dannygreenphotography Blog
3rd July 2010
Red Foxes closer to home
So far this summer I have been travelling to other countries searching for images and although I have enjoyed it, it has been hard work. I have missed working on projects closer to home so I was really pleased to find that a family of foxes had taken up residence in my mother-in-laws garden and she had been feeding them every night for the past six weeks. Basically she has done the hard work for me and the cubs have become used to humans and become very tame. So all I do is turn up in the evening and take the images. It is in a garden setting so I can only work in a certain way because of backgrounds but it is great for getting close-up portraits.
This one is my favourite so far, I just love the light on him and I have under exposed the image to throw the background darker.
I have spent the past twenty years trying to photograph foxes and I have to say they are one of the hardest mammals to photograph in the UK. So to get an opportunity like this is fantastic and I have grabbed it with both hands. I am hoping that they stick around for a bit longer because I am off to Svalbard next week and on my return I would like to try for some more images. Thanks Chris and Brian it has been great.
27th June 2010
Boreal Predators
I have just got back from Finland where I have been trying to photograph the large predators that roam these Boreal forests. The first part of my trip was at Martinselkonens where I was leading a trip for Natures Images. If you want to photograph Bears this is the place. The weather was unkind for the majority of our stay but it did break now and then enabling me to get some images in nice light.
One of my favourite places at Martinselkonens is the pond hide where the bears are fed around the edge of a small lake. You really need calm conditions at this location but the images you can get are great if all the elements come together. In previous years the activity has been really good but this year the mating season was later maybe because of the bad winter in northern Europe. I was also dissapointed not to get any female Bears with young cubs but that is the reason why these places always draw me back.
Brown Bears are beautiful and intelligent mammals but I have to say are rubbish at hide and seek.
After my trip at Martinselkonens I stayed on in Finland to try another couple of locations mainly because I wanted to get images of wolves and hopefully wolverines. These locations still attract Bears but not as many so you have a more realistic chance of seeing these elusive predators.
Wolves eluded me on this occasion and I must admit it was the first time I have not enjoyed a trip. I think I put to much pressure on myself and when you do that it can be intense. I will go back and try again but work in a different way. I was successful for Wolverine though and this has been the highlight of the year so far for me. Wolverines are so elusive and very rare in Finland because of persecution and there is only a population of around 150 animals.
For me wildlife photography is all about long term projects and this location is so special I will certainly go back and spend more time here, I am already planning on going back this winter to tackle this beautiful mammal again.
10th June 2010
Land of Fire and Ice .......
..............this time the birds
My main target for my Iceland trip was to photograph certian species of birds mainly ducks. So the bulk of my time was spent around lake Mývatn which is probably one of the best spots in Europe to do so. Mývatn is a large shallow lake in the north of Iceland and is so rich in invertebrate life which in turn attracts thousands of Ducks and Waders for the breeding season. Mývatn is not fed by rivers but underwater springs, so the lake in turn feeds the river Laxa. The Laxa river is an excellent spot for one of my main targets, the Harlequin Duck. This beautiful Duck returns in the spring to the fast flowing rivers of Iceland and the setting in which it lives really offers some great photographic situations. I really wanted to capture the male amongst the rapids but to try and blur the rushing water surrounding him. To do this I had to choose a very low shutter speed of around 1/6 of a second which was difficult because the bird had to be bolt still when I fired the shutter. I took many images but only a handful were sharpe enough to use. I spent many hours along the river in the hope of getting images of them and they are not easy to approach so I found the best approach was to pick a spot and wait.
Iceland is the only location in Europe that you can find Harlequins and the Laxa river is by far the best. You can also find the Barrows Goldeneye as well and again you have to travel to Iceland to see this species. The Barrows is much larger than our Goldeneye and I had to use a hide to get these images as they are a nervous bird too.
I have always wanted to get images of Long tailed Ducks as well and I have tried in Svalbard in the past but the images weren't great so this lovely duck was also high on my list to do. Long tails spend the winter at sea and then return to their breeding grounds in early spring. This is the best time to get images of them as the males are aggresively defending territories and females from rival males. I had to use a hide to get these images as it relaxes the birds and I can get more natural images.
When ever I photograph birds on the water I try to get as low as I possibly can to the surface, by doing this I feel the images have a more intimate feel to them. Usually I work from a floating hide but it was just not possible to take this on the plane so we had to improvise. To get these shots of Long tails we built a small platform out of some old pallets and then put the hide on top. The problem was as soon as you got on the platform it would start to sink so you had no choice but to lie down in the cold water. It was the most uncomfortable three hours I have ever spent in my life as the water was bloody freezing, thank god I smoke because it took the pain away for a few minutes each time I had one. At the end of each session you could hardly stand because the cold was so numbing you couldn't feel your feet. Ah well soon forgot about once I had a chance to look back at the images.
