Carrick Roads - Floating Hide

For my final year project at Falmouth University, I am looking at the Carrick Roads, which is a flooded valley on the south coast of Cornwall. Last week I decided to create a floating hide, which enables me to photograph the species at water level.

I wasn't sure if the floating hide was actually going to float, let alone how close I was going to be able to get to the species. So I decided to give it a test run on a Little Grebe. They are known to be fairly skittish, so it was an ideal bird to try it out on.

Little Grebe.

Little Grebe Portrait.

As you can see, the hide has worked really well and got me much closer to the subject and allowed a very low angle which has created a very shallow depth of field.

After this success I was eager to try it out again but the weather had been too windy until today. So today I went to a familiar part of the Carrick Roads allowing me to give the hide a proper try out. My first sighting was of a Cormorant drying off on a buoy. I ended up hovering around the cormorant for about 10 minutes getting so close that my lens couldn't focus at times. As this was a test run I wanted to get close up profile shots of species. Here are a few of the Cormorant.

Cormorant drying off.

Full frame of a cormorants head.

After about 10 minutes a local fishing boat came up behind me, with some very confused people on board. I heard them approaching and questioning what on earth the contraption in front of them was. They thought I was some type of rubbish that had been thrown over board from a boat until they got within 5m of me and realised that I was a person dressed in camouflage inside a floating hide. They were still very confused.

Anyway I carried on with my shoot but sadly the boat had scared off the Cormorant. I moved on looking for the next subject to photograph but was struggling to find anything, until I saw a flash of blue in the distance on the other side. I quickly paddled across and sure enough it was a Kingfisher. These birds too are very skittish when it comes to people, so it was a real test of how well my hide would disguise me . To my amazement I got closer then I have ever been to one of these stunning birds. All of the images shown here are full frame.

Kingfisher sitting on it's perch.

Kingfisher sitting on a pile of seaweed fishing.

Me testing out how close I could get to it.

I followed the Kingfisher around for about 30 minutes, until it suddenly dived about a metre in front of me, caught a fish but then was immediately chased off by another Kingfisher that appeared out of nowhere. Fantastic to witness.

Tips:

• Make a floating hide, they can work so well.
• Don't be scared to try something new.
• Stay with your subject for as long as possible.

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Kingfisher Sunrise Shoot

For my final year project I am studying the Carrick Roads, which is a large estuary in Falmouth, Cornwall. During one of my shoots, I came across a Kingfisher location. I had never properly seen a kingfisher before, except a few occasions when I have seen an electric blue flash fly by, so this was pretty exciting.

Over the next couple of days I visited the location three times, getting to know where the Kingfisher lands and where to position my hide. As it is a tidal estuary, I soon noticed that the Kingfisher only appears at certain times of the day depending on the tide. Personally I found the best time to photograph one is around three hours before high tide.

After waiting for the tides to coincide with sunrise, I set out to photograph the kingfisher. I made sure I arrived at the location at least 30 minutes before sunrise and set up my hide. I did this to prevent disturbing and scaring off the Kingfisher and to allow me adequate time to set up the shot I wanted.

After waiting 45 minutes without seeing anything, I looked out the back of my hide and saw these fantastic sunrise views.

 Redshanks (Tringa totanus) during sunrise

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) during sunrise

I suddenly had a difficult decision to make; either go out and photograph different species in the sunrise or wait for the Kingfisher, which I had set out to do?
In the end I decided to stay in the hide and, fortunately, within 10 minutes the Kingfisher had appeared,  landing on the perch I had intended to photograph it on.

The Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) on its perch, ready to fish

The sun was only hitting this perch and the background was in darkness creating this effect. It was all natural lighting without flash. This is the shot I was looking for - and the decision to stay in the hide had paid dividends on this occasion.

After just 15 minutes the golden light had gone, the sun disappearing behind the clouds. The Kingfisher was still around, but now on a different perch.

 

These photos aren't, in my view, as effective as the previous one, but do show more of its habitat. My next plan is to attempt a wide angle shot of the Kingfisher in its natural environment which I am hoping to attempt within the next four weeks when I return to Cornwall.

My main tips for photographing Kingfishers would be ;

1. To be patient 
2. Learn its behaviour
3. Learn where it lands and fishes
4. Use a hide
5. Add your own perch - this way you can plan the shot and the background more

Camera used: Nikon D90
Lens used: 300mm F2.8 with a X2 Converter

I hope you enjoyed this, my first blog. Many more to follow!!