March 2023
This was my first visit to Tom's Dyke Hide, having frequented his other hides on several occasions. The hide was set up with two totally different aspects.
On one side there were feeders for small garden birds, with a black background with a four-flash set-up. The idea was to capture the birds with a slow shutter speed and second-curtain flash, creating an interesting trail.
The other side looked out over fields, where kites, buzzards, and ravens were feeding.
Garden Birds with slow-synch flash
This proved to be quite challenging, with timing being particularly difficult. I had a fairly low hit rate, but did get a few images I was reasonably pleased with.
I had visits from sparrows, blue tits, great tits, long-tailed tits, dunnocks, robins, blackbirds, starlings, jays, woodpeckers, and a partridge
Here are a few of the images I captured:
Blue tit
Great tit
Long-tailed tit
Robin
Sparrow
Blue tits and Robin
Blue tit
Robin
Sparrow
Long-tailed tit
Long tailed tit
Raptors
In addition to the Red Kites, Common Buzzards, and Ravens, I also had visits from several pheasants and squirrels, magpies, chaffinches, and a bonus of a muntjac wandering by.
Buzzards
Red Kites
Ravens
I found these birds quite intimidating. They are huge, and one of them came right up to the glass, and even jumped on the sill of the side wall, trying to break in through the boarded-up window.
Others
Chaffinch
Jay
Muntjac
Pheasant
There were at least five squirrels at any one time
