Redwing at Par

Redwings have been in short supply this year in Cornwall.  The mild climate failed to entice the large numbers experienced last year.  However, I came across twenty this morning feeding by the road at Par beach.  In the next couple weeks these birds will disappear as they make their way back north to breed.

Redwing opportunities

The onset of cold weather is now the best opportunity one will get to photograph Redwing and other winter thrushes.  With good light the results can be rewarding.  These images were taken in the driveway on a tiny cotoneaster bush.  Hunger had overtaken fear for this bird.

These shots were taken at 4pm in falling light.  I used the 300mm lens with no converter, with the aperture wide open at F/2.8.  The curious blue background on the top image is caused by a car headlight moving past the bird as I took the shot.

A Turdus in the garden

I took these shots this afternoon of this Redwing feeding on berries in my garden in Truro.   The garden is fairly sheltered so there wasn't too much camera shake.  There are about ten Redwings in the area.  Hopefully if it gets colder, there will be some berries left over for Fieldfares !

Cold weather brings more thrushes

The colder weather this weekend has pushed more thrushes into the county. With strong south-easterlies blowing all weekend, Fieldfare and Redwing are appearing everywhere. I took the Fieldfare shots yesterday and the Redwing shots this morning walking to work through the local park. I used the 300mm F/2.8 with 1.4x TC, handheld. It felt strange not having to use a tripod! The end result though is many more shots appearing out of focus. I was delighted with the images below though and have been waiting for ages to get a chaqnce to photo these stunning birds. Focal length: 420mm. Aperture: F/4.5 WB Cloudy. ISO 640. Exp 0.0.

Winter visitors in the garden

Below are some images from today of Redwing, Dunnock and Robin in and around the garden in Truro. The light this morning was dull but by afternoon, had improved and gave shutter speeds of up to 1000th second. ISO 640. WB Cloudy. Exposure -0.3. All the images have been cropped and sharpened with the unsharp mask in Adobe.