Reach for the skies!!! My tern to fly high!

[Dave Williams]

There are not many breeding pairs of Oystercatchers on the Isle of May and I didn't go out of my way to photograph them. They are very skittish when on or near the nest.

214)Eurasian Oystercatcher

Eurasian Oystercatcher.     BY 214 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Dave Williams]

There seemed to be more breeding Rock Pipits than ever on the island this year.

215)Rock Pipit

Rock Pipit.  BY 215 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Dave Williams]

The Isle of May has a large breeding population and is the centre of an ongoing study in to their lives and behaviour. Consequently they are nearly all tagged, to aid the individuals identity.

216)European Shag

European Shag.  BY216 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

The adult Shag is a superbly coloured bird in the right light.

The Juvenile less so!

European Shag.  BY216 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Dave Williams]

The Razorbills seem to take off from the cliff top, make a big circuit over the water then return to their favoured spot.

217)Razorbill

 

Razorbill.     BY 217 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

 

You can with a bit of luck track their progress. I must admit I'm getting too old to be too close to the cliff edge so I wait for the ones flying a bit higher!

Razorbill.     BY 217 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Dave Williams]

Like the Razorbill, they are much better suited to water

218)Common Guillemot

Common Guillemot.   BY218 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

but they are still very capable fliers.

Common Guillemot.   BY218 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Tdgraves]

beautiful seabird shots @Dave Williams

[Galana]

Great shots of the returning birds. You can almost hear their landing instructions.

[Dave Williams]

Everyone loves a Puffin! This year's outbreak of Avian Flu has curtailed visits to some of the best breeding colonies and I was lucky to visit the Isle of May just before it was closed to visitors for the time being.

Most of us who start out with wildlife photography have ambitions of taking particular iconic images...the Puffin with Sand Eels is probably on most peoples list. I have been lucky enough to have so many opportunities that they are not a priority anymore although taking some shots is still irresistible.

219)Atlantic Puffin

Williams-Atlantic Puffin.  BY 219-July-Atlantic-Puffin-Fratercula-artica-1 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

After getting the Eel shot you start looking at flight shots and for the first time, with my latest camera body, the Canon R5, I quickly got bored as it was a bit like shelling peas. The camera is amazing at times, others it can be a tad frustrating.

Atlantic Puffin.  BY 219 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

So, by looking for new opportunities I ended up getting up really early....4.00am and the early returners from a fishing trip.

Atlantic Puffin.  BY 219 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

or going out late for the sunset shots.It never goes completely dark in the middle of summer when you head up to Scotland. The image stabilisation in both the R5 and my 100-500mm lens compensates for imbibing alcohol with dinner!

Just don't go near the edge of the cliff!

Atlantic Puffin.  BY 219 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Dave Williams]

The UK's rarest seabird. There was just one occasional visitor amongst a colony of roosting Arctic Terns and it's sometimes difficult to tell the difference between Roseate and immature Arctic Terns for someone like me!

220)Roseate Tern

 Roseate Tern.  BY220 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

The black bill and crown along with red feet are two considerations but a non breeding specimen won't have a rosy tinge to it's breast.

Roseate Tern.  BY220 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[Galana]

21 minutes ago, Dave Williams said:

The image stabilisation in both the R5 and my 100-500mm lens compensates for imbibing alcohol with dinner!

That's very good to know.

Nice shot of the Rosey Tern. You can read the ring.

[PeterHG]

Great shots of the fulmar and kittiwake and your dawn photo is very special!

[Dave Williams]

To complete my new additions for my BY taken on the Isle of May, my favourite subject to watch were the Arctic Tern chicks being fed. When there was competition between two chicks to get to the Sand Eel first the results could be quite funny but a still photograph doesn't quite capture the moment, hence I started to take a greater interest in video.

221)Arctic Tern

Arctic Tern  BY221 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

An early morning chick is out looking for the first delivery ahead of it's sibling!

Arctic Tern  BY221 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

Watching the adults bathing also gave some decent action shots too.

Arctic Tern  BY221 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[pedro maia]

Very nice photos, as expected!

[TonyQ]

Well done with the Roseate Tern, I have never seen one.

Lovely shots of the Puffins and Arctic Tern. The camera may help, but it is your skill that gives us such beautiful photos.

You say the camera is amazing, but sometimes frustrating. Which aspects frustrate you?

[Dave Williams]

 

6 minutes ago, TonyQ said:

Well done with the Roseate Tern, I have never seen one.

Lovely shots of the Puffins and Arctic Tern. The camera may help, but it is your skill that gives us such beautiful photos.

You say the camera is amazing, but sometimes frustrating. Which aspects frustrate you?

 

The camera takes what seems like an age to wake up and be able to focus once it's in sleep mode. To keep it awake I regularly tap the shutter button and that makes it's reaction fairly instantaneous and the auto focus is superb in most circumstances. It does also tend to overheat though which means you have to stop shooting. Didn't happen to me on the Isle of May but did several times when I was in Spain and Bulgaria but that was in hotter weather and more constant usage of the shutter button because of the type of photography and subject matter there.Interestingly though, when I was in video mode on the IOM I had live view on and just pressed the right button to start recording because the camera never went to sleep. Video is supposedly the biggest cause of overheating but that would depend on how long you are recording for and in what format. The camera is capable of 8K but you can't play it , in 4K you are able to extract a single image but it won't be as sharp as a still shot. In slow motion (100 fps) and 4K the amount of recording space on a memory card is incredibly small. I have just bought a 512GB memory card which can take 34 minutes of video in the format before it's full. If. I were to take stills I can take 9000 full RAW shots and probably twice as many compressed (cRAW in mirrorless Canon cameras).

