Lake Garda - Herons and Swallows

My first post from Italy, at long last!

I've just had a friend from Edinburgh come up for a few days who left to Verona airport early this morning so, after waving her off at the bus stop, I took a short train trip to Peschiera, situated on the south-west corner of the idyllic Lake Garda. We had been there the day before for a walk and picnic, so I had already gotten a sense of the fantastic wildlife that I should find, not to mention the awesome landscapes. 

There was plenty to choose from - the grating 'honks' of great crested grebes courting their spouses, the reed warblers rattling in the reed-beds, the elusive water rails squealing quite literally like pigs, and the hundreds of swallows hawking for insects over the lake itself. 

It was just beyond Peschiera, at Lazise, where the swallows were closest to the shore, swooping among the docked boats. I didn't have my tripod with me to do any successful attempts at slow-shutter pan shots, so I mainly focussed on creating slightly under-exposed fast-shutter images - this one being my favourite with that gorgeous tail trailing behind. Below is my best attempt, in my opinion at least, of the slow shutter technique, although really I should bring my tripod next time if I have any hope of getting anything good. 

After a short while, a grey heron came along and within seconds caught a few minnows and a small eel. I set up camera on the heron and sure enough, barely a moment later, it caught a tiny fish and gobbled it down. Only had one attempt at this, but not too bad - and a lot more cooperative than the heron who I used to photograph at the London Wetland Centre back in 2005. 

It had a thing though of flying off to test new spots whenever it had caught something, so I had to follow it up and down the shore a few times. Most of my flight shots are worthy for the bin, but this one of it landing made me smile, as if the water was still a little too cold! 

That's all for now, but after the huge amount of fun I had this morning - including the unexpected joy at watching a singing cuckoo for a full half-hour in a sunny vineyard whilst eating chocolate ice-cream - I'm bound to go back in the next week! So stay tuned for more herons, swallows and perhaps a cuckoo or two...

New Exhibition

I've just come back from the Portico Gallery in south-west London who have kindly agreed to exhibit a collection of my photographs this May! I will be showing 16 of my most recent wildlife photographs as part of the Dulwich Festival and their Artists' Open House scheme,  http://www.dulwichfestival.co.uk/content/artists-open-house-3, from 11th-20th May. I will post a link for my exhibition in the next week or so, where you will be able to find useful information and also view all of the photographs on show.

Keep an eye here for more information coming very soon! 

Hong Kong photos

Well I'm back from Hong Kong and it was a fabulous trip. Although the photography opportunities were few in the forests of Tai Po Kau, it was great to see so many exotic species and to get a sense of what the area is like. All good research for future trips!

Here are my two favourite pictures. As you can see, one is of a peacock, which is not a wild bird but is part of the small collection at Kowloon Park. I took the photograph in colour and then converted to black and white in post processing, cropping it as well to create my window framing effect. 

This next image is on the other hand of a very common native bird, the oriental magpie robin. I saw these everywhere I went, whether it was in Kowloon Park where this individual was photographed or in the depths of the Tai Po Kau forest reserve. They were very approachable but often hopping along tarmac, so rarely offered photogenic opportunities. This is hardly a brilliant picture, but it's a classic portrait shot of an attractive bird on a perch with out-of-focus background. 

Most of the time however I spent watching the wildlife rather than photographing it, which, to be honest, is really what I prefer doing. I think any wildlife photographer would say the same thing, that they would rather sit back and watch a beautiful animal than constantly click away at it through their SLR. I have written up a birdwatching report here, with some additional photos (albeit all ID shots), for those who might be interested in what wildlife watching in HK is like: 

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=227285

Stay tuned for photos from Italy and Normandy within the month. 

Thanks for reading, 

Paul