Day 5 at the hide and the results

Went up to the hide today left around 07.30. I decided to do this as the weather forecast is changing by the hour. I could not risk not having good weather next week so I went up today. Not sunny today although nuthatch again very active and very vocal. The woodpecker is getting more confident today and is coming closer, however he is spooked by the noise of the camera going off. If only I had the Nikon D3s that has a silent shutter setting - maybe I would get him.

Tomorrow I pick up the 1D Mk iV for trial. I can’t wait to try it as I have heard good reviews about it, and photographer Danny Green says it is really worth owning. I will test it on all isos to see what the noise is like. I wonder how it compares to the Nikon D3s. Tests will tell me.

It will be interesting to see how it reacts, as being able to use higher isos will give me higher shutter speeds hopefully giving me sharper images.

Surprising results today. New addition to the station very successful, nuthatch coming to it regularly he is rather quick though need to get the aperture right so that the image is sharp. Also need to prefocus on it so that I do not miss a shot.

Woodpecker got really close today managed to shoot two frames off before it flew off. Quite happy with the shots though as the one is different to what you normally see.

Flashes deployed today, not happy with what results it is giving now. Now that the light is good it seems too harsh with flash.

Filling of the feeders and the weather.

I went up to the farm today to refill the feeders and to check that every thing was ok. I wanted really to fence off the hide so that it could be left there. The new addition to the hide seems to be a success as the log was empty again of food. Refilled the feeders heavily so that I do not have to visit for a while as the weather is not very good for the next couple of days. However Sunday is good and I intend to fence off the hide with the help of my wife Helen. This also gives me the opportunity to show her what I have been up to.

See weather reports below. (Double click on them to open them in a new window).

For the weather reports I used the accuweather website I use this as I have it on my iphone. Also it allows you to see around 15 days in advance, which is great as this then allows to me to plan ahead when to go the hide.

The weather and its issues

Good old british weather strikes again. The weather has taken a turn for the worse in the last week and it is not good as this not only effects my project but more seriously it really effects the survival of wildlife in britain. It will be interesting to see what happens in the future and to see if any birds move to the red list of endangered species because of it.

Other wildlife photographers are mentioning it as well including Andy Rouse however he is making the most of it as he is photographing birds in his garden. Pity my garden is not big enough really to do this. Also cannot get of the drive to go anywhere as am snowed in.

BBC Springwatch crew have got so worried about this they have put on a special week of programs to make sure the people do feed the birds and to highlight migration and britains importance to the success of it.