Hartlepool
A day off coincided with a really nice late Winter day – more like Spring, really – so I decided to do something I’ve been promising to do for ages: see what Hartlepool had to offer.
On the face of it, what is now an industrialised coastal coal port might not seem to have much to offer a bird ‘tog: Hartlepool headland is a renowned rarity spot, but this isn’t rarity season, and I really didn’t know what to expect. Still, only one way to find out…
I stepped off the train at the station in the town, with a pretty good idea of which way to head – Google Maps seemed to indicate that the walk from the station to the headland would be easy and short enough, and I’m sure it would’ve been – if I’d set off in the right direction!
Two and a bit miles later I reached the headland, and despite my best intentions I’d managed to miss the yacht marina and Jackson’s Landing – well known for their appeal to sea ducks, grebes and divers – completely.
Never mind, the headland turned out to be a cracking spot for waders and gulls, which is what I’d really come for. It’s a surprisingly pretty patch of coastline really – not like what I’d anticipated – and (joy of joys!) dogs, dog emptiers and dog crap were relatively scarce, presumably thanks to parts of the beach being subject to an outright ban on dogs for a fair chunk of the year; and to dog leash bylaws carrying fines of up to £1000 for breaches.
Northumberland County Council – are you reading this?
I was in the wrong spot for the light for a while (I’d come the wrong way, remember?) but while I was figuring things out I spent some time on the shore near the old town wall next to the river, watching – and being watched by – a Common Seal, a critter we don’t see further north. I got a few pictures, but nothing worth posting.
Plenty of gulls about though – obviously – including this Great Black-backed Gull. This isn’t particularly sharp – it’s an image that works for me in spite of its faults. I like the complementary tones shared by the bird and the water, the look of the water itself, and the wing-tip just brushing the surface:
Great Black-backed Gull
Around the corner, this young Ringed Plover hung around long enough for me to slowly approach and get down onto my belly for a bird’s eye perspective:
Ringed Plover
I’ve a fondness for Purple Sandpipers because although they aren’t rare, neither are they particularly abundant, and they are often very confiding – these two were quite obliging:
Purple Sandpiper (My favourite image of the day)
Purple Sandpiper
There were loads of Turnstones about, and I usually fill up on images of these birds – again, I appreciate their approachability and character – but nothing really leaps out as warranting posting.
One thing that I’ll mention though is that at one point, I managed to sneak up really close to a Turnstone that was bathing in a small pool, my intention being to take some eye-level shots of it splashing about, which I did.
Pleased with the effectiveness of my fieldcraft in getting as close to the subject, I chimped away – and was horrified to see that the pictures were all very out of focus.
Bugger! What’s all this?
Had the AF point caught up on the rocks in front of the pool? (I didn’t think so). Was there not enough contrast on the bird? (There was).
What the hell was going on?I couldn’t help wondering whether this was an example of the unpredictable and inaccurate AF some 7D users have complained about.
Then I looked at the lens: yep, it was on the 6.5m AF stop instead of the 1.8m stop – and I was well within 6.5 meters of the bird!
User error, pure and simple.
More wandering around, more Turnstones and gulls under my belt and then I decided to waste some time chasing Oystercatchers.
I say waste advisedly, because they’re generally far too flighty to get within realistic striking distance of with a 400mm lens.
Today though, I more or less managed, and the croppability of the 7D did the rest – nothing amazing, but this is as good as any “Oyk” (or “Magpie Carrying A Carrot” as they’re sometimes called!) I’ve managed, and far better than most:
Oystercatcher
I’ll probably rework the Oystercatcher and the Gull in Lightroom 3 Beta 2 – I’m very happy indeed with the results I’m getting from this converter and it might even end up taking over from Cap One 5 as my favourite 7D converter: and I never thought I’d see myself writing that!
The Purple Sands and the Ringed Plover here are both Lr 3 conversions, and although they aren’t glaringly different in IQ terms from the Cap One conversions I’ve done, that fact alone is praise indeed, but Lr has better highlight recovery, local adjustments and other features I like, so I might yet become an Lr convert…
second purple sandpiper is my favourite from these mate very nice indeed
Thanks Mark – plenty of feather detail on her belly, isn’t there?
