Tuesday 2 July 2013

Loss of habitat (Part 2)

The continuing story of my project to get an image of a singing Skylark in flight with the heavy machinery that is destroying it's home in the background. (Click here for part 1)

I've been back several mornings to try for this shot with varying amounts of success but ultimately I haven't got the shot I want. The Skylarks are very tricky, you have to be in the right place at the right time as they lift into the air very quickly and are too high, for the shot I want, before you know it. I quite often catch them perching up on vegetation and singing which would be the next best thing to the shot I really want. When I do catch them in flight they are invariably in the wrong place or too high to get the background I'm after.

Perched Skylark
Above is one of the perched Skylark images which I quite like but the orange fence in the background obscures the excavator behind it so you can't really see what it is.

Skylark in flight
Above is a Skylark in flight, a few more meters to the right and slightly lower and I might have had my shot.

Meadow Pipit
I'm quite pleased with the above image. Yes it's a Meadow Pipit and it's perched but everything else is good.  There are a couple of Meadow Pipits in this area and they are regularly perching on the fence with the machinery in the background. This one is even singing and I managed to get quite close to it.

I've seen the Skylarks bringing food back in the last week so they presumably have young in the nest. Will this be the last year here?