The Walled Garden

Falmouth University has a secret garden tucked at the back of campus called The Walled Garden. Inside there is a hide that all Marine and Natural History Photographers can use to photograph the wildlife within the garden. Today, Jack and I too a 600mm lens and 1.5x tele-converter to the hide to photograph the beautiful birds as they swooped down to collect the seed we put out for them. This was the first time I had ever used a long lens to photograph birds on the table and in flight. I was totally gripped and cant wait to go back a refine my skills. I particularly enjoyed trying to get motion shots with a fast shutter speed.
Below are some of my images from today.

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT ABBI HUGHES

I was aiming to take a photo as this little blue tit flew speedily across my page. However, my reactions were too slow and I achieved this shot and just a green bush for the second. I like this photograph as the blue tit poses at the camera in a sneaky chirpy way. Below is the close up.

I saw many birds at the garden including chaffinches, both male and female, robins, blackbirds, goldfinches and nuthatches. 

These two photographs are of coal tits feeding.

This is a photograph of a robin in flight landing on the bird feeder. The fast shutter speed and long lens has allowed me to capture an emotive action shot. I was really inspired by this image and decided to stay for a few more hours and see what I could capture. Below shows the best image i got from the day.

Here I managed to capture the male chaffinch feeding and the female swooping down to disturb. The shapes and movement captured really excited me! I cant wait to return and try for some more action images!

See below for the species list of all animals seen whilst visiting the garden:
Green Woodpecker x1
Spotted Woodpecker x1
Long Tailed Tits x2
Greenfinches x1
Goldfinches - Flock
Blackbirds (male and female) x3
Blue Tits x3
Coal Tits x2
Nuthatch x1
Robin x2
Great Tit x3

Squirrel x1

I hope you enjoy my images.

Abbi


Location : Walled Garden, Tremough Campus
Date: 25th January 2011
Time: 12am - 3.30pm
Weather: Heacy clouds, rain showers, soft wind, with occasional bursts of sunlight through the clouds.
Map Reference: SW775345



Robin Red Breast

I have decided to do my habitat project at Trebah gardens. It will involve going to the gardens on a regular basis to investigate, research and record how it changes through the seasons. So far I have identified a walkway that I will begin investigating, called the beach path, before homing into a more confined area to fully investigate using different photography techniques. I will keep you updated with my progress and photographs along my six month journey.

Below shows photographs of my most recent trip to the gardens. I went to investigate and identify the bird life seen down the beach path. I found blackbirds (Turdus merula), blue tits(Cyanistes caeruleus), coal tits (Periparus ater), wrens (Cistothorus palustris) and my favourite, the robins (Erithacus Rebecula).

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT ABBI HUGHES

I sat quietly on a bench outside the cafe where I left some bread crumbs and waited for the tame robins to arrive. I was using a Nikon D200 and standard 18-70mm lens. It was photographed with ISO 200, 1/200th of a second and f8.

This is a cropped photograph that I find really exciting as its in good focus and shows the viewers the makeup, structure and colour of this delicate robins feathers. It shows an intimate insight. Photographed using D200, 70mm lens, f8, ISO 200, 1/200th of a second.

The little robin then hopped down off its wooden pirch to almost pose for me at the table I was sitting at. I felt very lucky to be having such a close encounter with a wild and glorious bird.

Other birds that I saw whilst visiting the gardens included:

Greenfinches

Goldfinches

Chaffinches (male and female)

Blackbirds (male and Female)

Blue tits

Great Tits

Coal Tits

Buzzards

Mallards

Herring Gulls

Black Headed Gulls

I hope you enjoyed my images. More of the gardens will be comming shortly.

Abbi

Location : Trebah Gardens
Date: 23rd January 2011
Time: 3pm - 5pm
Weather: Southerly warm and gentle winds, strong sunlight, occasional cloud covor.  
Map Reference: SW767273

Macro Photography at Trebah

I enjoyed my last visit to Trebah Gardens so I have decided to return to complete a photomicroscopy assignment. I was instructed to photograph an area of the gardens using macro technique. Below are some of the images that I produced from the Beach path....through the rhododendrons, bamboozle, gunnera and hydrangeas. I used a Nikon D200 and 60mm macro lens with macro flash kits.
(ALL IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHT ABBI HUGHES)

These images show a series of water droplets on different varieties of plants and shrubbery. Above represents a colourful abstract  image that examines macro photography and uses the natural lighting creatively to display the plants composition . The plants name is unknown to me at present but I will carry on my search to identify it.

