Phil McLean Nature Photographer Blog

The easy way to photograph a few garden birds.1.Set up a feeding station outside your window(kitchen in my case),within range of your longest lens.Set up a post next to the nuts/seeds,on which to attach a natural perch(twig/branch/whatever).I use garden wire to secure the perch but make sure the post and wire are not in your final image.Also make sure that the background looks natural and out of focus in your image.

2.Set the camera/lens on a tripod,or other means of support,focus on the perch,wait for bird to land and quickly switch focus to the eye.Click,swear when the bird moves too quickly,then wait for the next one.In the meantime sip your coffee,eat your toast,go to the loo,come back,do some dusting,come back,make the bed,whatever.You’re in the warm,nice and dry,birds are coming to you and you can spend as much or as little time as you want.

3.When you’ve got enough images on one perch,change it for another.

Here’s a few blue tits.

Blue tit in my Chirnside,Berwickshire garden.

Blue tit in my Chirnside,Berwickshire garden.

Last month I spent a couple of afternoons photographing the little grebe or dabchick,as it is also known.Ollie and me had noticed a pair of them during our walks along the riverbank and so I decided to come back while Ollie went home for a lie down.I walked back along the bank of the River Whiteadder,near where I live in the Scottish Borders.I selected a spot to sit,with my back up against a tree trunk,set up the tripod,long lens and having donned my camouflage gear, I then covered all with my Harry Potter invisibility cloak.Then it was just a matter of sitting,waiting and hopefully capturing some nice images of these lovely, busy little characters.I was sitting under the tree,beneath a bank,in the shade, while the sun shone across the water,throwing reflective colour over the water from the opposite river bank.

Here are some of the images from a cold but enjoyable couple of afternoon sessions.

Little Grebe with reflected colours on the River Whiteadder.

Little Grebe or Dabchick.

On the River Whiteadder in Berwickshire,Scottish Borders.

Little Grebe with fish.

Dabchick with fish.

A vigorous shake of the head.

Spray flying.

A few water droplets.

Busy.

Little Grebe with insect larva.

Little Grebe and beech leaf.

A couple of posts back I put up some mallard images taken at Duns Castle lake.I was there for a couple of hours and here are some more images from that single session.

Mute Swan on Duns Castle lake.

Mute Swan,backlit.

Mute Swan,sails up.

Moorhen on the ice.

Juvenile Mute Swan preening.

Mute Swan juvenile,preening.

Coot having a scratch.

Mute Swan juvenile preening,thru grasses and into the light.

Mute Swan thru the grasses,into the light.

Mallard,m wing flapping.

Mute Swan glides by.

Mute Swan on Duns Castle lake.

Here’s a few more garden bird images with the blue tit and house sparrow being the most numerous on my patch.

House Sparrow,m.

Blue tit.

Grey Partridge.

Blue tit.

House Sparrow.

Blue tit.

Great tit.

House Sparrow,m.

Blue tit.

Coal tit.

Blue tit.

House Sparrow,f.

I took a small trip up the road to Duns Castle nature reserve to photograph the mallards on the lake,which was mostly frozen over.Armed with the camera gear and a pot of bird seed,I settled down at the side of the lake for an enjoyable,but cold,couple of hours.

Here are some of the images.

Close up of a female Mallard.

Mallard,m on the ice.

Mallard,f bathing and splashing about.

Mallard,m on the frozen Duns Castle nature reserve lake.

Mallard,f coming to investigate across the ice.

Mallard,m scratching head.

Mallards,f walking in line on the Duns lake ice.

Mallard,m shaking body.

Mallard,f sat on the ice at Duns lake.

Mallard,m shaking head.

Mallard,f wing stretching and splashing about.

Mallard,m head.

Driving through the Lammermuir Hills in december,Ollie in the back of the car,looking for wildlife to photograph.It’s -1C outside but feeling much colder with the wind chill.Inside the car it’s no warmer,as both front windows are open,a beanbag on both sides,and the cars’ heater has packed up.Even the camera packs up in the end as the battery gets too cold.

Mind you,They do say,we are supposed to ‘suffer for our art’.

‘Well’,said Ollie,’Whoever They are,they can shut the f**k up!’

Red Grouse,m sat backlit,fluffed up and calling in the frosty snow.Lammermuir Hills,Scottish Borders.

Backlit Red Grouse sat in the cold frosty snow.

Fluffed up against the cold in the Lammermuirs.

Backlit Red Grouse sitting in the cold.

Red Grouse,m.

Backlit Red Grouse in frosty snow.

Red Grouse with raindrops,through grasses.

Red Grouse in the Lammermuirs heather.

Red Grouse,f in the rain and windswept grasses.

Red Grouse in the low winter sun.

Red Grouse,f in grasses.Has a painterly feel.

Red Grouse,f in grasses in the Lammermuir Hills.