Elmley RSPB

I always enjoy visiting the Elmley RSPB reserve on the Isle of Sheppey. It's one of those places that has something to offer all year round.

I left the house around 5.30am last Saturday and arrived to a fantastic sunrise.

Sunrise over Elmley

It was a shame however that I could not gain access to the reserve as, owing to some overnight thefts, it does not now open until 7am. It did give me a chance to check out the gun club area, where I spent a very pleasant time talking to Brian, who is researching short eared owls for a book he is writing.

Once the gates were open I worked my way up the track, where lapwing and redshank were abundant. I was hoping to photograph one of my favourite birds - yellow wagtail - but the single male I located remained too distant for me to get any good photographs.

I spotted a drake shoveler swimming up one of the channels, so I positioned myself ahead of it and waited for it to come into range. I was pleased to capture an image of it in its natural environment and chose to 'letterbox' it for more impact.

Drake shoveler

My favourite shot of the day came from an encounter I had with a redshank just as I was leaving the reserve. It posed for just a second before scuttling off; enough time for me to capture the image below. It looked good on the camera's rear LCD screen and I was pleased that it looked just as good when I opened it in Lightroom. It was one of those shots that needed virtually no post-processing and all the more pleasing for that.

Redshank

I plan to visit again over the Easter break where I hope that more yellow wagtails may have made their way over from Europe.

Back to (and from) New York

Dusk over the East River

A year ago, I went to New York just in time for hurricane Sandy. I blogged about that at the time. I went back at the beginning of October this year and, fortunately, there was no repeat visit from a hurricane. You would never know that Manhattan itself had been subject to Sandy -- it was indistinguishable from its usual self. It's taken me a long time to get round to writing a blog entry about this visit, but here are a few pictures anyhow.

I always make a point of going over to Roosevelt  Island in the East River to look back at Manhattan; this time I went at dusk to catch the lights of the city growing stronger against the darkening sky (opening picture). 

I also took the opportunity to go and see a couple of different views of Manhattan. The Sunday I was there, I went for my first walk on the Highline. I was amazed at the number of people there - but it is a great park, elevated above the West side, and I can’t wait to go back.

(Left) The Highline at 20th St seen from 10th Ave: it is an old elevated railway now turned into a walkway and edged with plants (Right) Sunday morning saunterers on the Highline

Looking down from the Highline

Later that day, I took the Path train to Newport Centre in New Jersey, where I thought there should be a good view back from the river front walkway across the Hudson to Manhattan itself.

Lower Manhattan disappearing into mist and low cloud

The same view on a clear night: the Freedom Tower rises over the Hudson

That afternoon there was low fog and drizzle, so the view was less than spectacular. But a few evenings later I went back after dark and got some pictures of lower Manhattan and Mid-town. What a view! Newport Center seems to be heavily residential -- it is a very tempting kind of place to live given the fantastic view across the water and the easy transit back to Manhattan.

Mid-town from Newport Center

Locals out for an evening stroll: how about that for a backdrop to an evening walk!

During my stay in NYC, I was lucky enough to stay in the apartment belongs to my friend and collaborator there. It's on the 31st floor of a new block with a view straight downtown from 91st Street, so you can watch the light coming up as dawn breaks. The light hits the tops of the tallest buildings first, and then makes its way down and across, so that the lower buildings around 90th become lit and the trees in the streets seem to glow. It's a cityscape that changes constantly with the light -- and, for my taste, one of the greatest sights on earth.

Manhattan Dawn from 91st St.

Making the most of opportunities

During a trip to Rye earlier in the month I had some thoughts of shooting the sunrise behind the wind turbines there. On Weds. evening I was round at Phil's mounting some prints in his workshop and, having previously checked the weather forecast (very light winds and clear skies), we hatched a plan to go down the following morning.

I set my alarm for 04.20h but woke up at 03.40h so decided to get up anyway rather than toss and turn in bed. There was a virtual full moon greeting me as I pulled back the curtains and I could make out a few stars too, so I knew the sky was clear (at least in Great Chart - no telling if it would be the same at the coast).

I took advantage of the extra time to make up two flasks of coffee (strong black for me and milky for Phil) before loading the car and heading off to pick Phil up on the way. I was pleased to see a barn owl perched on a fence post as I left the village - which reminded me that I had not been out doing much bird photography lately - something I need make time to address.

Having checked the location of the wind farm on Bing maps, we knew roughly where we wanted to be to take the photographs (on the public footpath at N50.951 E0.735) but it's not until you get there that you are really sure of the lie of the land and getting there in just moonlight adds another degree of difficulty. Anyway, we got set up and my first image was taken at 05:48h - a full 40 minutes before sunrise.

There was a beautiful glow in the sky as the sun edged slowly towards the horizon. Unfortunately it was to the left (North) of where would have been ideal but a nice run of pylons came to our rescue to fill the space.

All images are taken with a Canon EOS 1D Mk IV with a 24-105 f/4 L IS USM lens, tripod mounted using mirror lockup and the 2-second timer delay.

With the camera in Manual mode I played around with different apertures and ISO levels to get a range of shutter speeds that would allow me to capture the turbine blades both moving and static.

1/2 second exposure; ISO 50; f/7.1; focal length 65mm

As sunrise approached the colour intensity dropped off but when the sun finally appeared we were treated to a minute of the stunning glow that is dawn before the show is over.

The sun came up right beneath a pylon and highlighted some vapour trails left by aircraft earlier. This is a pretty similar shot to Phil posting below - no surprises as we were standing together at this time.

1/200th second; ISO 400; f/16; focal length 105mm

The sky that was left looked very flat in comparison but the harsh side-lighting on the turbines made for a pleasing effect.

1/80th second; ISO 50; f/5.6; focal length 105mm

We then made our way towards Rye harbour and were particularly taken with the mist that was still spread thinly across the marsh. The image below I've titled 'Mutton in the Mist'. For this shot I had switched to Aperture priority and used exposure compensation in combination with the histograms to get the exposure/effect I was happy with.

1/1000th second; ISO 400; f/7/1; -2/3 EV; focal length 70mm

We arrived at Rye Harbour car park around 07.50h and enjoyed a cup of coffee before walking down towards the sea. The light was still superb for photography and I took a few images of the structures beside the Rother estuary.

We will go back to the wind farm again, probably in December, when the sunrise should be directly behind the turbines. By then the sunrise will be later too and we may be able to persuade our other Wonky member, 'Anthony I don't do mornings Baines', to join us!