Lake Mývatn is also excellent for Slavonian Grebes and most of the small ponds surrounding the lake support a pair. This really is a beautiful Grebe and although I have done them before I couldn't resist spending some more time with them. We timed our trip to Mývatn for late May because we wanted to get the courtship ritual of the ducks and Grebes, so if this is what you want then go at this time.
We had some amazing sunsets whilst we were in Iceland and they do seem to last forever up there. These two images were taken on the same evening and the colours were so intense. I always find that when you have a sunset like this you are rushing around trying to find something but not at Mývatn because there is just so much to photograph.
I have also tried photographing Red Necked Phalarope before in the Shetland Isles but there are only a few pairs and are not that easy but in Iceland this cracking little wader can be found on most small ponds and seems to everwhere. They are like clock work toys and never stop so it is not easy to get images of them but you can't fail to spot them.
Mývatn is a great place for bird photography, in fact one of the best places I have been to but it was time to move on and take in some locations in the west. Mývatn produced one more picture for me though and it has got to be the only place in the world where you can photograph Ptarmigan from a car. Usually I have to walk for hours up a mountain just to get a climpse but we came across this male whilst heading back to our tents. It was difficult to get this orange glow behind him as I needed to be higher so I carefully got out the car for a higher view point but it wasn't enough so I climbed onto the car and amazingly he stayed. I just hope the hire firm don't spot the dent in the roof caused by my weight!
To complete the trio of special birds that you have to go to Iceland to see in Europe was the Great Northern Diver. This bird was proving very difficult and fustrating, it wasn't hard to find but everytime we had an encounter the light was really poor and we just couldn't find one in good light. I bumped into Daniel Bergmann (Icelands top Wildlife Photographer) whist at Mývatn and he told me about a place in the south called Þingvallavatn which has a few pairs. So the last couple of days of our trip was spent at this lake and we managed to get some stuff on this beautiful bird, I wish I had more time with these but some you win some you lose.
I moaned like hell whilst in Iceland about how cold it was, the weather, having to camp in minus 5-, waking up in the morning and looking out to find an inch of snow, the long distances that you have to travel, the fact that I was sick of tuna and noodles and cooking in the back of a car because it was to windy to do anything else, never being dry and always feeling wet and of course having flu at the beginning never really helped. But I have fell in love with the place and I will certainly be back because there is so much to do and I only really scratched the surface. My journey continues as I am heading to the Finnish boreal forests to try and capture images of some of finlands Apex predators and won't be back until the end of June, so see you then.
8th June 2010
Land of Fire and Ice .......
........ and just a few waterfalls.
I have just returned from a three week trip to Iceland where I have travelled around the whole island. This trip has been in the planning for the past couple of years but for some reason or other I have always put it off, but not this year. I travelled with two good friends Steve Knell and Nigel Winn and as ever their company was good fun. We hired a 4x4 which was a good job because boy did we need that and took all our own camping gear with us to save costs on accomodation. Our first port of call was the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano which was one of the highlights of the trip. It was really letting off some steam and the power was just awesome to witness. We were so lucky because the following day after these shots were taken it stopped. I wish I had made more of an effort to get there when it first started erupting because the images I have seen are amazing, I won't make that mistake again.
The first three days of the trip were hard for me because I had a sickness bug (man Flu) and I have never felt so bad, not good especially because I was camping (I nearly chucked the towel in and booked into a hotel). I really wanted to capture some of the dramatic landscapes of Iceland but to those of you that know me know that I struggle with landscape photography. A good friend of mine Ian Haskell (who is great at landscapes) really gave me some good tips and some great locations to visit. The best one for me was the small waterfall of Svartifloss in the south and I spent a lot of time here trying to capture this small fall.
Our journey took us along the south road heading east but the weather was really bad for a few days and we only managed to get a couple of things done what we had planned. We had planned to go into the highlands heading for the Landmannalaugar but the higher we got the road became more difficult and eventually we had to admit defeat which was a real shame because I really wanted to go to this beautiful place. The weather was also proving fustrating because whilst in the south we wanted to spend some time at Jökulsárlón, the Ice lagoon for Eiders and Terns but the weather beat us and Jökulsárlón is a place that needs good light.
I spent some time photographing on the Volcanic beach at Jökulsárlón which is great for Ice that is washed ashore as the tide comes in. We just didn't have the time to wait for good light so made the decision to head north. It was a long drive to Mývatn but we did break it up by stopping for many waterfalls and Landscapes along the way.
