Wednesday 29 September 2010

Nikon 70-300 zoom and a bronze axe

After Sue’s routine arthritis appointment at Southland Hospital this morning the sat-nav took us to Park Cameras for an appointment with a Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S VR IF-ED. After shooting a few frames with it I was impressed with the difference the Vibration Reduction (VR) feature makes and persuaded myself that I definitely needed it! I have bought it as a reasonably priced 300mm lens which is very well reviewed by buyers on all the sites I checked. It should improve my bird photography during the long winter ahead. The 180mm Sigma is great for closer work but most birds stay too far away when you are on a walk-about on the beach.

After lunch I attempted to beat the forecast rain and headed for the Bluebird Café by the Ferring Rife. Luckily a kestrel presented itself above the green by the beach so I was able to test my new prize before the rains started.
The kestrel was small in the frame but when blown up shows an amazing amount of detail and clarity with VR on (top photo).
I was also impressed by the detail of a ship on the horizon when blown up.

A week after our last club dig I went through my rubbish box from the trip and washed and dried the unidentified lumps of metal.
I recognised a broken Bronze Age axe head. The size, shape and weight match up well to other examples on the PAS database so I have catalogued it. Length: 47.5 mm  Width: 50 mm  Thickness: 9 mm  Weight: 71.14 g

Tuesday 28 September 2010

Little Egret, swans, food fest on beach


having fun chasing gulls
There were some interesting new birds feeding at low tide this morning.


There were 14 swans feeding off the mouth of the river Arun
 Little Egret (above and below)

a young gull fought off two others for its crab then tossed it up, caught it and flew off with its prize. 
 Carrion Crow


Oyster Catcher

Oyster Catcher
Great Black-backed Gull
young Black-headed Gull

Monday 27 September 2010

Jim & Pat and birds on the beach

 Black-headed gull
Jim & Pat dropped in yesterday we had a grand old time catching up with each others news - we last saw them in Saudi 13 years ago when they retired. Since then Jim did a PhD in car crash technology, and Pat took an Honours degree in Archaeology. They are heading for Pompeii and possibly Sicily in their campervan and plan to return in November. They left this morning with their two dogs and caught the 11am ferry from Newhaven.
Now that the butterfly season is pretty well over I am concentrating on birds on the beach, which is great as Sue can easily join me when she can.
Oyster catcher


Turnstone

 Black-headed gull
Carrion Crow
Young gull
Two gulls were diving into the shallow water
Carrion Crow
Oyster Catchers




Black-headed gull

Herring Gull

Turnstone


Black-headed Gulls
sunset photos:


 Black-headed Gull
Oyster catcher with mollusc in its beak