Showing posts with label Woodpigeon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Woodpigeon. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

Candid Camera

Old age combined with bird photography in all sorts of weather in many parts of the world finally caught up with my now rough around the edges Canon EOS 80D. I listed it on Ebay as needing “tlc and attention” and it sold quickly for £200, enough dosh to kick-start the search for another camera. 

Now was the time to check under the floorboards for spare cash towards the new investment. Well there’s no point in keeping money in rip-off banks with their paltry interest rates is there? And in any case, and just this week, if a customer doesn’t conform to many banks’ increasingly odd world view they will simply close an account. Whatever happened to “The Customer is Always Right”? 

As luck would have it I found a stash of notes that Sue had forgotten about and then set to Googling digital SLRs. 

Mirror-less cameras are the new trend and destined to replace digital SLRs. I already have a mirror-less in the shape of a pocket sized Sony SLR used for street and landscape holiday shots, a camera that performs incredibly well. But I needed a camera to which I could seamlessly switch without learning a whole new set of function buttons and complicated menus, a feature in which the Sony excels. I love the little Sony with a passion but could never use it as a tool for bird photography, an ability that demands rapid changes of ISO, f numbers and zoom settings, mostly all at once, with one hand. 

Sony A Series
 
The upgrade had to be a camera that would take Canon and third party EF/EFS lenses, more especially an 18-55mm for birds in the hand and a Sigma 150-600mm telephoto for longer shots. Choices were limited but I settled on the next Canon up, an EOS 90D, probably the last of Canon’s digital SLRs before their recent move to a number of mirror-less cameras. 

The main reason for going for the 90D was extra megapixels, 33MP as opposed to 24MP, plus the aforementioned familiarity with Canon’s user friendly menus together with the layout of the camera back plate and the top buttons, both of which are satisfyingly similar in both cameras. I used HDEW Cameras who supplied me a grey import at £200 less than most retailers, and it came with a 3 year warranty. 


Canon EOS90D versus Canon EOS80D

It didn’t take long to get used to the 90D where a few shots in the garden confirmed the upgrade worked well until I could get out in the real world when the winds drop and sunny days return. 

Swallow

Blackbird scoffing the cherries

Collared Dove

Woodpigeon

And whilst on Ebay another camera sparked interest with memories of how cameras used to be: my old dad’s Box Brownie, the Kodak Instamatic, a useless Polaroid, and a pre-digital 35mm film camera, a Pentax ME Super. 

Loading a film camera
 
Those were the days - not. Open Up Your Camera. 

The first step is to open the back of your camera. ... 
Step 2: Prepare your film. Take your film out of the little container. ... 
Step 3: Secure the film leader in place 
Step 4: Wind the film forwards...ensuring your sprockets are aligned 
Step 5: Close the camera and take some photos! 
Step 6: Wind the film to the end and pray that the film captured half decent images that fully display your expertise as a photographer 
Step7: Put the film back in the little container and take it to Boots or a High Street photography shop where it will be sent off to experts who will transform your film into printed images. Hand over a large amount of money for the service 
Step 8: Pray again for about 7 or 8 days until the prints are ready 
Step 9: Save the one or two acceptable prints and bin the rest 
Step 10: Buy another roll of film and start all over again. 

The little camera on Ebay reeled me in. An Italian Job from 1953 - £15 including postage. What a find, a Bencini Comet “like new”.  Thanks Stuart.

The Bencini Comet was the first of a series of cameras made from 1948 into the 1950s. They were made by CMF Bencini in Milan, Italy. 

“Solidly built from polished metal castings with a sheet metal back. A viewfinder camera fitted with a 60mm meniscus lens and instantaneous & time shutter. The time function operates as 'Bulb'. The shutter release, which is on the body, is threaded to allow for the connection of a remote shutter release cable. The shutter function selector is unusual in that it is a tab that is pulled out from the lens barrel. The camera is capable of capturing sixteen half frame exposures (3 x 4 cm) on 127 film by the use of two red windows. It is a front focussing camera giving focus down to 3ft. A tripod mount is provided. The viewfinder is very small, the eye piece being only 3.5mm across.” 

Bencini Comet

Bencini Comet

Bencini comet

I have no intention of using this little gem. Cameras of this period and Art Deco looks can never replace a modern digital SLR. But it sure looks good on display in the lounge and provides a great talking point for visitors. 

Back soon with more news, views and photos from Another Bird Blog.

Linking on Saturday to Eileen's Saturday Blog.



Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Garden Top Ten

Thanks to the Wuhan Flu and house arrest it seems we are all to become garden birdwatchers until further notice. 