I think I’ll be having another trip down there when the Spring rarities start showing up.
Hi Keith,
I’m glad I’m not the only person to have made that mistake with the lens setting. Did exactly the same with some spotted flycatchers last summer, though I realised mid-session.
Looks like the 7D is behaving for you. The 50D had no problem in the end – was a bl**dy setting that Canon advised Fixation to check, and sorted it.
Was set differently on my 40D which is why it worked on that, and only affects super telephoto L lenses.
By shooting at 500 or usually 700mm means I have to crop less and hence see less of the noise from the cameras.
Do you still use Raw Therapee? I do, but wonder if I should try some of these new ones you mention.
Anyway, hope you’re ok and enjoying the togging – I often check up on your site to read of your antics.
Cheers,
Pete.
Hi Keith
Looks like the 7D is working very well for you. Even at this size the eyes of each of the birds you posted hint at the level of detail in the shots. I’m definitely going to have one once a few bills are out of the way. The two Purple Sandpiper shots are both excellent.
Going to be working with LR3 beta 2 a lot more myself as it seems to have a significantly better output than LR2. Need a new computer though, its sooo slow (7D first though, can’t have both yet says the missus).
Hi Keith, as usual when I visit I’m bowled over with your pics, the detail in your photo’s are fantastic.
Only recently started to take up photographing birds in the wild and found it so difficult to get close enough to warrant a shutter release (my field craft is like a bull in a china shop)
Any advice relating to fieldcraft would be greatly appreciated.
Do you and your mates get together to take photographs? if so would you allow a novice to tag along to learn?
Cheers
Tomk
Hi Simon, good to hear from you.
Yep, I’m really enjoying the 7D – although I’m not getting out with is nearly as often as I’d like to (charging the battery up as we speak for a day up the coast tomorrow).
Lr 3 is really going to be a game-changer, I think – certainly for me, as a long time… errr… whatever the opposite of fan is… of Adobe converters.
When this is the quality of 3200 ISO conversion Lr 3 is capable of (and no, no additional NR applied here, just Lr 3’s own), it’s hard to argue against!
Hi Pete,
glad to see that the 50D is still working out for you: if nothing else it goes to show that – like me with the switch on the lens – gear problems are often caused by the soft organic component looking through the viewfinder!
Thanks for the kind words, Tom!
I wrote a little piece that touches on on fieldcraft – and on other bird photography tips – here a while back, and it still holds.
Fieldcraft – especially where waders are concerned – is really about patience than anything else: providing you’re on a stretch of beach where the birds are reasonably numerous and aren’t being harrassed by people and dogs, it’s usually enough simply to guess how the birds are moving down the beach, quietly positioning yourself “down beach” of them at a spot where you think they’re likely to pass close to, and waiting as they approach, which they invariably will if they’re not given a reason not to.
I’ll usually sit low down – or better still lie on my belly – as they approach, and I’ve had birds (usually Turnstones, but Sanderling and Dunlin too) come so close that I couldn’t focus on them with my 100-400mm, which has a 6” minimum focus!
I’ve actually had Turnstones walk over my feet; and the last time I bumped into him at Titchwell, North Norfolk, one of my all-time favourite ‘togs, Nigel Blake, explained that the bird crap on his back was due to Turnstones perching on him while he was shooting other birds on that stretch of beach..!
Nigel sometimes uses bait to attract birds – he used a Herring to get shots like this and this and he uses minced fish too, which attracts waders very effectively, but doesn’t look wrong "on camera" like say, mealworms would.
The Snow Buntings at Salthouse (Norfolk again) are very partial to the seeds that photographers put out for them, and – in the Winter especially – the birds at Bolam Lake – like this Nuthatch – are very easy to get within shooting distance of, again thanks to the feed people put out.
And then of course, there’s always the Farne Islands!
It all counts as fieldcraft!
I don’t really have a group that I get together with – occasionally I head out with a pal called Mark Mowbray – but usually I’m out on my own. Even so, I’m sure that we should be able to organise something, Tom – I’d be more than happy to help if I can.