Last week I asked for some advice from here regarding a day photographing various birds at a conservation centre on Monday. Well, I did it and it was a great day, apart from the weather. I was really having to use ISOs higher than I would normally use to get sharp pictures & very few of my flying pics came out very well – the best ones were when it brightened up a bit and we were in an open meadow. The worst attempts were in a shaded woodland area & at the start of the day when it was very overcast. I think with a brighter day, I would have had more success & I think a faster lens might be on the cards – although even with my 300mm lens I sometimes felt a little far from the birds.

I really recommend the place – it was the Hawk Conservancy based nr Andover, and the photography day was arranged through Wild Arena. They are signed up to that Clubcard offer thing, so you can get a really good days photography for peanuts if you save up your vouchers.

Anyway….here are some pics. Straight from camera – not had the chance for any tinkering yet. Let me know what you reckon.

Some nice pics there. I love the little owl.

Top pics and a great location too!

Some years ago, they "lost" one of their vultures for a while. He was perfectly happy around the local villages! Was quite a sight!

Good pics. Judging by the pics they did all the displays. Valley of the Eagles is a truely wonderful display especially when they let the Red Kites fly.
+1 on the recommendation, I go two or three times a year. Love the place.

Some of the vultures were really erm, ugly!

The one we were photographing (can't remember the specific name) was quite small (for a vulture) with a bright red face and a kind of light brown afro to go with it.
Was probably the best bird for photographing in flight as it flew a fairly predictable path, was fairly slow & pretty large compared to the hawks & owls. But, the light was so bad, that I didn't get one sharp in-flight image of the blighter. It didn't help that the contrast between his dark feathers and the background was virtually nil, so the camera was having a real nightmare focussing.
For the barn owl shot, I had better success pre-focussing and then shooting when it came into range.

goon – the little owl was excellent; a right little character. There were 3 blokes who were insisting in getting in everyones way & getting really close to the birds & making them nervous. The little owl was having none of it and would flutter off just as they were getting set to take some pics.

MM, we wathced a display with the red kites – catching food in mid-air but the weather was so dreary that the handlers would having real trouble keeping them interested.

that's one f##king angry looking pigeon

Lovely shots, considerably better than my last effort at a falconry display:

 

 

I really like some of the shots, especially as they have'nt been tweaked yet. It's nice to see normal weather conditions, personally I don't think it takes anything away.
I hope you post some more.

GrahamS – I'd rate those in flight pics pretty highly! The barn owl flying was my best effort – I think in total I have got 4 decent shots of him.
I didn't bother including any other in-flight shots as to be honest, they were all a bit pants. It was so dull I was having to use stupid low shutter speeds & I think the AF was having trouble tracking the birds due to the lack of contrast – even the slow flying vulture (like in your last pic) was proving difficult. I was intending to get a macro lens next & a flash, but I am now thinking of going for a faster lens instead. I think a monopod would also have been useful. Tripod is too slow to quickly adapt to the birds behaviour.

Roper, glad you like them. I will try to upload some more to photobox or somewhere & put a link on here. Might take a while though!

Thanks stunmpy01.

Yep, the AF was struggling a fair bit on my shots too. 😕

I was using the old Nikon 70-300G which at 300mm is at f5.6, plus it is a body-driven AF, rather than a motor is the lens, so even once it got a lock it struggled to keep it.

I had most success with either focussing manually or going for AF-C (continuous) and tracking to keep the bird's eyes in the centre focus square.

I'd love a big fast lens, but sadly I just don't take enough pictures to justify it (those shots were just at a family outing to Warwick Castle).

some great pictures stumpy01 and GrahamS. when i cycle up to roundway hill/pewsey vale/the ridgeway,i have seen a fair few birds of prey.mainly kestrels,buzzards. but have seen a few barn owls,and heard some tawny owls (unfortunately have yet to see one). would love to be able to take photos one day (when i can afford a decent camera/know how to take good photos!!!)