Just in time then to read of the latest results from the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, an event held over the weekend of 25-27 January 2020 when nearly half a million people counted almost eight million birds. It made this year’s Birdwatch one of the biggest ever. 

The RSPB even produced a Top Ten, a list that depending upon a particular location may not equate to all gardens but represents a combined average result from the whole of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. 

Here they are in one to ten order; a list to bring tears to eyes of WhatsApp “bird news” groups. Not a single “scarce or rare” among them. In the archives of Another Bird Blog I found a picture for each of the species, useful ID pointers for those who have little or no time for common birds. 

The figure in brackets is a guesstimate of the top ten in my own garden for an average January day. In our garden, Magpie is replaced by Dunnock, a much nicer prospect. Magpies aren’t around because I chase them off as soon as they appear:

1. House Sparrow (10)
2. Starling (8)
3. Blue Tit (5)
4. Woodpigeon (2)
5. Blackbird (3)
6. Goldfinch (1)
7. Great Tit (4)
8. Robin (6)
9. Long-tailed Tit (9)
10. Magpie (0)
10. Dunnock

House Sparrow 

Starling 

Blue Tit 

Woodpigeon

Blackbird

Goldfinch 

Great Tit 

Robin

Long-tailed Tit

Dunnock

The RSPB Top Ten of the changes little from 2019, with the top three birds the same as last year. Again, the Number One spot is taken by the House Sparrow, making it first for seventeen years running. Meanwhile the House Sparrow is nowadays an uncommon visitor to our ample sized semi-rural garden. Here the House Sparrow struggles to even hit the charts, despite the RSPB report suggesting that their numbers appear to have increased by 10% in the last ten years. 

The RSPB detect movement at fourth and fifth, with the Woodpigeon moving up to four and, last year’s number four the Blackbird falling to five. This is not surprising given the highly adaptive pigeon’s abundance here in Stalmine that gives the species an easy runner-up place in our garden list. This commonality is explained by a nearby mix of farmland, many trees, thick hedgerows, tolerant residents and few shooters. 

Small birds like Long-tailed Tits (up by 14% on 2019), Wrens (up 13%) and Coal Tits (up 10%) counted well during a mild, wet winter that came with very few frosts and little snow. The 14% for Long-tailed Tits also accounts for it remaining high on our local list as a past breeding species in the berberis bush; and a regular visitor likely to nest again. 

The report showed that Chaffinch dropped from the top ten down to number 11. This placing reflects very recent news that this once abundant farmland bird is the latest species in trouble through agricultural changes and over-building on green land and woodland edge. Sadly the Chaffinch is no longer a regular in our own garden. 

Losers out this time included Song Thrush way down at 20th in 2020, seen in just 9% of all gardens. Compare this to earlier Big Garden Birdwatches of 1979 -2009 when the Song Thrush made a top ten appearance in every year. In our garden, the once common Song Thrush is both "scarce and rare".  

It's a surprise the Goldfinch doesn’t even make the RSPB top five when here in Stalmine it is far and away the most common garden bird at any time of year. Perhaps the Goldfinch is not yet a city bird where many of the Big Garden Birdwatchers reside? 

Greenfinch is another big loser over the span of the Big Garden Birdwatch, a reflection of a major nationwide decline in its population. It came in at 18th and was seen in just 14% of gardens, this itself a worrying drop of 8% on 2019. We have a pair of Greenfinches in the garden so we count ourselves rather lucky in many ways. 

And the cherry blossom smells just wonderful. 

 Cherry Blossom

Stalmine

At least the good weather means we don’t sit in in the house and watch TV.  I’m told there are still people who pay a TV Licence fee for the privilege of having their intelligence insulted!   

Meanwhile, the Government is in a “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” situation.  A relaxation of the lockdown advice will be pounced on by TV and newspaper media and used to whip up even more public hysteria.  The effect this media-generated madness is having on an already browbeaten population has been leapt upon as an excuse for a monumental power grab by the illiberal left, forever eager to bring down an elected Government.  

Back soon with Another Bird Blog and tales of The Great Escape.



Friday, June 14, 2019

Incommunicado

Apologies to regular readers or those searching for the very latest in bird news. There’s been a lack of posts here due to my enforced sabbatical from blogging. At least it gave me time to catch up with a few chores. 

Everyone is reporting the same - the coldest, wettest June ever with hardly a glimpse of the sun. And it’s not just here in the UK. 

Wednesday 12 June 2019. “Hailstones as big as grapefruits hammered several countries across Europe, causing chaos and damaging thousands of homes and buildings. 

