Sanderling at Marazion beach this morning

Sanderling. Marazion Beach. Nikon D5, 500mm f4. 100 iso.

Images from west Cornwall this weekend

Dotterel at Porthgwarra

Dotterel at Porthgwarra, seen just past the stone wall.

 

Sanderlings feeding at Marazion beach

 

Juv Red-backed Shrike by the sunken garden at Nanquidno.(heavy 50% crop).

 

Juv Lapland Bunting on the footpath leading to the first pool at Porthgwarra.

All images taken with the Nikon D500, 500mm F4 and 1.4x Teleconverter, Tripod mounted.

 

 

Sanderlings on Marazion beach

I took these Sanderling images last Thursday on what was the warmest and brightest day of the year.  The light was simply stunning.  The shutter speed was naturally high so I was able to achieve at least F11 aperture.  For the last month or so I have reverted to Programme Mode, rather than Aperture Priority just as an experiment to see if results are different.  The obvious difference is greater depth of field.  The downside though is a slower shutter speed and more out of focus images. 

Sanderling poses in perfect winter light

Winter plumage Sanderlings are always a challenge when judging camera exposure, especially when set against a bright background.  I juggled between 0.0 and -0.3 at F/8.  ISO was 250 and shutter speed was averaging about 1/800s.  This bird was feeding quite close to the main resting area for large gulls so there are a lot of feathers in the sand.

Sanderling on Newlyn beach

I took these shots on Friday last week on a very low tide at Newlyn.  Sanderlings make good subjects and they always create headaches when judging exposure settings.  I took about a hundred shots, most of which I was pleased with.  These two below were shot at +1.0 EV, Aperture F/7.1, Shutter 1/800s.

Sanderling on Marazion beach

I took this image last week at low tide.  There were about 30 Sanderlings feeding at the water's edge and this individual paused just long enough for me to take the shot.

Sanderlings on Marazion Beach

The Sanderling images were taken early this morning on Marazion Beach.  There was a decent number of waders present with at least 30 Sanderling, 200 Ringed Plover, 12 Dunlin and half a dozen Turnstone.

The three images show a first year bird in perfect plumage.

Baird's Sandpiper and Sanderling at Long Rock

Long Rock beach is busy with migrant waders and this Baird's Sandpiper was found among them on Thursday evening by Mark Warren. Baird's is just about an annual vagrant in Cornwall - from memory tonight whilst posting this blog, I have seen at least four along this exact stretch of beach! Baird's seem to like feeding in the seaweed and on the beach. From the photo's shown, the upperparts look quite worn and abraded and don't have the uniform scaly pattern that juveniles normally show; it can be aged though as first year bird by the white tips to the primaries. Adults would show all black primaries. There are approx 30 records of Baird's in Cornwall, most of which occurred in September.

These juv Sanderling shots were also taken tonight in fairly dull light whilst waiting for the Baird's to show again.

EXIF detail: RAW file. Aperture F/7.1 Exposure -0.3 EV to 0.0 EV. ISO 400 to 640. WB Cloudy. Focal length 840mm. All images sharpened and cropped in Capture NX2 software. Colour unchanged.

Sanderling at Portscatho beach

This stunning Sanderling, complete in winter plumage was photographed on the beach tide-line this morning at Portscatho, Gerrans Bay. The weather was overcast with heavy, dark grey cloud and this lovely light seems to compliment the snow white colours of Sanderling. I took about 200 shots and virtually all were in focus. The bird was confiding and as such a tele converter was not used. ISO 640. Exposure - 0.3 . White Balance set to Cloudy. Shutter speed 500 th/sec. The images have been cropped and tidied up in CS3.