Thursday 18 June 2015

A Brief Visit to Westbere

With another day of most welcome sunshine and light winds this afternoon, I decided after work to make a very brief visit to Westbere Lakes to see if any more Norfolk Hawkers had emerged yet. I didn't arrive until 5pm and was hoping that as the temperature was dropping, that I might get a few perched opportunities. I was soon scanning the left hand dyke before the river and walking up and down a few times, I managed to find 2 Norfolk Hawker. I went back to where they were and watched them for a while before deciding to take some more photos of them. One was mostly flying up and down the dykes but was not pausing much in flight. I hope to find an accommodating individual soon which will give me a few flight opportunities and see if I can improve upon last years shots, not an easy task. I moved on to the second male which was spending a lot of time perching and although quite close, c3 metres away, it was a little distant for the Sigma 150mm macro so the trusty Canon f4 300mm was again used with some pleasing results. Yes I would like a clearer background but I was pleased with the image quality using the Canon 7d mk 1. These are probably my best efforts with them this year so far but hopefully more will emerge and I can continue to enjoy watching and photographing them. Hopefully I may make a visit after work again tomorrow although its supposed to be a little cloudier. Perhaps I will try and find that Norfolk Hawker exuviae I keep promising myself. Now that would be a good find.




Norfolk Hawker (male)

10 comments:

  1. Stunning shots Marc. On my 'must see' list for this year, and happy to see they are south of the Thames. Are they easy to find at Westbere? I have never been to this site so any info would be appreciated.

    Stephen

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    1. Cheers Stephen. They can be hot and miss but the last couple of years have been very good at Westbere. There are a couple of places they tend to be. Drop me an email and I will send you some better directions.

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  2. Hello Marc, Amazing they are Jewels to me. Your captures are again so wonderful.
    Regards,
    Roos

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    1. Thanks Roos. As you can see, I do like a Norfolk Hawker photo. Always looking to improve.

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  3. Wonderful images, especially the 2nd.

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    1. Thanks Wilma. I tend to agree, its a nice angle to capture.

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  4. Very pleasant images indeed Marc :-) I reckon the 300mm lens gives more DoF than the Macro, but the macro gives better detail, swings and round-a-bouts as ever!!

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    1. Cheers Warren. Shooting that further back does indeed give you better depth of field. Still waiting to get one on the macro!

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  5. Brilliant Marc, just brilliant.

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