Hailstones 

"The fierce hailstorm has battered parts of Slovenia, Croatia and Germany since Monday as strong gale-force winds brought cold temperatures along with intense rainfall.” 

Even a stab at ringing in the garden ended early with more rain although I managed to catch a dozen or so birds before the heavens opened. Goldfinches are ever-present plus a number of very fresh juveniles around now, almost always accompanied by one or maybe both of their parents. 

Goldfinch

I didn't expect to catch a woodpecker, and although they live just down the road in a nearby copse, they rarely visit the garden as I don’t feed peanuts. 

Great-spotted Woodpecker 

Woodpigeon 

House Sparrow 

Goldfinch 

Goldfinch

I'm hoping for better weather next week as we approach the longest day of summer!

Linking today to Anni's Birding Blog and  Eileen's Saturday Blog.



Saturday, May 19, 2018

Wedding Free Zone

I'm back from Menorca with a few photos and tales to tell. Click the pics for more sunny days from the Gem of The Mediterranean, 4th – 18th May 2018. This was our fourteenth visit to this the most beautiful and carefree of the Balearic Islands. 

People have in the past said to me “Are you going to Minorca or Menorca?”, but the two words “Minorca” and “Menorca” are interchangeable. Menorca is the preferred local name, Minorca the English version. Menorca has its own language, Menorquín, which is a dialect of Catalan, but Spanish is widely spoken. 

We picked up the hire car at the airport thanks to our friends at Momple,  a local family business since 1974 and highly recommended in preference to the bigger names of car hire. A small car is ideal for sometimes narrow and twisty roads Menorcan roads. We noted more than one hire car with bent wing mirrors or recent dents.

Within ten minutes and minimal paperwork over, we headed for our destination of two weeks, the beach side resort of Sant Tomas. From Sant Tomas it’s a ten minute drive to the major road of the island, the Me-1. From there the fish-bone layout roads lead to authentic and unspoilt inland towns and to touristy coastal resorts north & south plus the major cities of Mahon or Ciutadella at each end of the island. 

Menorca

Panda 

It rained all of the day we landed. Ready for a rest after our 2am start we remained optimistic for the next and following days. Sunny skies arrived soon and stayed until the end. Witness the following photographs.

There are bits and pieces around the hotel. Sardinian Warbler, Blackbird, Spotted Flycatcher, Hoopoe, the two local gulls Yellow-legged & Audouin’s, plus shearwaters in mostly distant view. On most evenings one or two Scops Owls put on brief shows as they came to feed on beetles and moths. Sadly, the local Woodpigeons have become as bold as our own British ones and rather to the expense of the local Turtle Doves that have now become harder to find in Sant Tomas and the local countryside.

Audouin's Gull

Turtle Dove

Spotted Flycatcher 

Blackbird 

Woodpigeon

Hoopoe 

When the sun came out the local lizards warmed up too. On our travels this year we spotted albeit briefly, a Fox Vulpes vulpes, the same species as our UK one but the one we saw of a very sandy shade almost like the colour of a golden retriever.

Italian Wall Lizard 

It’s one of our favourite runs. Towards Es Mercadal with stops here & there along “Dusty Road” at Tirant and the swooping run to Cavelleria and back followed by lunch at Fornells village. We stopped to rescue a Hermann's from traffic.

 "Dusty Road", Tirant

Hermann's Tortoise

May flowers 

May flowers 

Playa Fornells from Tirant

Bar at Tirant

To Cavelleria

Cavelleria

Red Kites, Kestrels and Booted Eagles line this route with the occasional Egyptian Vulture. We fell lucky on a couple of days with singles of both Red-footed Falcon and European Roller on the roadside wires. The kites and eagles appear to never, ever land, not for the car bound photographer and certainly not for the brightly clad cyclist or walker.

Red Kite 

Booted Eagle 

Egyptian Vulture 

European Roller 

European Roller

Red-footed Falcon 

 Red-footed Falcon

Tawny Pipits seemed harder to find this year, as did both Thekla, Short-toed Lark and even the normally plentiful Stonechat. I fear that Menorcan farmland birds may be in similar decline to our own UK ones. In contrast, Corn Buntings appeared as ubiquitous as ever.

Tawny Pipit

Corn Bunting 

Stonechat 

Fornells 

Fornells

Fornells 

Fornells 

Fornells

Stay tuned. There's more to come from Menorca soon, a book review, plus back to local birding when time allows.

Linking today to Anni's Birding and Eileen's Blogspot.



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