This image was photographed on a tree in the bamboozle. Once again I am unsure of the identity of this tree but will find out in due course and update you. I loved the way the light caught the droplets and shows their curves and direction of movement. The colour of the bark, I feel, is striking and emotive.

This is a photograph of lichen (Niebla homalea) that grows on rocks trees and shrubs in coastal areas. It is not my favourite macro image but I was excited by the way the lichen appeared to be wrapped around and protecting a water droplet. It was found in an interesting location, hiding between the rhododendrons so I logged it.

This next image of moss was found on the sidewalk opposite the gunnera fields. I used a shallow depth of field to enhance colour and to pinpoint attention to the important part of the image. I feel this creates an interesting subject where the viewer is left questioning what the object is.

This is a photograph of snow drops (Galanthus) that have been just been planted and ready to come out for spring. I particularly like this image as droplets are suspended between the shoots by a single spider web.

This is a photograph of a pair of earwigs (Dermaptera) interested me as they also had water droplets on their backs. I had to be patient and wait for them to stop moving to get the image in sharp focus on both the earwig and the droplets seen on its back. I also like how the focus has created a central viewpoint with a blur circling the subject.

The next two images are close ups of a gunnera plant. Using macro photography has enabled me to tell a different story from a new perspective.

The last macro image a took of the day was of the dying hydranger plants. When decaying they leave a beautiful exo-skeleton that i have captured using a shallow focus.

Whilst investigating these gardens I took small samples to look at through the microscope and investiagte further. I will post some more images of these up soon.

Location : Trebah Gardens

Weather: Wet, strong winds with heavy rainy spells

Date: 12th January 2011
Time: Afternoon
Map Reference: SW767273

Abbi

Trebah Garden

Trebah gardens is a 'sub-tropical paradise with a stunning coastal backdrop', located in Cornwall, near Falmouth. The marine and natural history photographers at Falmouth university were invited to investigate, record and research these gardens.

Charles Fox first created the gardens in 1838 bringing new and exciting horticulture to the beautiful cascading landscape that leads your eyes down to the beach and estuary where 7,500 US infantry embarked in 1944. Tony and Eira Hibbert bought Trebah in 1981 and opened the garden to the public in 1987.  

Here are a few of the images I photographed on Tuesday.
(ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT ABBI HUGHES)

This is a photograph of the breath taking Hydrangea valley. Currently the hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla) are out of season and dead but still pose as a beautiful decaying scene. In late summer to autumn the two acres of the valley are bright blue and white creating a dramatic burst of colour beside the woodland.

This image shows the gunnera passage next to hydrangea valley. In the summer the giant rhubarb (Gunnera tinctoria) plants look very different baring bright green leaves that are often two metres wide. Its recorded that this is the largest leaf found growing outdoor in the UK. In winter the plants have been cut back and sheltered with their wilted leaves leaving a surreal and almost alien appearance that is perhaps on this immense scale as interesting as when in its summer bloom.

This is a photograph of the pond that is found after the bamboozle. The underwater plants create an eerie feel and coupled with the Rhododendron reflection creates an abstract and exciting photograph. I can imagine when spring arrives the colours added to the reflection will add an extra dimension.

This was a very friendly little robin (Erithacus Rebecula) that was found following the group round most of the day. It seemed that it was very comfortable around humans so I was able to get a close shot of him using only a 50mm lens.

I really enjoyed walking around the vast gardens and have even more to explore. I intend to go back soon with a macro lens to get some more in detail photographs.

I hope you enjoy my images.

Abbi

Location : Trebah Gardens
Date: 11th January 2011
Time: 10am - 3pm
Weather: Overcast with sunny spells, strong westerly wind, sheltered in the gardens.
Map Reference: SW767273