I'm on a huge learning curve for video but it's a challenge I'm looking forward to trying. Memory space is the big one to consider. A slow motion movie can last far too long but the good news is you can speed it up when you play it and get better quality (I think). I'm beginning to realise the need for a story board otherwise the shots can be a bit meaningless. You can add different types of video though, and from different cameras. The one I posted by Christian earlier has clips and stills from both his own R5 and an iPhone too.

Anyway, for a laugh, and my first attempt with the R5 here's my blockbuster entry into the world of (silent) cinema. Hollywood here I come.

 

[Dave Williams]

Back on home ground a couple of weeks back on a rather dull grey day.

222)Little Tern

Little Tern   BY 222 by Dave Williams, on Flickr

[xelas]

The autofocus on this new ML cameras is simply amazing! And such are also your photos!

 

Speaking tech, what kind of a PC beast do you have to process those gigapixels?

[Dave Williams]

43 minutes ago, xelas said:

The autofocus on this new ML cameras is simply amazing! And such are also your photos!

 

Speaking tech, what kind of a PC beast do you have to process those gigapixels?

 I'm no technical expert but in terms of computers I now realise, I think, memory is key , not storage!

I have a 2019 iMac which already struggles when there are too many programmes open at once.I have 8GB of memory.

My 2015 MacBook is only good for transferring storage to an external hard drive from the camera card.It has neither storage space nor spare memory it seems! there was insufficient room on the cache to edit anything when I was away...I must admit I don't understand that bit.

I have just bought new camera cards, external hard drives and next I'll need a new fast laptop which will have to be Apple as it's all part of the family operating system now. We are hooked in!

The camera body is just the start.

 

[Galana]

14 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

I have just bought new camera cards, external hard drives and next I'll need a new fast laptop

Plus new batteries and chargers, USB leads and carrying case. Those nice people in Manchester Airport Security will welcome you with open arms.

And by now you will have found out that there is no way to fit a larger drive into your Macbook. Even if there is space it is hardwired in. It's all a fiendish plot to make you spend money.

[PeterHG]

On 7/13/2022 at 6:37 PM, Dave Williams said:

To keep it awake I regularly tap the shutter button and that makes it's reaction fairly instantaneous

Yes, that’s what I do as well ( and sometimes forget to my frustration). That is still one of the main drawbacks compared to a DSLR, But, like you, I cannot fault the autofocus speed and accuracy. Great video effort on the Puffin !

[Dave Williams]

22 hours ago, Galana said:

Plus new batteries and chargers, USB leads and carrying case. Those nice people in Manchester Airport Security will welcome you with open arms.

And by now you will have found out that there is no way to fit a larger drive into your Macbook. Even if there is space it is hardwired in. It's all a fiendish plot to make you spend money.

 

I'm well prepared for Manchester Fred, this year has been worse than ever probably because they have had to replace staff who never returned after furlough.One minute a plastic belt is OK the next it isn't and vice versa. My big problem is weight limitation as a second class passenger on Emirates who seem to have changed the rules on hand baggage and are now strict about one bag only and a 7KG weight. I have a huge amount of stuff I could take, I could stuff things in my pockets but in mid summer it looks a bit odd wearing a jacket, particularly my black photographers vest with umpteen pockets. I tend to look suspiciously like I have a b*** ( do these words get picked up on checks) strapped to my body if the pockets are bulging so who knows how that might end.

What's really ironic is that all flights to Africa allow 2x 23kg hold bags per person , even for the poor folk like me.  The A380 is a huge plane and could easily gobble up 2x 7kg hand bags and one 23kg per person instead, or even give me a single 10kg hand luggage allowance plus one in the hold. Jet2 do, easyJet allow you up to 15kg as long as you are within size and I think BA are pretty generous too.

Still, the benefit of Emirates is I'm confident they won't cancel the flight! 

[Kitsafari]

it was worthwhile getting at such early hours - the light was just beautiful on the eider and puffins. of course that's also to do with the photographer's skills!

[Tdgraves]

@Dave WilliamsBA allow a 23kg cabin bag, plus a small handbag/laptop bag, but you need to get to London…..

This is what I am used to, so imagine my horror when our Kenya confirmations came through which stated that the luggage allowance was 15kg each IN TOTAL! My camera equipment must weigh that alone (without a possible new lens). Therefore to allay the stress (and to allow the lens purchase) we have booked a freight seat. I am used to safari flights only having a small hold allowance, but this is the first time I have encountered a combined total, especially when it is so small.

[Dave Williams]

43 minutes ago, Tdgraves said:

@Dave WilliamsBA allow a 23kg cabin bag, plus a small handbag/laptop bag, but you need to get to London…..

This is what I am used to, so imagine my horror when our Kenya confirmations came through which stated that the luggage allowance was 15kg each IN TOTAL! My camera equipment must weigh that alone (without a possible new lens). Therefore to allay the stress (and to allow the lens purchase) we have booked a freight seat. I am used to safari flights only having a small hold allowance, but this is the first time I have encountered a combined total, especially when it is so small.

That's horrendous!

I'll look in to freight seats, I have never though about looking although I remember someone bought an actual bottle of napoleon's brandy at an eye watering cost and paid for it's own seat on Concorde. Apparently the bottle later was dropped and that was the end of that!

[Zim Girl]

Lovely Puffin shots and the Razorbill and Guillemot coming in to land are fantastic!