I’ve written about Castle Espie before. It is a Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Centre on the shores of Strangford Lough about 10 miles from my home. I try to visit a couple of times a month and while I go mainly to take photographs as do many others, a lot of people come to simply walk in the grounds and see the wildfowl and the views over the lough.
It’s a popular place to see the Brent Geese as thousands of them winter on the lough and the Trust has The Brent Discovery Hide right on the shore where you can watch them in reasonable comfort.
The Centre is good for photography. When you enter there are large ponds where you can feed the ducks and geese. This area is separated from the main reserve and the birds are used to being fed so you can get fairly close.
I’ve tried before to photograph the ducks and geese using a wide angle lens and it didn’t work out well for me. The birds had been fed and my attempts to coax them to come close with grain I had bought didn’t work.
This was my second attempt. These photographs were taken using a Canon 17-40 lens at the short end. Since I took these images I’ve thought of a few ways to make improvements. I need to get the camera lower and closer for a start and I need more birds in the frame. I know I could clone some of the birds from elsewhere in the photograph but I’d prefer to get it right in camera if possible.
I’ll try again and call this work in progress
