Kingfishers?!?

[joelhenderrox]

Originally Posted by NicolaB

That's the new hide I was thinking of!! Thanks for that! That one or Michael Powell are the two I've seen them at fairly regularly.

And yes, I agree that Cilgerran is good too, there's a fair chance of seeing otters on the Teifi as well

Yep cilgerran is just around the corner for me i was there a couple of weeks ago at 5 in the morning and failed to see one, plenty of herons though. i guess persistance is the key to photography!!

[johnf3f]

Originally Posted by minar

Peter Scott hide in wetlands llanelli spotted a pair there but missed the shot last week.

Photographed a couple of VERY co-operative Kingfishers from the Peter Scott hide about 4 weeks ago. They hung around for about 30 mins and did all the usual fish beating, pellet regurgitating and posing you could ask for! However the three perches are not very close to the hide so even my 600mm (on a 1.3 crop body) was far too short to get really detailed shots. 1.4 + 2x converters made images bigger but even less detailed.
Is there anywhere on can get close without causing legal/disturbance problems?

[turkeyneck]

Hi John

I'm suprised you thought that the three perches at the Peter scott hide where not very close. I was up there last weekend and could agree about two of them but the one to the left of the hide is pretty close, in fact real close I thought. I also had a 70-300mm lens and even though the KF was displaying for ages it didn't go to the left hand perch so unable to get a good shot with my puny 300mm. Wayne was kind enough to lend me his D300with 150-500mm so I did get some photographs. That is the closest I've seen kingfishers, it's even further at Cigerran. I've learnt the lesson and have purchased my own 150-500mm today.

I can't think they'll be anywhere closer, unless you get lucky and stumble across one on a walk, still have to be pretty close (and fast)at 300mm.
Good luck
Lee

[MJM]

Re: "It's even further at Cilgerran". The nearest perch to the Kingfisher Hide is about 7 metres away and I have also often seen them on nearby branches 7-8 metres away.
This photo (and the others in my recently posted set) was taken at 7 metres with a Nikon D300S, 300/2.8 with TC-17EII. Full aperture, ISO 500 1/800 sec.
Martin.

[turkeyneck]

Hey nice photo,............I stand corrected

[johnf3f]

Originally Posted by turkeyneck

Hey nice photo,............I stand corrected

Turkeyneck - I think we need to talk to MJN! Nice Pic MJN!

You are right about the perch on the left of the Peter Scott hide it is closer but I like tight crops and lots of detail so even the 600 is no magic bullet (Howitzer shell in this case - it's HEAVY!).
The best picures are nearly always the closest ones!