Simon King Wildlife

Having not posted for a while I thought I would do an update on the project I am currently working on.

I have recently started working as an assistant for Simon King. Together we are installing a range of Live cameras that soon will be available to watch on our website (Simonkingwildlife.com) and edited highlights on our YouTube channel.

Nest Boxes for a range of small garden birds have been installed and many have had regular visitors.

Owl boxes that we have installed have been investigated by Tawny owls and we are very hopeful they will be inhabited in the Spring.

Our River cam has captured a range of wildlife on the river including Otters, Dippers and Kingfishers.

There is so much preparation going into the cams, Im so excited to watch the stories develop over the coming weeks, months and years.

To view our cameras currently Live please visit - www.simonkingwildlife.com and follow the links to the 'Live Cams' and also the YouTube channel for films and updates. 

Sam

River Allen

Hello Everyone,

I know its been ages but here is a little update on one of the projects I have been working on. The river Allen is a stunning chalk stream very close to my home in Dorset. I had never really looked in depth at the wildlife there before, but I wanted to start, and I wanted to get to know this amazing waterway in more detail.

I started by putting a stick across the river and waiting. 

It wasn't long before one of my best friends, mr Kingfisher turned up! I went to the hide every morning and slowly started getting to know the birds a bit better. There were two chicks in the area, however it wasn't long before they were kicked out by the parents. They must have only just fledged the nest when I started at the site, so I only saw them for about 5 days before they were gone. 

The next thing I started working on was the underwater life of the River Allen. The river is full of fish, and heaps of other life. I started by placing a GoPro camera onto a rock and just placing it in the river and hoping for the best. Despite the fact its a very hit and miss process some of the results have been quite interesting. 

Lady of the river - Grayling 

Pike 

I have got better at learning the preferred habitats of the different species and I know where best to place the camera now to get better results. 

Pike 

One evening I was filming in the river and something caught my eye flying over the far bank, a Barn Owl!!! I got my stuff and got out of the river and up on to the bridge and watched the owl hunting the meadow on the far side of the bank. Over the next few evenings I spent time waiting and filming the Owl when it made its brief appearances. On one particular evening the conditions where perfect and I was very happy with the results. The image below is only a screen shot from video so not a high res file. 

Barn Owl

I have also filmed Eels is the river Allen. Eels fascinate me as their life history is remarkable. They are born in the Sargasso sea in the Bahamas, then travel across to the UK as tiny 'glass eels'. Once they reach our shores they then travel up our fresh water systems, where they can live in our rivers for up to 20 years! Once they are ready to breed, they TRAVEL BACK TO THE SARGASSO SEA to breed. Its a crazy journey for such a small animal. I felt very privileged to have one in front of my camera.

I have recently uploaded a short film featuring a lot of filming from this project. If you want to have a look, please follow the link bellow. 

"   http://vimeo.com/71697900   "

I hope you like the video and images within this post. I will be updating the blog more now as I am working on a number of projects. The main one being camera trap photography. As soon as I start getting results I will let you know!

Sam 

New kingfisher location and new app

Today I checked out a new kingfisher site a lot lot closer to home. I'm still not sure about it but I'm going to set up a bushnell on a perch I think looks good to see if there are any kingfishers in the area. I will also work on the site a few mornings at sunrise as I find this a great time to find kingfishers out and about.

The only issue is the fact that the river does not have large banks. This is usually a requirement for kingfishers. But due to there large territories I bet there are a few in the area.

This is also written on the iPhone blogger app so I might be able to write blogs on the move now.

Lets see what happens!

Kingfisher Update

I thought I would do a quick update on my Kingfisher project. Things have been going really well since my last post and I have been able to really push the photography forward and try for new and original images. 

The main reason the project has progressed so well, is due to the site its self. The river runs through the middle of a field which means there are very few over hanging trees. The banks are also only 2 foot tall. This situation means that I can get images quickly by placing a perch out in the the river. When she next does a fly by, she lands on it every time, without fail because there is little else to land on on this stretch of the river. 

I have tried wide angle images, by placing my camera on a tripod close to the perch and wiring the cable release back to me in the hide. I then waited for her to land in postion and then fired away. 

She was,  and still is, completely oblivious to the shutter, it has never effected her. I do however wait for her to settle on the perch for a few seconds before I fire the shutter. I usually do one or two, to remind her of the canon shutter noise, then its fine after that. 

Tamron 10-24mm @10mm full frame 

I love the wide angle images, I am just waiting for nice blue skies to capture them again. Or perhaps some misty winter mornings at sunrise. We will see!!! 

Sigma 120-300mm @120mm full frame

Simga 120-300 @300mm full frame

Sigma 120-300mm @300mm full frame

The following image is so far my favorite from the project. It was taken by pre setting up a 10mm wide angle, on an area I 'hoped' the bird would fly. after three hours in the hide, the bird flew back up river and I jumped out of the hide, I checked the camera and was very pleased with the image on screen. 

Its by no means perfect but its in the right direction. 

Tamron 10-24mm @10mm full frame 

Urban Kingfisher

Today I though I would post a shot, of a great species, in a not so great habitat. Its never nice to see wild animals using manmade objects however it must have been in just the right place for fishing.

I tried to get something different with this image. Usually kingfishers are always sat on nice clean branches, so I wanted a shot of one perched somewhere different.