Hello and welcome
I have always had a keen interest in wildlife and the great outdoors;
I was an Angler for over 30 years but gave it up a few years ago to
concentrate on photographing wildlife. I lived in Runcorn; Cheshire a
short distance from the M56 that gave me great access to the Wirral,
Northwales and Lancashire, with some great countryside on my doorstep
I didn't have to travel too far in search of wildlife and photographic
opportunities.
Some of my wildlife photographs range from as far afield as Cuba,
Antigua, Saint Martin, Saint Lucia, Dominican Republic, Tuscany ,
Corfu, Turkey, Spain, Portugal.
I now live in the Charente area of western France.
Antigua
Back in the same spot in Antigua after five years, not much has changed. Just a few hundred metres from the dock in a small Car Park that front’s the Harbour Cattle Egrets nest.
Didn’t see the different species of birds this time but it’s still worth a visit.
Green Heron, White-crowned Pigeon, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-crowned Night Heron and Zenaida Dove were the only birds that I managed to see.
.
Green Heron
White-crowned Pigeon
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Zenaida Dove
Next stop Saint Thomas
Barbados
Barbados didn’t offer up much in the way of wildlife opportunities as we were site seeing most of the time. We did visit a wildlife reserve but I wasn’t impressed. Captive animals include Green Monkeys.
Imported originally from Senegal and Gambia in West Africa about 300 years ago.
Postcard from Aruba
Green Iguana
Troupial
Grey Kingbird
Other birds photographed Bare-faced Pigeon, Black–faced Grassquit, Carib Grackle, Common Ground Dove, Eared Dove, Tropical Mockingbird they are in the folder but all the shots are affected by heat haze.
The Norwegian Gateway cruise ship dwarfs the Carnival Glory that we were on.
Norwegian Gateway
Who needs windows? Next stop Bonaire
Brown Pelican. Aruba
After leaving Miami the first stop on our Caribbean cruise is Aruba the first of our eight island tour.
Brown Pelican
The Canon 7D mark 2 has great auto focus but the images could have been better if I have been able to take a different lens and used a filter.
Good news on the 7D mk11. I have managed to update my software and can now take my raw files into Lightroom. That saves a lot of time.
Some of the Brown Pelicans were feeding young in a tree next to a river, underneath the tree a Green Heron was resting up whilst Iguana’s sunbathed on the grass.
Green Heron
More from Aruba later
Lost and Found
Got back from the Caribbean on Monday morning, having taken a few thousand photographs. I took over 500 gig with me but I found some images of the Red-footed Falcon that I had forgotten I had taken……
It is going to take me a long time to go through the photographs from the Caribbean as I used a 7D mark 11 and that means I can only use Canon’s own software to process them.
Back to the Caribbean
Back to the Caribbean
We are off to the Caribbean for two weeks on Friday, flying to Miami and getting on a cruise ship and sailing to Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Tomas, St Maarten and then back to Miami before flying back home.
It’s been a few years since we went to the Caribbean, we just missed a hurricane that hit St Lucia a few days before we arrived on our last visit but it didn’t affect the holiday we had a great time.
It’s not a photographic holiday but I do have permission to take some equipment with me from the boss.
It’s not practical to take a 500mm lens or my Canon 1D mark 1V.
My 60D that I use for macro shots is not ideal but I may have a chance to take a Canon 7D Mk11 with me. I will be taking a Canon 300mm F4 lens with me not the sharpest tool in the box but it will have to do, a 40mm 2.8 STM pancake lens and 90mm 2.8 macro lens will complete the trio.
On my trip to the Caribbean about five years ago I used a Canon 100-400mm lens and a Canon 1D MK2n, not sure the equipment I will be taking with me this time will produce any better photographs although I am optimistic I can get better flight shots with the Canon 7D MK11.
It should be an interesting trip with plenty of photographic opportunities.
Crane Migration
On my recent trip to France to do some work on the house I was lucky enough to see the start of the Crane migration, although the birds were high in the sky as they flew over it was still an impressive site to see.
Late in the afternoon is when the Cranes fly over; sometimes they can be very low as they circle to gain height before continuing on their journey.
It was not the start of the main migration just a scouting party. It only lasted for three days then it stopped, it will start again in November.
Firecrest
I also managed a few photographs of the local wildlife when I wasn’t working on the house and garden.
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
If you go down to the woods today
I’ve still not had time to do the things I intended to do in the deciduous woodland that I own in France. I did managed to remove some bramble so I could park my car off the road and cut back some bracken on the front of it.
Opposite my wood is a coniferous section of woodland that is used for hunting Wild boar, as well as other things, although the area I live in is all a National Park, it is also a big hunting area.
Just down a path opposite my woodland is a Wild Boar baiting station.
The base of the tree is smeared with tar and other ingredients to attract the Wild Boar, as the Boar rubs up against the tree it knocks a stick over that has been placed there. The hunters then know that Wild Boar have been visiting the site.
I am back in France for two weeks on the 7th of October for a working holiday to do some work on the roof and I need to build a shed.
I could could be lucky and see the Crane migration as it flies over.
Don’t think I will have time to get out and explore but the Black Redstarts and the Little Owl should still be around.
