Iniskea Islands

Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

Redshank (Tringa totanus)

Little Gull (Sterna albifrons)

Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)

Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula)

Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)

Inishkea South

Rock Pipit (Anthus petrosus)

Burren in Bloom

The Burren is in full bloom with a spectacular display of Gentians, Mountain Avens and Hoary Rock Rose alongside the more common spring flowers. The unusually early spring with weeks of warm sunny days has resulted in one of the best floral displays for many years.

Gentian


Early Purple Orchid


Cuckoo Flower


Wild Goats





Lesser Butterfly Orchid


Primrose


Wood White

Male Orange Tip Butterfly

Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines)

Clonbur Wood

Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamnii)

There are hundreds of Brimstone butterflies flitting around Clonbur Wood, North Co. Galway, at the moment, along with Holly Blue, Peacock and Tortoiseshells. I took a walk there yesterday in glorious spring sunshine. Clonbur Wood is a Life Nature Project aimed at restoring priority woodland and habitat. The woodland is mixed with Sitka Spruce, Norway Spruce, Scots Pine, Ash, Beech, Yew, Birch and Oak. The walk takes you through majestic woodland, crosses the Clonbur river along the way, then onto the south shore of Lough Mask. It also includes an area of limestone paving. The variety of wildlife I saw along the way was amazing: Jay, Merlin, Raven, Chiffchaff, Wren, Mallard, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Red Squirrel, Fox, flowering Wood Anemone and Dog Violet to name a few. I also saw signs of Otter, Pine Marten and an active Badger set. The mixed woodland, river, lakeshore and limestone habitat make this a pretty unique location.

7 Spot Ladybird

7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella-7-punctata)

There are a lot of 7 Spot Ladybirds around at the moment, just emerging from their long winter hibernation. The -15 degree centigrade temperatures obviously didn't upset them too much. They overwinter in communal groups.

Irish Hare

Irish Hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus)

The Moon

"I don’t know if there are men on the moon, but if there are they must be using the earth as their lunatic asylum."

George Bernard Shaw

Photographing Birds in Flight

Fighting Goldfinches
Canon 5D, Sigma 170-500mm f5.6-6.3, Focal Length 307mm, ISO 1000, Shutter Speed 1/4000th sec, f5.6, Flash Used, Tripod Used


One of the wonders of the natural world is the magical poetry of birds in flight. One has to marvel at the power of the evolutionary forces that not just overcame the complex physics involved in allowing a creature to become airborne but resulted in animals which are simply masters of the air. Our world is practically two dimensional in comparison.

Photographing birds in flight is one of the more challenging areas of wildlife photography. Birds are fast moving animals and freezing their wing beats in a photographic image requires a high level of precision. Fast shutter speeds are essential – anywhere from 1/1000th to 1/8000th of a second. To achieve this you will normally have to work with an ISO range of 500 to 1250 depending on the light available. The shutter speed used depends on the speed of the wing beats. Small birds, such as Blue Tits, have phenomenally fast wing beats and shutter speeds of greater than 1/3000th of a second are usually needed. Larger birds may not flap their wings as fast but they still move through the air at a rapid pace. The key is to reach the correct shutter speed for the species involved and to get this you need to work with the appropriate aperture and ISO. Obviously at higher ISOs there will be more noise in the final picture but this will have to be dealt with in Photoshop.

At fast shutter speeds it is possible to hand hold the camera and pan with the subject. This is an art in itself and takes plenty of practice. Tracking your subject and keeping it in sharp focus as you fire off the shots is the trick. This is easier with a big goose than with a tiny wren!

Obviously having top of the range zoom lenses would make life so much easier. If you have 5 or 6 grand in your back pocket you can pick up a high powered zoom lens with image stabiliser which allows really fast shutter speeds at low ISOs. Most of us can’t afford the Rolls Royce of the camera world and work with the cheaper Sigma lenses and their like. I work with a Sigma 170-500mm f5.6-2.3.

