go west

 

02/04/22

Mary, still unable to run as much as she would like, suggested a cycle out to Dalmeny. As incentive she said she might just have the energy for a diversion to Cammo. I was sold. The sun was shining but it was fairly cool. Defo gloves on and keep moving. 

At the Cramond Brig, rather than go through the Dalmeny estate, Mary had worked out a circuit that went along next to the dual carriageway and then on quiet roads towards Dalmeny before going into the estate at the far end and back to the Cramond Brig. There was a field of highland coos so we stopped for a shameless photo or 2.

We also stopped at the usual bridge-photo-place. While messing about taking pics of a pheasant and scenery, Roddy cycled past and stopped for a chat. 

Roddy

a pair of kestrels were hunting near the estuary of the small burn

Back at Cramond Brig choices had to be made. The weather was iffy and Mary wasn't in the mood for a cold stand waiting for jays at Cammo. I was swithering myself. It was not a great prospect; but the birds there - jays and nuthatches - are just so special I couldn't resist a wee scoot along to see if any were about. It is only a few minutes from the dual carriageway. (Mary went home.) 

For a Saturday it was surprisingly free of dogwalkers and screaming kids. Possibly a little cold and dull. I did wonder if I'd done the right thing when I could be nearly home by now and enjoying a nice cup of tea. I baited the area near the curling pond and waited with flagging optimism. The light was pretty rubbish and the jays were reluctant. I only saw one, maybe 2, hopping about at a distance.

The nuthatches were also reluctant to start with. It takes a while for alerts to get out that there is free food on the go. Word slowly filters through and they begin to appear. It is a good spot though, and not the worst place to stand and appreciate your surroundings - the birdsong and nearly constant flutter of small wings nearby. The light was fairly rubbish for photos. Which got me thinking why not use this time to experiment with different settings on the camera. I am usually a bit tentative with camera settings - if there is good light then I spend most of the time in Automatic mode. It gives good results and I can concentrate on framing the subject rather than wondering what the aperture or shutter speed is doing. I am not a tech geek.

In a low light situation the camera has a tendency to use such a slow shutter speed that I get motion blur due to fast moving birds. I tried setting the camera to Shutter priority and cranking up the shutter speed. The ISO numbers climbed massively but the results didn't look that horrible. I had assumed that an ISO in the thousands would make the photo really noisy or grainy. But from what I could see they weren't as bad as the inevitable motion blur from lightning swift nuthatches zipping down to where I'd put piles of sunflower hearts, nabbing a few, then disappearing at 90mph. You have to be really quick to catch them and the shutter has to be faster still to freeze their movements.

I also thought that cranking the shutter speed would horribly reduce the depth of field when the aperture was changed. Again this didn't seem to be the case. I changed back and forth and tried to keep an eye on the results. It passed the time while I waited for the jay to return or risk coming a little bit closer. I got the feeling there was just one jay and it was keeping a close eye on my movements. I'd get occasional shots through the branches but the lack of sunshine and light made them less successful than last visit.

great tit

nuthatch

chaffinch with gammy leg

I think I only noticed this chaffinch had a stooky on when I got home and saw the pics on the monitor. I googled it and it seems that chaffinches are prone to mites and viral infections. There is some info if you google "chaffinch leg encrustation" although it doesn't seem particularly serious. And has been around for a while. The bird was not behaving differently and seemed mostly unaffected.

ringed blue tit

love the markings on top of the head

this and the following nuthatch photo = 1/800 of a sec. at 3200 iso
given how murky the light was down there I was happy with the results

By the way, the nuthatch was down there hiding seeds. When there is surplus to requirements they will eat some and then continue to raid the supplies but look for small hiding places under tree bark and in holes in branches. Sometimes even covering the stash with moss or grass to hide the treasure. Since they spend their lives hopping about investigating under bark and in holes in branches they are bound to get some of it back later. They are totally charming small birds and even, on rare occasions, hold still for a photo!

great tit at 1/800th and 2500iso, f/4.5
pin sharp on a gloomy day under the trees!

I realised I have been aware of ISO since I used a Pentax ME Super and rolls of 100~400 film, forty years ago. And yet I couldn't have told you it stands for International Organisation of Standardisation. Which is hard to believe. Anyway here is a paragraph from photographylife.com which explains it.

The acronym ISO stands for “International Organization for Standardization”. However, camera ISO does not directly refer to the organization that creates various technology and product standards. Ever since two film standards called ASA and DIN were combined into ISO standards in 1974 (later revised for both film and digital photography), they were referred to as one word “ISO” from that point on. Although ISO initially defined only film sensitivity, it was later adopted by digital camera manufacturers with the purpose of maintaining similar brightness levels as film.

dammit crow that bread is for the jays!

The crows and squirrels would annoyingly steal the bread and seeds off the piles I had left it for the jays. And knock the remaining bits off the careful branch placements as they hopped and flew past. Sometimes with a jay watching just yards away, waiting to make a move, or not. They are extremely cautious and can spend quite some time just watching if they are uncertain. Which makes any kind of half decent photo even more precious.

rare moment when jay and sunlight coincided

bike parked by the water

Bruce S who came by and chatted for a bit.

Bruce didn't have his camera with him and began to regret that when he saw the nuthatches and the jay come within reach. He thought we had met here previously which I hadn't remembered. I checked back and sure enough 3 years ago in March when most of the bird action was on the other side of the stream, he had come by and we had chatted. Blog here. We chatted loads mainly about where to see wildlife, and photo successes and failures. 

I stayed for longer than was advisable and eventually threw in the towel and headed home. It was very pleasant but a bit short on decent lighting. 

24miles cycled - and all of them good!
out for 6hrs, about half stood birdwatching.