front you  and bumping into you as you are shooting the pictures

If you feel like having a go yourself, you need to visit two hours after low tide and be prepared to wait for a good few hours for any sort of action, sometimes they perform, and sometimes they don’t, so if you are going, good luck.

The main aim of the trip was to get a dolphin breaching. They are incredibly unpredictable and so it is very difficult to get what you want. Firstly, they may not breach, secondly if they do you need to be very quick to get on them with the camera and them all the normal rules of photography kick in. Is the picture sharp, is it exposed correctly.

One of the problems with shooting at Chanory Point is the light. The sun rises straight across the Moray Firth and if it is strong light, it back-lights the dolphin making it very difficult to get any detail in the face of the mammal as it will be in the shade. Probably the best time of day is mid to late afternoon, 4:00pm onwards. This gives the light a better angle on the dolphins but then you need to combine this with the two hours after low tide factor, so it needs to be given a little thought when planning the trip to make sure you get the best out of the day.

Lens size is crucial, I used my canon 300mm f2.8, which I think worked very well. Others where using 70 – 200 zoom lens 100 -400 zoom lens. Both would work very well. My 500mm lens is a little on the big side as the dolphins do come quite close, often within 20 metres

You will see from the pictures here that they were taken at different times of the day and indeed on different days.

I was lucky enough to get one of the dolphins playing with a dead salmon, it was pitching the fish up in the air and catching the fish in its mouth. It was reminiscent of the famous pice of fils Simon King took of the killer whales playing with the baby sea lions in the Blue Planet series

I hope you enjoy them. I had three really good days there and met some good like minded people which is always a bonus.

More pictures on the mammals section on my website www.wildlife-photography.uk.com

Enjoy

Ron

Breaching Dolphin

Breaching Dolphin

The first shot

Four in a row

A group of four

Bottlenose Dolphin

Dolphin Calf

Comming straight towards me

Eating a salmon

Bottlenose Dolphins

This is the sequence were the dolphin is playing with a dead salmon

Dolphin with Salmon

Dolphin with Salmon

Dolphin with Salmon

Dolphin with Salmon

Dolphin with Salmon

Dolphin with Salmon

Dolphin with Salmon

Thanks for looking

Its the 20th Nature Photography Fair  at Scottish Natural heritage’s Battleby Offices at Redgorton near Perth  on the 4th and 5th September.

The speakers this year   Niall Benvie, Ian Cameron, Fergus Gill, Alex Mustard, and Danny Green.

It promises to be a great event, why not come along. You can get information on booking at Scottish Natural Heritage here at  http://www.snh.gov.uk/news-and-events/events/event-details/?id=650

If you go please come and say hello

Ron

I have been out and about today doing a bit of work and a few errands. I as driving back home and saw a large area filed with round straw bakes and a red legged partridge sitting on top of one of them. I had to crawl around to get into position, I hope no one was watching it must have looked a little strange, a grown man crawling around in the dirt.

So here are a couple of the pictures…………….

Red Legged Partridge

Red Legged Partridge

I’m becoming quite attached to these little birds. I think they have a great beauty despite their perception of being an LBJ  (little brown job). They have bags of character and are more than a little amusing.

I managed to get quite close to these birds, they show the feather structure detail along with the subtle colours of the feathers and some of that character I mentioned.

Here are some of the images taken…………..

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

"its up there somewhere"

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipits Conversing

I joined the party visiting Bass Rock on Tuesday afternoon. The trips are oganised by the Seabird Centre at North Berwick http://www.seabird.org. The trip itself is managed by Maggie Shedden who is very knowledgeable about all things gannet, what she doesn’t  know about gannets, probably isn’t worth knowing. Maggie keeps everyone in line when on the rock and ensures the gannets don’t get disturbed.

These are a few of the images taken and you can see more if you wish on my website www.wildlife-photography.uk.com in the seabird section.

The traveling group of photographers met at the quayside at Dunbar, and after a safety briefing given by Maggie we boarded the boat, donned our life-jackets  and made our way out to Bass Rock. The sail is about an hour and we stopped just off the rock and chummed for the gannets to come close and feed.

At first the gulls came; herring gulls, lesser black back gulls, greater black back gulls and common gulls all came with a ferocity that was breathtaking. Then slowly the gannets came, a couple to start with then the numbers increased until there were hundreds circling the boat and diving for the fish pieces the skipper threw out for them. There were hundreds of gannets in a feeding frenzy only metres from the boat. Some came so close you could almost touch them.

The lens I used to get the images of the birds diving and circling the boat was a Canon 17 – 85 mm zoom lens at f5.6 and a shutter speed of  1/3000 second  to try to freeze the action.

Bass Rock

Gannet about to dive

Gannet in action

Gannet hovering

Diving gannet

Gulls and gannets

A mass of birds

Diving Gannet

Gannet under the surf

Underwater Gannet

We finally landed on the north landing of Bass Rock, this is the easier of the two landings and then we made the short trek up to the viewing area above the lighthouse. It is quite a sharp ascent with all the kit you have to carry. Maggie gave us our instructions on the do’s and don’t s with the gannets and we got to the business of taking pictures. The day was very windy and the wind was blowing a lot of dust about, mainly the dried guano of the birds which got everywhere and  checking for dust on the lens was essential on a regular basis.

I used three lenses with my Canon 7D camera, the Canon 17 -85 was proving very useful for the birds which were very close, my Canon 300mm f2.8  for the flight shots and my Canon 500mm f4 lens and tripod for the head shots and an Epsom P5000 storage device, an essential piece of kit in the field for clearing your CF cards

Here are some more of my images from Bass Rock……………………

Gannet preening

Gannet

Gannet in flight

Gannet

Gannet

Gannet

Young Gannet at the nest

Young Gannet

Gannet

Gannet preening

Gannet

Gannet in flight

Adult Gannet with young

Bass Rock Gannets

Gannet

Some more meadow pipits on the Lammermuir Hills in the Scottish Borders. I as trying to get them in a more natural setting  i.e. sitting in the heather. and there’s a wheatear for good measure

Here are a few of the images taken…………..

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Wheatear

I have a stand at the Kelso Show at Springfield Park Kelso Friday and Saturday this week, I would be delighted if you are at the show to come along and say hello

Hope to see you there Row D stand 111

Ron

Visit my website www.wildlife-photography.uk.com

I found a small colony of rabbits near Melrose in the Scottish Borders, I took a few pictures but I particularly like this one. He just stood up for me for a few seconds posing for me then ran off.

It an effect I have on a lot of people………………..

More pictures on my website www.wildlife-photography.uk.com

Standing Rabbit

I am attending the Border Union Show in Kelso this year, If yo are coming along why not drop in and say hello. The show is at the Springwood Showground.

The dates of the show are Friday 30th and Saturday 31st July, its a great traditional country sow so why not bring the family along.