One way of getting close to small fast birds is by using the garden feeder. I have located my feeder 15 feet from an open window which allows me to take shots at close range. The next trick is getting a shutter speed fast enough to catch them in flight. I set the camera up on a tripod and use a flash gun on another tripod beside it. The birds are close enough for the flash to be effective and this gives me shutter speeds of over 1/4000th of a second. The next problem is trying to track the birds and this is nearly impossible at the speeds they move. To capture them I switch to manual focus and focus on the feeder and use the remote switch to fire the shutter. Flash is never ideal but it will capture the action.

Take a look at the shooting information in these pictures and you will get a better understanding of the techniques described.


Oysterctchers
Canon 5D, Sigma 170-500mm f5.6-6.3, Focal Length 500mm, ISO 640, Shutter Speed 1/2500th sec, f6.3, No Flash, Hand Held


Greenfinches Fighting
Canon 5D, Sigma 170-500mm f5.6-6.3, Focal Length 268mm, ISO 1250, Shutter Speed 1/4000th sec, f7.1, Flash Used, Tripod Used


Brent Geese
Canon 5D, Sigma 170-500mm f5.6-6.3, Focal Length 500mm, ISO 640, Shutter Speed 1/3200th sec, f7.1, No Flash, Hand Held


Chaffinch and Goldfinches
Canon 5D, Sigma 170-500mm f5.6-6.3, Focal Length 307mm, ISO 1000, Shutter Speed 1/4000th sec, f5.6, Flash Used, Tripod Used

Brent Geese

Brent Geese at Clew Bay

Oystercatchers skimming the waves

Birds

Great Tit (Parus major)

Redpoll (Carduelis cabaret)

Coal Tit (Parus ater)

Garden Friends

Coal Tit (Parus ater)

Great Tit (Parus major)

Robin and Coal Tit at the Feeder

Great Tit and Redpoll at the Feeder

Garden Birds On The Wing

How Many Legs?

White-Legged Millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger)

The name millipede literally means 1,000 feet. In actual fact millipedes usually have between 36 and 400 legs, although one rare species has up to 750. This one, a white-legged millipede, (Tachypodoiulus niger – don’t you just love the way these Latin names trip off the tongue) has approximately 220 legs. They have two pairs of legs on each of the body segments, each of which is in reality a double segment. Millipedes moult several times as they grow, adding more segments and legs each time. The cast off skin is then eaten, thus restoring vital calcium supplies.

Millipedes belong to the Phylum Arthropoda and share the Subphylum Myriapoda with the centipedes. They make up the Class Diplopoda, characterised by two pairs of legs on each of the body segments. Millipedes can be easily distinguished from the somewhat similar centipedes (Class Chilopoda), which move more rapidly, and have a single pair of legs for each body segment. An estimated 10,000 species of millipede have been described worldwide and 41 species are known to occur in Ireland.

Millipedes are thought to be among the first animals to have colonised land. The oldest known land creature is Pneumodesmus newmani, a 1 centimetre long millipede, which lived 428 million years ago. It was discovered in Aberdeenshire in Scotland in 2004. Incredibly, the ancient forms of millipedes are nearly indistinguishable from certain groups living today.

Millipedes are vegetarians and feed on a wide range of plant material, especially when it is soft and decaying, although they sometimes eat dead invertebrates, such as worms and insects. They are usually found under leaf litter or stones, or in the soil and compost heaps. They can play an important role in enhancing the decomposition of dead plant material. Most millipedes have ocelli (eye spots) on the head. They have short antennae with which they constantly tap the ground as they move. They are usually found in damp places as they are prone to desiccation and avoid light. They are more active at night.

Tachypodoiulus niger is relatively common and occurs in Ireland and the UK as well as most of continental Europe. It is especially common on chalky and limestone soils. It lives in leaf litter, under bark or in moss, and feeds on algae, detritus and sometimes soft fruit such as blackberries. Predators include centipedes and hedgehogs. Tachypodoiulus niger is most active at night but during the summer it also becomes active in the afternoon.





Here you can see the two pairs of legs on each segment.