Newport Wetlands Nature Reserve

Feb 16 2015 RSPB Newport Wetlands Nature Reserve, Gwent Wales. Rain and Overcast. 6c

The skies were grey, the rain showers slowing my progress around the wetlands. I took temporary shelter between squalls in one of the hides overlooking the reed beds. The ponds held numerous pairs of Tufted Ducks, Mallard and Moorhens but fewer birds than my previous visit.

 I had hoped to see a Bearded Reedling (Panurus biarmicus) but the wind and rain meant the birds were hunkered down and not showing. Not to be outdone I took the trail to the lighthouse to watch the flocks of Dunlin, Shelduck and Mallard plodding about on the muddy Severn Estuary shoreline.

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The Severn Estuary

The Severn Estuary looking toward Somerset from Wales.

 It was muddy underfoot and I was beginning to think about returning to the visitor centre when I noticed three Stonechat feeding on the weather beaten wildflowers.

 Female Stonechat (Saxicola torquatos) in the rain.

When the rain ended I made my way through the woodland walk. A flock of Goldfinch flashed through the undergrowth. Blackbirds, Song Thrush, Blue Tits, Greater Spotted Woodpecker and Tree Creepers flitted from branch to branch. Everything was quiet when out of the tree canopy a flock of Common Redpoll descended in front of me, a second lifer of the day after the Stonechat. I soon forget the rain. I used the lightweight Tamron 150mm-600mm and the D7100 handheld which allows me to travel long distances without the associated neck and shoulder pain of the 500mm F4 and tripod. There is a small drop in quality but as I mentioned in an earlier blog I'm not out to change the world but just have a enjoyable birding experience.

Lesser Redpoll (Carduelis flammea) ssp cabaret

*Thanks to Mike King for pointing out my error calling it Common Redpoll.

Out of the corner of my eye was one of my target birds the Bullfinch. It didn't stay long enough for a photo. In a farmers field a large frock of Fieldfare were feeding, another lifer. The rain began again so it was onward only to come across a flock of Reed Bunting. The light was so low I was shooting at between ISO 1000-1600.

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) 

I walked on only to come across the same flock, this time with the birds and grasses bathed in the 'sweet light' of the afternoon sun.

Reed Bunting 

I had been out for two hours and the weather was improving and as I made my way back to the excellent visitor centre for a cup of tea I came across my favourite UK bird the Goldfinch.

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Before I reached the visitor centre I came across Greenfinch, Long-tailed Tit, Pheasant and this Mute Swan carving in the children's playground.

Mute Swan (Paintus ornamentus)

More about Newport Wetlands.

Newport Wetlands

I hope to get out and see a few more birds before I leave the UK so until then, good birding!

"It's never too late to start birding"

John Gordon

The Wye Valley near Tintern Abby.

A Few Hours Birding/Thoughts on Composition

July 31/14 Boundary Bay 104 St Delta B.C. Temp Sunny 26c. 

There were two hours of daylight left and due to a heatwave here in BC the best place to be was outdoors. With this in mind I took off to Boundary Bay where a welcoming cool breeze accompanied the flood tide. Out in the bay perhaps a hundred Black-bellied Plover fed on the flood tide.

There were a few small flocks of Western Sandpipers, among them a mixture of juvenile and worn adults. There were also a few Killdeer foraging along the foreshore.

Western Sandpipers

Along the dyke were flocks of immature Red-winged Blackbirds. As I scoured the bay for shorebirds a chepd, chepd sound behind me caught my attention. A pair Common Yellowthroat fledglings were feeding on insects.

Vertical crop (Fig 1) Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)

Some Thoughts on composition:

I recently found a three catalogues of Robert Bateman's work at a SPCA thrift shop. Looking at his work he sometimes but not always has the subject looking out of or entering from the very edge of the frame, he often breaks every rule in the book, over and over again.

I just thought I would mention that because the more I concentrate on bird photography the more I want to explore the compositional elements that Bateman and others execute so brilliantly in their work.

I recently attended a talk by well known naturalist John Neville. John is blind and gave the presentation using braille and supplemented the presentation with the art of Robert Bateman.

Until that night I hadn't really taken a close look at Bateman's work. 

The three images of the Common Yellowthroat were all originally taken horizontally or in landscape format. The first (fig1)I have cropped the file vertically eliminating some unwanted foliage and making it suitable for the cover of magazine. I use this image only as an example, not that it would grace any magazine cover I know!

The second shot (fig 2) is horizontal with the subject in the two-thirds zone with lots of space for the subject to move into. This technique is used to draw the viewer into the picture. On average people spend about 3 seconds looking at images, images are everywhere, on our TV's, out smart phones. The idea is to draw the viewer in just a little longer, that is all we can ask.

Horizontal shot (Fig 2)

(Fig 3) below  is the most interesting for me. I would have never cropped the tail so close the edge of the frame but in Batemans's 'Peregrine Falcon and White throated Swift' painted in 1985 he used the same technique I have applied here, in his notes he explains his rationale.

"In the painting, I wanted to convey plummeting, unstable feeling. I deliberately made one of the peregrine's wings almost touch the edge of the frame so that the line of the frame adds force to the hawk's dive"

Does it work with my Yellowthroat ? I'm not sure but I will be applying some of Bateman's ideas to my photography to see how I might improve my own work. Another artists to check out is Canadian legend Freeman Patterson who compositional skills are second to none.

Fig 3

Last Shot of the Day

Northern Harrier/ Sweet Light

The 'sweet light' just before sunset lights up this Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus)

Thanks for looking!

It's never too late to start birding!

John Gordon

Langley /Cloverdale