If you like watching the aerial ballet of various types of Raptors,head for the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.I have never been up close to one raptor in the wild before,so imagine my joy and delight to have not one but three different species performing for me in a three hour trip to Capel Fleet Raptor Viewpoint http://www.kentos.org.uk/articles/Raptorviewpoint.htm
The conditions were very difficult to say the least,low light with heavy overcast skies,so to try and capture some pictures of the day it was high iso(500) to enable shutter speeds to try and "stop the birds in their tracks".So please bear with me on the quality of the following images.The main purpose of this post is to let people know what is on offer in this part of Kent
As I said not the best quality so be gentle on me !!!
I will definitely be going back (hopefully a bit of sun around),
Colin
Last edited by colper on Sat 12 May 2012, 6:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
Thanks Dragon Rapid,it is indeed the prison in the background.For anyone that knows the area the Raptor Viewpoint is situated on the road to Harty Ferry,there are lay byes situated all along the road where you can stop and observe the action.
A rough photostitch to show one of the "flypasts" as I said not ideal photos to work with but hopefully conveys what you can expect to see
Many thanks for comments ,much appreciated.With a brighter day looming,made another trip on Monday,unfortunately the owls failed to appear.Time to seek out the local scenery
Last edited by colper on Tue 08 May 2012, 9:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks for the comments.I am totally hooked on this place,went down there for the third day running.To be in close proximity to these wonderful creatures and watch them (through binoculars) hunting and catching there prey is an absolute pleasure,in fact I will say probably the best wildlife experience I have ever witnessed.To capture the event on camera is proving a lot more difficult,take today for example,a Marsh Harrier about 2-300yds away,hovering three foot above the ground,dropping into the undergrowth and then rising out with the prey firmly gripped in its talon's, all captured on camera.Unfortunately the pictures,although you can see what is going on did not come out as sharp as I would have liked.They will stay in my collection but I feel not worthy enough to put them on here.I will have a play around with them to see if I can salvage anything to post.
"I've been there many times Colin, only seen the owls once (and that was pre-camera). You are very lucky to have seen them"
Each time I have been there Grant,they have been out feeding three or four times.Part of there territory is adjacent to the car park.
All I can say is ,if you've got some time on your hands arm yourself with a pair of binoculars(not forgetting the camera) a flask of coffee and a few sandwiches and get down there for your very own "Naturewatch"
I will be going back and hopefully with some decent light and a lot of luck I will eventually get the shots that I can keep
Well I was a bit reluctant to post any pics from Tuesday,but what the heck.As i've said before not the best quality but here goes
Whilst I was there yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Bryan Benn,whose knowledge on the birds at Capel is second to none.I will be putting some of the tips and information he gave me into practice over the coming months and hopefully I may end up with some images of the quality shown on his website
must have a trip there soon !
