Mushroom

Mushroom, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

Went to Shut Heath woods this afternoon. Only found a few mushrooms there, but I guess when the damp weather comes, there will be a lot more. So I think another visit will be required.

Apparently there are deer in the woods to.

Seed Heads

seed-head, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

Well, not sure at all what these are from, but I thought they were most eye catching. Again taken at Mark's Hall in Essex.

It's a great place in the autumn for the nature photographer.

There are Fallow Deer around the area too, only saw a very small glimpse of one yesterday, before it ran off through the woods.

Mark's Hall has a good visitor centre/Coffee shop, which sell some nice home made cakes :-)

Autumn Colour

redleaves, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

There is some autumn colour around at the moment, captured this at Mark's Hall in Essex today.
Not sure what the plant is called, but loved the way it has a succession of berries from the branch.
This was taken with the Sigma 24-70mm lens and processed in CS4.

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

Went back to East Mersea today in the afternoon. The light was pretty much perfect. These little Reed Buntings are so hard to capture, as most of the time they are in the bushes, so you cannot see them.

It is only when you walk past them that they fly up, most of the time they fly off in the distance, but this one decided to fly up and land on the top of the bushes. Managed to get off a good couple of shots.

Shutter Speed: 1/160Sec.
Aperture Value: F8.0
Metering Modes: Spot
Exposure Compensation: -1/3
ISO Speed: 200
Lens: Sigma 150-500mm
Focal Length: 500.0 mm

New Perch

This is my new perch, well not my perch, one for getting good Garden Bird shots. I know its got no bird on it at the moment, but I think it takes time for them to get used to it. Hopefully after a while they will start to come down.

Watch this space.

UPDATE: they have started to come down, but not managed to get a capture yet. As when I have got home from work the light is to dim to get a good shot.

Autumn is coming

Autumn is coming, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

As the title says, Autumn is just around the corner. I do like walking through woods when autumn is arriving, seeing all the leaves changing colours. I think this year will be great for the colours of autumn. Off on holiday in a couple of weeks time, and hopefully all the colours will be shining.

This was taken with the Sigma 150-500mm Lens. It is a good versatile lens, the light was not that bright in the woods, but pump up the ISO level on the 40D and it manages to produce a good shot.

I have a couple of excellent plugins for CS4, one being Define 2.0 from Nik Software, very good at detecting noise on a shot and smoothing it out. The other plugin is Nik software sharpener. That is a serious good plug in.

Swan

Swan, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

There were thousands of Swan at Abberton yesterday. I am thinking this was a male swan, he came swimming in with his wings all puffed out.

This was taken from inside one of the bird hides. I wasn't sure if there was any etiquette in a bird hide, and if the shutter noise would disturb the bird watchers. Well no one complained, so I guess it is ok :-)

Blue Tit

Blue Tit, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

Really liking my new Sigma lens. Today we went to Abberton reserve (Essex Wildlife Trust) This is actually captured through the visitors centre window. The light was pretty much perfect today.

Gull in Flight

Gull in Flight, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

Mode 2 of the OS on the sigma 150-500mm lens. This is used for panning shots. This is really is the first half decent shot I have done with this lens.

Hopefully I will be visiting a couple of wildlife centre tomorrow, and I will be able to practice some more.

Look out for some new shots soon.

Herring Gull

Herring Gull, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

Some fine detail captured from the Sigma 150-500mm lens. The light was pretty fantastic today, and the canon 40d and Sigma worked a treat to capture some very good details.

If anyone is thinking of purchasing this lens then GO FOR IT!

Black Headed Gull (Winter plumage)

Black Headed Gull (Winter plumage), originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

A blackheaded gull showing its winter plumage - yes I know it's only September.

Swimmer

Swimmer, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

This was taken with my new Sigma 150-500mm DG OS lens. Quite staggered in the details. The optical stabilization is amazing to see working. Totally worth the money and glad after much research buying the lens.

Dragon Fly

Dragon Fly, originally uploaded by Markonmersea.

Today we went to Finginghoe Wick nature reserve. There were not that many birds over there today, but plenty of dragonflies.
Managed to capture this one.