Shooting in the dark

I ad a short walk around the bottom end of South Foreland Valley around lunch time. In terms of birds it was very quiet. Unfortunately not the case for one lady walking her dog who seemed to believe that screaming at it at the top of her voice was the best way to control it. I think it was probably her rather than the dog that needed training in animal behaviour and how to train a dog! (poor Oscar)

As I was passing a large conifer I could hear some crests calling, there were probably Goldcrests in the tree but I immediately recognised the more strident call of a Firecrest. It took a while to see it and eventually I found two, and there may have been a third calling near by. One did venture out into a more open bush (not sure what it is but it still has leaves on it). Even then it was very dark and like all crests it never stopped moving.

At just 1/50th of a second what I photoed was basically a series of blurs, event at ISO 1600. Perhaps I should have paid a return to Folkestone where the Waxwing numbers have built up to 193 this afternoon, A sight worth seeing.

This was the best I managed, and at least you can see what a fantastic little bird the firecrest is. I may have another try later, as I think that there may be more than two in the area, an interesting record. Although I've managed a few reasonable pictures in the past trying to get a photo of something in perpetual motion is a challenge not to be missed.