Birds at Elmney Marshes
Last week, I visited Elmney Marshes nature reserve in Kent. At Elmney, there is a narrow 2 mile track leading from the main road ,across the marshes, to the reserve`s main car park. If you drive slowly along this track, with the car window wound down, and a bean bag over the car door, it is possible to stop the car, and photograph Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Redshank, and the other birds that you see on the marshes. You do need a long telephoto lens though,-sometimes with a 1.4x tele converter on, because the subjects do tend to be a distance away, although sometimes, they can be amazingly close.
Lapwing, of which there are quite a large population present .
Lapwing
A couple of shots of a Lapwing bathing
Little Grebe
Redshank, which was very close to the side of the track.
Redshank
Hare. At first I did not notice this Hare, because I was photographing an Oystercatcher which was nearby. From a distance, in its crouched position, it looked just like a small mound of earth, but when the mound of earth `moved` ,I realised what it was. Unlike Rabbits, Hares do not live in burrows underground, but make a small `scape` or depression in the earth and crouch down low, using their natural camouflage to blend in with the background.
It eventually decided to sit up and clean itself, and then sit and `posed` nicely for me. These two shots were taken with an `old` 600mm lens, and 2x Mark 1 tele-converter, on my Canon 5D mark III .(Full frame senor). The old Mark 1 converter is not that sharp in comparison to the newer Mark 3 version, and I very rarely use it, but because this Hare was so far away, I had to use it on this occasion.
Little Egret fishing
Oystercatcher
Oystercatcher `piping`
Oystercatcher having and afternoon `nap`
Coot on the nest
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