14 October 2009

On a walk along the Grand Western Canal in late September, Andrew Cunningham was hoping to see one or two migrants. These Swallows provided him with an excellent photo opportunity, despite the poor light.

Andrew writes: "I came across some young Swallows perched in a far bank tree waiting for the parents to feed them. They were quite close to the towpath and could make for nice photographs. The light was not ideal so I had to push the ISO up and 800 was the most I would dare. It gave me decent shutter speeds anyway.

Turning off the autofocus and pointing the camera at one young bird at a time using a tripod allowed me to press the shutter whenever the adult came in with food. The camera's frame rate of 6.5 shots per second allowed me to filter through the hundreds of pictures on a full compact flash card and select a few I thought were reasonable.

I was rather pleased with the ones that came out OK but better light and the use of my shutter cable release would have seen greater success – but that's for another day."

Swallows – Grand Western Canal – © Andrew Cunningham – 25 September 2009