Wildlife

I have always been passionate about wildlife and conservation and when not photographing people I can often be found out in the countryside and on nature reserves. Though we have of course lost species, we are lucky to still have such a diversity of birds, butterflies and insects in the British countryside. Many species are still under threat, but it is heartening to have met so many like minded people when out and about photographing the natural world.

You can contact me on 07866 316577 or via e-mail at info@mauricephotos.co.uk

TO GO STRAIGHT TO DETAILS OF PHOTOGRAPHY COURSES AND TO SEE SOME OF MY FAVOURITE IMAGES PLEASE CLICK HERE AND SCROLL DOWN

Some wildlife links:
Michael Flowers birdwatching classes and walks
Yorkshire Butterfly Conservation
Yorkshire Dragonflies
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
Yorkshire Nature Triangle
Yorkshire Mammal Group
East Yorkshire Birding Forum
Birdguides
Tophill Low Nature Reserve
Yorkshire Red Kites
North Cave Wetlands Nature Reserve
The Wild Bird Cafe - North Cave Wetlands
Paull Holme Strays sightings
Potteric Carr Nature Reserve
Hull Valley Wildlife Group
Spurn Bird Observatory
Mike Robinson Bird Photos
Vince Cowell Photography
Steve Mulligan Bird Photography
David Ware - Wolds Birding
Paul Ashton East Yorkshire Wildlife
Wold Ranger
Beetle Boy's Bio Blog
Rory Selvey (age 13) Wildlife Photography
Kill the Badger Cull
The Brown Hairstreak Blog
Africa Gomez Bugblog
Zilch - eliminating litter
Keep Britain Tidy
Plantlife
Buglife

Next Photo Event dates to be announced...

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Wharram Quarry - testing my "new" Canon PowerShot G9 compact

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G9-3885

The PowerShot G9 is quite an old camera nowadays (Canon are currently producing the G15), but solidly built and still very capable. Despite being a Nikon SLR user I have been fancying a G9 for a while and a late bid on ebay secured me one for a very good price.  You have all the manual exposure control of an SLR in a small package plus you can also shoot RAW files.  The macro capability is really useful, allowing you to focus as close as 1cm!  The focus does hunt quite a lot and you can focus sort of manually but it takes an age to do it so you are best wait for the autofocus to get there in the end. I shot at 80 iso today, mainly in RAW. Jpeg is usually fine but you end up having to twiddle with the exposure compensation or adjust your manual exposure for very light subjects so RAW makes life easier. Once you get up to 400 iso the images do get quite noisy and I'm not sure the image stabilization is doing much. However, the camera is quirky and you can work it hard making it do what you want it to do in the end. You miss shots you would have caught with an SLR, but it is after all a compact. I skipped between manual and aperture priority, usually with the camera dialled down to its minimum f8. At the wide end you also have a maximum f2.8, which is nice!

I paid a visit to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's splendid Wharram Quarry reserve today. I usually visit in May to see the Dingy Skippers but I have never seen it looking as glorious as it did today.  Completely carpeted with wild flowers and orchids, as soon as you walk through the gate butterflies are flying everywhere: Marbled White, Small Heath, Common Blue, Small and Large Skipper, Meadow Brown and Ringlet. Jam-packed full of butterflies everywhere you looked and all very active in the heat too. Just like Brockadale, this place really lifts the spirits.

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Bee orchid from RAW file nowt wrong with that


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Bee Orchid


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Taken as a jpeg, highlights washed out in background, could have rescued if a RAW file


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also a jpeg, but it has done a better job here


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Small Heath from a RAW file


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Female Common Blue from RAW file


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Not quite had time to lock focus with this mating pair. Camera would have got there in the end but they didn't stick around!


WQ_0478Pyramidal Orchid from RAW file


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Common spotted orchid from jpeg


WQ_0434After you have seen this, overmown verges by the side of the road are even more depressing

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Robin's pincushion from RAW

2 comments:

  1. A wonderful collection. I am guessing the quarry reserve is near the Wharram Percy deserted village?

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    1. It is indeed. You can park in the car park for the deserted village, walk down the slope and turn right through the gate along the old railway track. This will bring you to the quarry after a reasonable walk. Alternatively, in car carry on up towards Wharram Percy village if coming from Wetwang. Take the first left at the crossroads in Wharram Percy and follow winding road half mile round to the quarry. Not much parking right outside quarry if more than a couple of cars. Good time to visit in this fine weather!

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