Welcome to our photo album of local birds. We hope you enjoy browsing through our selection of pictures. Please note that all images are copyright of their respective owners or are copyright of the South East Essex RSPB Local Group.

2005

Find out what were the favourite photographs from 2004 as voted for by you

Notes from Steve Arlow regarding digi-scoping:
I use a Kowa TSN824 scope with either the 32x wide angle eye piece or the Eagle-eye 10x Digi-scoping eye-piece. The camera is the Nikon Coolpix 995. The camera is attached to the scope eye piece by a London Camera Exchange adapter and the shutter mechanism is the Eagle-eye shutter release arm and bracket. A shutter release cable is then employed to depress the shutter without the need to touch camera or scope.

Also note that it's not a case of simply attaching the camera to the scope, pressing the shutter and you have a good picture. The light and weather conditions at the time affect the shutter speed that can be used as well as the ISO (film speed), the F stop, the white balance and sharpness etc. If there is low light a slower shutter speed needs to be used to allow enough light into the camera to make a bright image but this means any shake to the scope/camera will be reflected in the image quality and can be blurred. Even if not blurred, using a slower shutter speed will result in grainer pictures which means less adjustment can be made on the PC later. My Med Gulls from the Pier on Saturday were frustratingly poor despite over 20 sat on the roost posts. This was due to the direction of the wind, birds facing me so I had to move into shadow to get a better angle but as a result I had to use a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second. The best one was the head shot posted. The Guillemot and the Kittiwake were just some side attempts and they turned out better than then Meds. Sometimes you think you can't fail, MedGulls less that 10 yards away, and when you download the shots and begin to look at them they are not as good as you first think.

Many who think digi-scoping is easy quickly find out that it takes a lot of practice, discovering the different camera functions that will help with getting a good shot.

The ideal situation would be bright light (early morning) so a shutter speed in excess of 1/125 can be used with an ISO of 200 or better 100 and with the bird close enough so there is no need to use the camera's digital zoom. This is not always possible with our Essex weather.

Our Last Photographed Local Rarities Some of our other rarities are listed on our 'Where to See Birds in the Southend Area' page ?

'Rossi' The Ring-billed Gull

Thursday 13th May 2004. Vange Marsh, Pitsea. Temminck's Stint

Saturday 15th November 2003. River Roach. 1st winter drake Long-tailed Duck found by John Wright of the Southend Ornithological Group

Thursday 09th October 2003. Two Tree island (West). 1st winter Grey Phalarope first reported by Ron Hodgson

31st August 2003, Paglesham Lagoon. Red-necked Phalarope found by Steve Sanford of the Southend RSPB Local Group. Click on the image for more details

24th November 2002, Paglesham. Black Brant found by Steve Arlow of the Southend Ornithological Group. Click on the image below to see more photographs. Black Brant also found by Terry Strong on 28th March 2004 off of Two Tree Island.

24th March 2001, Gunners Park, Shoeburyness: Nigel Blake's excellent 1st-year White Spotted Bluethroat Pictures. Click on the image below to see more of this fabulous bird. To see more of Nigel's Excellent photography visit his web site at: http://www.nigelblake.co.uk

We would very much welcome any contributions to our photo album and will consider any photographs that you send us for publication. We are always on the look out for any good photographs of local birds no matter how common the species.