Once we eventually got to Mývatn the weather started to break and so we made the right choice to move on. Mývatn was going to be our base for the next couple of weeks as we were targeting certain species. This region of Iceland is very Volcanic and one of the best places for photography is Hverir at Namafjall. This is an amazing place and many of the boiling Mud pools and steam vents are great for making images.
The whole Mývatn region is worth exploring but I am afraid I got side tracked with photographing birds which is shame because I would have liked to spend more time at Namafjall. We had some amazing sunsets as well whilst we were in the area and the lake is great for this kind of shot.
Our Long Journey round Iceland continued as we headed to the west coast to take in Latrabjarg, this was one hell of a drive but again we broke it up with many stops along the way. The huge Waterfall of Godafoss was well worth the stop.
Eventually we got back to the south and spent the last couple of days at lake Þingvallavatn which again is a wonderful area. This image was taken at 1 o'clock in the morning and the colours were so intense.
These two images above are panoramics made up of three images stitched together it is difficult to view them at this size so click on the image to view them larger. So there you are some of my attempts at photographing the various landscapes of this wonderful country but I got side tracked and it was the birds that I really wanted to get.
27th April 2010
Finally some Roe
After all these years I have finally started to get some images of one of my favourite mammals, the Roe Deer. This shy and elusive Deer has eluded me for many years and I only had a handful of images to show for my many hours spent looking for them. Roe don't look there best at the moment because they are in between their winter and summer coats but give them another month and they will look their best. The summer coat is a beautiful tinge of red and the males will be getting ready for their annual rut which starts at the end of June.
The males are a mixture at the moment with some still sporting the velvet on their antlers. They are also showing an interest in marking out their territories ready for the rutting season. Roe are different from Red Deer as the males actually have a rutting stand and from this stand they call and attract the females to them.
This habitat is a mixture of heathland and Pine plantations which is perfect for the Deer. They feed on the open heath during the early morning and then retreat back to the pine stands for protection until the evening. There are many females knocking around too so I got a good mixture for my first attempt.
I will be going back over the course of the next few years to try and get images of them in different seasons. I will be certainly heading back in the summer to capture them during the rut and to also capture them in the purple heather which should be at its best.
25th April 2010
The Hook of Holland
I have just come back from Holland where I was leading a trip with my good friend Edwin Kats. Ed is in my opinion one of the best and hardest working nature photographers around at the moment and he always delivers the goods on our annual trip to Holland and I always come back with a bagful of images. Holland for some reason is a country that is not visited by many photographers from the UK which I find strange because it is a fantasic location with some cracking species, especially in the early spring. The first port of call was the beautiful island of Texel for some classic waders like Avocet, Redhanks and Oystercatchers. Texel is a windy place and all my previous visits have proved this but on this trip we were blessed with calm conditions which was great for reflections.
The light is best in the mornings at this location where we go for the waders but the best was yet to come as we were greeted in the evening by the most amazing sunset I have witnessed for a very long time an after effect after the recent Volcanoe eruption in Iceland. When the conditions are like this you have to make the most of it and we were lucky that some subjects were still kicking around.
After three days on Texel we headed off back to the mainland to work with some more classic dutch species like Black-tailed Godwit and my own favourite Bluethroat. I saw my first Bluethroat on the Isle of May in 1992 and was struck by this little birds beauty. Amazingly Edwin had managed to attract this lovely male to his private feeding site and offered us some great oportunities for images.
I stayed on in Holland after the organised trip with Natures images to work on a couple of new locations ready for next year. Ed has built a drinking pool in the forest and the amount of species coming to this little pool is amazing. Most of the common woodland birds drop in from time to time but it was great for me to photograph Blackcap as I have never done so before.
The main target though was Hawfinch and it was a long wait for them to drop in but eventually I heard a thud and a male and female had dropped down for a quick drink. It was over in seconds as they just took a couple of sips but boy was it exciting, this species has been on the top of my list for years.
Its amazing how many species I can do in a week in Holland and again it has all been down to Mr Kats, cheers mate I love you, you dutch B$%^*%".
14th April 2010
Adder bug
The weather was looking good again today so I went back to the Adder site on the Chase to try for some more images. After emerging from hibernation Adders stay in the area for a few weeks and then move off to their summer feeding grounds. When they first emerge they don't look their best but after a couple of weeks they shed their skin (sloughed) and for me this is the best time to photograph them. I have been trying for a black and silver male for years and finally got the chance today.
I tried for some tighter head shots on this lovely male and instead of having a wider depth of field I shot them more with a more shallow one. The light is the key to most images but here it was so important because it has brought out that deep red colouration of his eye.
I also bumped into this beautiful female again. It has been a while since I last photographed reptiles and after these last few sessions I am really looking forward to getting some images of Smooth Snake and Sand Lizard.
