A new bathing pool and garden robins

Through the winter I’ve been making much more of an effort to feed our resident garden birds.  I’ve also been giving them a wider variety of food than just say peanuts or the like.  This has had a significant effect on both the numbers and variety of birds visiting the garden.  I didn’t really do this as a route to more photography (I’m not really a big fan of photographs at bird feeders) but just because we didn’t seem to get a lot of birds in the garden and I thought they might appreciate some help.  It’s tuned out very positively and I’ll be continuing the feeding through the year (the RSPB gives guidance on feeding now substantiates that this is a good approach).  

All that being said, the increase of birds got me thinking and I decided to have a go at photographing some of our visitors.  Instead of the feeders, I set up a water pool; carefully making sure it’s not in spot that gives cats or similar an obvious ambush opportunity.  It’s been in place for a couple of weeks together with, this week, my hide and mounts for flash guns.  This morning I spent a bit of time in the hide with my coffee listening and seeing what came to drink or bath.  

I’m pleased to show that our resident robins were doing the rounds.  In fact, we have had a nesting pair somewhere nearby and the young fledged about a week ago and are still in the area with their parents.  One came down for a bath watched over by its parent.  The photos weren’t bad for a first attempt and I hope I’ll get a chance of some more of these and other species over the course of the spring.  

Tech bit:  Nikon D500 with Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 lens.  Flash exposure with 2 x Nikon SB28 speed lights radio triggered from the camera using Yonguo RF-603N triggers.  Flash exposure is manual at 1/8 power; manual exposure eliminates pre-flashes that can cause a reaction and ensures fastest recycling time.  The D500 was shot at 1/250, f/5.6, ISO 400 at about 400mm.  I kept the ISO up a bit to allow me to use very low power on the pair of flashguns.  The camera shutter was set to quiet mode, again to minimise chance of startling the birds.  Set up like this, the birds didn’t react to the flash or shutter.  

The bird bath is set in a large (50cm) plastic planter tray filled with gravel and is fed by a dripper (about 1 drip per sec) from a hose. This keeps the water clean and topped up while the drip helps attract the birds.  In all it cost about £8 for the planter tray as all other bits were odds and ends from the garden / garage.  The bath is set on top of an existing mound which both helps me in getting a low angle shot but also means it offers little opportunity for the birds to be surprised by a ground predator (though a Sparrowhawk might possibly get in there).