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Saturday 14 August 2010

Chanonry Point (day 2)

Better weather on the Black Isle today. The morning was still gloomy and overcast, but thankfully no rain. Plenty of Dolphins too.


This one's a youngster, it stuck pretty close to the adults - I'm assuming one of them was mother.


Another youngster with a parent. This pair came within 20 meters of the shore - oftentimes too close for the 500mm I was using. They're incredibly difficult to photograph at this distance, because spotting, framing, focusing and pressing the shutter all needs to take place in about 1 second, before they disappear back beneath the surface. It a question of persistence and luck really.


Here's what I meant about "too close" - this was taken at 500mm on a D700. If you plan to make a visit, I'd recommend bringing a lens to cover the 400-500mm range for the longer range stuff, but also something like a 300mm (on full frame) or even a 70-200mm (on a crop sensor). Occasionally, the dolphins really do come very close indeed.


Once again, there was plenty of other wildlife to be seen. I'm not sure what this small bird is, but I think it's a Shore Lark (can anyone help me out here?).


And finally my favorite - the expression on his face is just great.

Final day tomorrow, and then back to Gatwick. We have time to visit again before we go, as the tide is due to start coming in about 6 hours before we fly. Fingers crossed for a bit of sun.

4 comments:

  1. Great blog Nick.

    That bird looks like a juvenile Pied Wagtail.

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  2. Great - thanks Matthew! I'm sure your right as we did see adult pied wagtails there too.

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  3. Hi Nick, looks like you were struggling with the weather and the light for fast shutter speed. Though you have captured some nice shots of the dolphins. I was only there for an hour or so, not once did they jump right out of the water like the great shot you have captured. good stuff in difficult circumstances. You will have to go again as I will be doing. cheers Alan Saunders.

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  4. Cheers Alan. We do hope to travel up again next summer, so with luck the conditions will be better next time.

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