13th April 2010
20/20 Vision
I am extremely proud to have been selected as part of a team of professionals which includes 20 of Britain’s top nature and landscape image makers for this exciting project. 2020VISION is a multi-media project broadcasting the connection between human well-being – physical, economic and spiritual – and healthy ecosystems. It’s a vision of a wilder Britain where it’s recognised that healthy ecosystems are actually good for us too. 2020VISION will inspire, inform and motivate. It’s message is simple: if we want to take care of ourselves and our families, we must first take care of the “eco-system services” provided by the wild places that we take for granted and abuse at our peril. So do get involved. Visit the web site, join our mailing list, join us on all the usual social media sites...and tell everyone you know! Communication is the word!! The website is www.2020v.org
Over the next couple of years I will be assigned to many projects but one of my main ones will be to document the rarest habitat in western Europe, Lowland Heaths. The UK has approximately 20% of Europe's remaining lowland heath, which most of this is concentrated in the southern and eastern counties of the UK. I will be working on many subjects over this period but to start off with I will be concerntrating on the UK's six reptile species which our heaths are so important for. So with the good weather over the last few days I made a start on some of the species that can be found on the nearest Lowland Heath to me, Cannock Chase in Staffordshire.
The Chase is a mixture of Lowland Heath, Pine and Decidious Forests and is a very important habitat for classic Heathland Birds like Nightjar and Dartford Warbler. Four of the Six species of Reptiles can be found and so with the help of my good friend Joe, we went in search of them. Joe knows the area very well and took me to some classic locations for these beautiful creatures.
I spent two days with Joe and I have to admit my success is all down to him and I was really pleased we managed to find a beautiful Female Adder as I have never photographed a female before and she was in lovely condition. I also got the chance to get images of a Male Grass Snake as well as he was sunning himself in the warm spring sunshine.
To round off my two days we also came across a Common Lizard basking as well and so not a bad start to this particular project. I will be heading south at the end of April to work on the two rarest reptiles found in the UK, Sand Lizard and Smooth Snake but these will be much tougher subjects to tackle. I have covered many habitats in the UK over the years but not so much on Lowland Heaths and so I am looking forward to getting my teeth into subjects like Dartford Warbler, Nightjar and Woodlark, as well as many of the inverterbrates found on this very special habitat.
9th April 2010
The Returning Icons of the North
I have just spent this past week in Sweden photographing one of Europe's most Iconic birds, the Common Crane. Cranes breed in remote marshes and bogs in northern Europe but during the autumn migrate to Spain to escape the winter blast. At the end of March they begin the long trek north again and on their way stop off at traditional posts along the way. One such migrating post is Lake Hornborga in southern Sweden, where at its peak up to twenty thousand Cranes can be seen, one of the best wildlife spectacles to be found in Europe. Natures Images where running an organised trip but the last place was proving elusive to sell so I put my hand in my pocket and paid for the last place and boy am I glad I did. Paul Hobson was the guide and I would really like to thank Hobbo for all his hard work during the trip but next time I would really like a cup of tea in bed during the wake-up call. It is not an easy trip because you have to spend around fifteen hours in the small one man hide and that meant a 4am start to make sure we got into the hide well before dawn.
You don't have to wait long before the first of the Cranes begin to turn up and the first three pictures are my favorite from the whole trip. It was a beautiful Sunrise on the morning I took these images and I love the shape of the Cranes in flight and by placing them against the Sun this really showed them at their best. To get the birds against the Sun was not an easy image to get and this image proved to me what a great camera the new 1D MK4 is, if you are considering getting one then do because you won't regret it.
The birds gradually build up throughout the morning because they are fed all around the small hides and after a couple of hours you are surrounded by thousands of Cranes, amazing. The birds are so close that you can get some really close-up portraits of them calling, preening, resting and you can make some wonderful compositions, showing that beautiful plumage at its best.
There are so many birds around you it is very difficult to isolate indivduals but they do like to drink at the water's edge and this gives you the chance. We had a really mixed bag with the weather from rain, mist and at times some wonderful light. The Cranes only spend around three weeks at lake Hornborga before moving on, so timing is critical, too early and they can be late arriving, too late and you can find that once you have got there they have all gone. They are other species knocking around as well and I managed to get images of Whooper Swans, Wigeon and Marsh Harrier.
The weather was very different on each day we were there, which is great because you can try many different techniques. We are undecided whether to run this trip again because of the slow up-take which I found amazing because no where else in Europe can you do this kind of photography in such a short space of time. If you like these images and would like to do the cranes then drop me an email before we make a decision because I certainly would go back in a heartbeat.
