Help needed - Bird/Wildlife @Etherow

[sony_photographer_jake]

Hi,

I have recently been to Etherow Country Park.
I took my DSLR and got some decent shots, of some Mallards, Geese, Muscovy Ducks and a Robin.
I would like to know of any tips where I can see a Kingfisher, Mandarin Drake and a Nuthatch.

I have been various times and I have not seen some of this wildlife, I have seen various photo's on the internet but I want to give it a go myself.

I am sure a kind somebody can give me some good advice.

[OldBoy]

Kingfishers are very difficult to get close to so you need a long lens like 300mm plus. River banks or, later in the year, ponds and lakes. You need to talk to other photographers who visit that place and they will tell you the best place to see Kingfishers, and you still need to spend hours waiting for them to appear. Fishermen see lots of Kingfishers as they use bait to attract fish and the birds know this and will usually be around.

Nuthatches can be seen going up and down tree trunks looking for insects, so keep your eyes open in the forest. In Autumn, Winter and Spring they look for nuts/seeds which people put out on posts or cut tree trunks. I use seeds myself at those times of the year and the Nuthatches always turn up on most occasions. If you look at the Wildlife & Nature photo section on page three under Birds of Sandwell Valley you will see a photo of a Nuthatch using seeds on a post to attract it.

As for Mandrain Ducks you just have to wait for them to appear if you are lucky to have them in your area. I have been going to Sandwell Valley for ten years and it took five of them before I could photograph a Little Owl, and another three years before I had a second chance of another photo.

[sony_photographer_jake]

Thanks for your information, I have a 300mm lens with a 1.4x and 2x teleconverter.
I will have to do some research into this by asking other people, and photographers.

[sony_photographer_jake]

Took a look at the pics on the birds of sandwell and they are superb, the quality is just astounding.

The only way I would get shots like that is to increase my budget and go for a G grade lens.

[OldBoy]

Originally Posted by sony_photographer_jake

Took a look at the pics on the birds of sandwell and they are superb, the quality is just astounding.

The only way I would get shots like that is to increase my budget and go for a G grade lens.

Thanks for the comments. I used a Nikon 300mm F4 plus 1.4 converter to give me 420mm on my D3. The advantage of that position was the bright sun was behind me, and as it was November last year, it was quite low in the sky. I also used a tripod to steady the camera/lens. At this time of year try mornings or afternoons rather than mid-day.

You can get great shots like that with standard lenses, as the most important thing is light and putting yourself in the right position.

[sony_photographer_jake]

I often use the basic Sony 75-300mm f4.5-f5.6

I have had some good results with this lense, although on bright lighting it does suffer from purple fringing, at over 200mm. I was looking at 70-300mm G lens and the 70-400mm G and these are well out of my budget at the moment.