From the Field

January 2010 - icy wastes

Mouse-over pictures with magnifying glass symbol alongside to see 1000 pixel version

Having been frantically chasing the inevitable ‘wildlife in the snow’ shots for the last month, I had hoped to find some waders and ducks out on the mud, but I had under-estimated the depth and severity of this last cold spell. I couldn’t face the prospect of sitting in Pagham’s mud under the endless torrential rain that had been forecast, so I made my way inland to the RSPB reserve at Pulborough Brooks, only to be greeted by the news that precious little had been seen because the washes had been, and still were, frozen solid.

As always, it pays to get some local knowledge if a site is unfamiliar and the helpful staff and voluntary wardens pointed me in the direction of the Nettley hide where water rail had been seen recently.

As the sun tried to break through early on, a small group of pintail made a beautiful sight out on the ice. These kind of shots with the subject small in the frame have always been favourites of mine and this one worked fairly well. Of course I never managed to catch them all ‘heads up’ at the same time, so this was my best of the day.

As quickly as it appeared though, the sun was gone again; this time for good, so when the water rail appeared as it inevitably did, I was stuck with a choice of a high iso or a slow shutter speed. I opted as I usually do for the latter as colour noise is a pet hate of mine which meant that most of my shots were soft and ended up in the bin however I was not unhappy with these two of a rail searching beneath the cracked slabs of ice for a meal.

By lunchtime, the incessant and, at times torrential, rain had taken its toll on the slush and soft snow that had been so much in evidence earlier on. This green woodpecker might have been well placed to take advantage of the freshly exposed ground, but it was still in no mood to let me too  close. Nevertheless, these were my best GW shots too date and rounded a pleasant day off very nicely.

It wasn’t a vintage day, but I still got a few interesting shots and while they won’t make huge canvases, at least they were good enough to keep; I just have to keep working at improving on them.