Sand martins

[John Robinson]

Sand Martins
One shot from hundreds of failures.Therre were 400 nests three years ago then the following year -nothing . They had been heavily predated by foxes ,cats, Sparrow Hawk,magpie,crow, and possible badger
The finally came back this year with about 15 pairs but then the torrentialrain washed a lot of the bank away. The quarry men say it will have to be filled innext year anyway.
Not too sharp, but a big crop - about a third of the frame. . Racked out to try and get more DOF. The sand is that colour!
D200 Sigma 50-500
640 ISO 320th @f8
Cheers
John
Thanks for looking and previous comments

[Mike Poole]

Very pleasing image John, nice timing

[William Dickson]

Lovely image John. Well done

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Awesome interaction John! Well composed and good detail even for a large crop. TFS>

[gail bisson]

Not liking this one John.
IQ is not very good and details very coarse.
Get back out there and get closer!!
Gail

[John Robinson]

Thanks all.
Gail- Not that easy- I'd love to get out there again but they,ve gone. Could n't get closer because of the nature of the cliff face. Even if I could there would be even less DOF for 5 birds.
I,ll never get all 5 in that position again anyway.! Trouble is I don't know of another colony.
Always next year
Cheers
John

[Pamela de Zilva]

Love the interaction, and great timing. Pamela

[Marina Scarr]

What an amazing image, John. Love the story here with the entire family. Love seeing the nest cavity and the environment. I would add a tad more sharpening to the closest chick's head. I think there was a little movement there as the others appear quite sharp. Your hard work paid off.

[christopher galeski]

Nice capture Johny,nice family interaction,nice colored environment,have a large colony near to were I live,have not had chance yet to gets some images.

[John Robinson]

Thanks
Heres an atempt to improve it a bit but when the original is only 10 mill pix theres not a lot to play with. ! Fishing season is upon us so less snapping I fear .
Thanks for interest.
John

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent action shot, John. I like that all birds have eye contact with us. It is hard to get it most of the time.

[John Robinson]

Thanks Karl
I think I got the best I could with the crap gear I have to use !!! - Athough thinking about it its only the pixel count that would make any difference maybe . If I,d done this with the D7100 which I have now it may have been a different story.
Cheers
John

[Marina Scarr]

Your RP looks even better than the original, John!

[John Robinson]

Thanks Marina.
A boost in confidence (75th birthday today !!!!!!) at this time can make it my a day. If I was 60 years younger I blow you a kiss !!
John