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Welcome to my website |
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I have been interested in a diverse range of wildlife
and nature related items for many years. My
interests range from what I can see in my garden and
other British species through to trips abroad to see
and photograph other animals and birds.
I have been an active camera user for many years, using film SLR, and then digital compacts.
But now that digital SLR's are more
affordable and of better quality the two go hand in
hand, I have joined a large number of people now
combining these two activities.
I am based in Leicestershire, and I have a number of
ongoing photography projects many of which are found
on this website. Like everyone I like to see
new, unusual and indeed rare species. But I am not "a twitcher". I
am getting more serious about my photography and
this website shows some of my results. |
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Wildlife Photography
Over
99% of the species that I photograph are wild and free.
It's a case of doing the homework, finding out where and
when to go and then hoping the time and money is
rewarded with good views and good photographic images.
Some
of the places I visit, some of my targets and thoughts:
Nigel's Wildlife Photography Thoughts
I do
very occasionally take images of captive species such as
Owl's and birds prey. These are always at locations
where I am happy that the animals and birds are well and
properly looked after by experts. |
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A Very Cold Northern Winter In Norway
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One of the
wildlife species I have always wanted to
photograph is Golden Eagles, and I got the
chance in early 2010.
I visited
Norway one of Europe's cold wintry environments to target Eagles and
other
"hard to photograph species" in their wild natural
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I spent 3
days in a purpose built Eagle hide patiently waiting for the
opportunities to take some memorable images. These species
are among some of the hardest to get in the wild. As a
result we had to be in place in the hides before sunrise and
then not leave the hides until after sunset.
Golden Eagles are very shy and as a result we
needed to ensure we made no noise or movement to give away the
fact we were in a hide so close. We needed to choose which
lens we were going to use, and then leave the lens in place all
day. We even had to take the images in "single shot" mode,
as the use of the motor drive setting to take longer sequences
would have made to much noise.
During the
week
I managed to take photos of nine species of
wild birds and three species of wild mammals in Norway. But quality beats quantity.
Norway Winter Wildlife |
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British Butterflies
One
of my long term wildlife photography projects is to see and
take reasonably photographs of all 58 of the British butterfly species.
By the end of December 2009 I have photographed 54 species which is just
over 90% photographed.
I have three species to see and four to photograph, but
there are also many species I will try to see again to try
and get better results.
British Butterflies |
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History of
nigelspencer.co.uk
I built my first web site over ten years ago, and
for many years my site was used for lot
of photos and information about
mountaineering which is another long
term hobby of mine.
in May 2006 I purchased my first DSLR
and towards the end of 2006, I
decided to extend my site as a place for me to show some of
my wildlife pictures.
By the end of 2009 my web site is dedicated to only wildlife
and wildlife photography |
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So what is included on this site:
It's always difficult to know what to
show on a site.
It's sometimes even more difficult to
know what to leave off. I
completed a major overhaul of the site
during the end of 2009. As a
result, I have decided only to
show some of the images that I am happy
with, rather than a large number of
species like a "list collector".
I am in the process of resizing and web optimised many of
the photos to around 720 pixels along
the longest side. For a list of
species on this web site :
Species List |
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I am
certainly no twitcher and my
British list is under 300
I am however pleased that I have
photographed 200 British
species. |
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My
200th bird species photographed was a Grey
Phalarope which was photographed at Shustoke in Warwickshire on 6th
September 2008.
It is not a good quality
photo and as such it is
one of many species that
are not featured on this
site (other than this
small thumbnail)
Therefore Grey Phalarope
remains on my photographic improvement list. |
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So what
are my favourite birds?
Now
there is a difficult question to answer, as I like so many
birds
but Owls &
Woodpeckers are some of my favourite birds
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A
few of the other web pages that I visit
my wildlife links |
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Workflow
I intend to add a section here on my photographic workflow.
Please revisit and hopefully it will be online soon. |
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contact me:
if you wish to contact me, please do so at
nigelspencer@btinternet.co.uk |
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At the start of 2007, I added a "blog"
2010 blog
2009 blog
2008 blog
2007 Blog
to record
some of my sightings, visits, and occasionally my thoughts |
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Photographic
Equipment Currently Used:
Like most wildlife photographers, I use a digital SLR.
I purchased my first DSLR in May 2006 and have gradually
added more lens and upgraded to a better body. I
now use a tripod whenever I can and am gradually changing
the way that I take my photographs.
for more
info on
my current wildlife photography set up |
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Famous at
last is probably overstating it a wee bit
Back in September
2008, I
answered an appeal on the Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological
Society (LROS) web site asking for photos for their forthcoming book.
To cut a long story
short, one of my photos of a pair of Egyptian Geese, ended up as one of the
thirty three colour photos in their book
The photo taken at Rutland Water, the same place the book was launched at Rutland
Water at the 2009 Bird Fair.
The book is
hardcover and contains 704 pages. It is one of the County Avifauna
series by AC Black entitled
"The Birds of
Leicestershire and Rutland".
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If
you would like to link to this page, please contact me
via
nigelspencer@btinternet.co.uk
If
you would like a banner to link to, please ask, I can email
you this:
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All
Photos Copyright Nigel Spencer |
