More 'Mirrie Dancers'

I doubt that there were many people that didn't hear about the recent aurora ( or Mirrie Dancers' as they are called in Shetland) or see them. I gather that at least the glow could be seen as far south as the Home Counties and across to south Wales and even down to Jersey.

I was on the pc around 7pm and took a look at Spacew.com and saw that the map for the north pole was 'red hot' - ie signifying a strong aurora; going outside I could see it was already pretty strong. As Catriona was away (and the girls were at home) I couldn't go out for long, I headed up to Lamba Ness with the idea of setting up the camera to do a time-lapse and leave it there for the night and hopefully get some pictures. There are several draw backs of leaving the camera unattended and they are,  i) the batteries only lasted around 6 hours, ii) the exposure is set no matter what the light levels are, and iii) the view point is also fixed - obviously. I'm still no expert at doing auroras or time-lapse, but believe me, the first ones I took 5 years ago are pretty rubbish. I mentioned in my last blog about the settings that I use, but one thing has changed since then and that is the battery life. What I have now is a battery pack which has a huge 6000mAH life per charge. (On this evening in particular, I started the camera at around 8pm and picked it up the following morning at 10am and the camera was still going strong - although the images were being over exposed by then).

Setting the camera up in a water proof plastic box which I had converted for the purpose, I headed off home. In the first picture around 8 minutes after I pressed the cable release, you can the trail of my car lights as I drove home.

By the time I had reached home, it was really beginning to 'kick off' so to speak. I called the girls and we stood outside for quite a while watching it going on all around us. What did concern me though, was that most of the 'action' was going on to the south west of us, very little seemed to be in the north - which was the direction my camera was pointing in ! I then found out my 40D in order to take some shots around the house, bearing in mind (as I'd mentioned before) that it's not good at high ISO's and also that as my wide angle was with my 7D, I'd have to use either the 24-105 (not really wide enough) or use the 18-50mm 'kit' lens which is at the best, pretty awful as far as I'm concerned. Hey ho.

I can't really describe the sight and feeling of an aurora like this one, it was by far the best I'd seen up here. I first saw it just after 7pm and it was still going on (although fading) at 2.30am when I headed to bed. It was difficult to know which direction to look as at its height, almost every direction had swirling curtains which faded in and out, often changing colour  from green to red and then back again. Below are a few pictures from the evening/night............

My car lights as I leave Lamba Ness at 8.45pm

From home looking west at 10.30pm (with 40D)

Looking towards Baltasound sometime after 1.30am (40D)

The ones below are from Lamba Ness on the 7D while I was at home, with the last one as dawn was breaking....

At Lamba Ness the camera took 1500 exposures but the last 300 or so were overexposed due to it being set on manual. Like I said earlier, I'm no expert at time lapse and there's still a lot to learn but its also a bit of fun to do. Below is a YouTube link to the images, there are several dark sections but bear with it if you want to....  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nyDkZfriHo

The pictures below are a few more from the last couple of years......

 From Ordaal Jan 19th 2013

 Ordaal Jan 22nd 2012

 Ordaal 'star trail' March 2011

 From Ordaal Jan 2012

 From Ordaal Sept 2011

Star trail from Ordaal Sept 20th 2013

  Robbie

Wild seas and Auroras

  Yet another month or so between blogs, it's simply not good enough ! To be honest, there hasn't been too much going on apart from the weather. There had been wind and rain almost daily since the 2nd week in December, with just the odd let-up where either it didn't rain or the wind dropped below F6. On the wildlife front, the main interests have been a number of Little Gulls (brought in by the gales) and good numbers (for Shetland) of Bean Geese. I've also been lucky to have seen several auroras.

  I've been busy around the house as well, finishing off the dinning room (well almost ) and then repairing/improving the utility room which is at the east end of the sun-room (conservatory). It makes my blood boil when I have to repair or replace something that is only a few years old which is leaking or rotten because of dodgy DIY work - ie not done properly in the first place (that's a general situation throughout the house). 'Changing Rooms' and the like has a lot to answer for - ie giving some folk the idea of maybe tackling a job which they aren't either qualified or skilled enough to do but think they are. Despite all of the bodges done here by 'clever fools', I wouldn't swap it for anywhere else.

  As I've just mentioned, we have had a lot of weather over the last two months so below are a few pictures of the storms in January/early Feb.......

 The road at the south end of Haroldswick

 Lamba Ness from Norwick

 Lamba Ness from the old road above Norwick

Looking east from Norwick

  As I said at the start, the winds brought in a number of Little Gulls, with up to five around Unst on one day and as the name suggests, it is a little gull and is the smallest of the worlds gulls. The picture below was one of two that were around Haroldswick for a few days and I also found two at Westing...

 Little Gull at Haroldswick

 Little Gull at Westing

'Tundra' Bean Geese in Baltasound

  I think I've mentioned in previous blogs that this year is supposed to be a peak in solar activity or the 'Solar Maxim' as it's called. The science behind it is over the head of a 'country carpenter' but basically it means that there is a 12 to 13 year solar cycle and usually at its peak, there should be much more auroral activity. Obviously having a clear sky is major contributing factor to seeing it, but also as far as photography goes, having little or no wind is also very important due to the long exposures often required. I have been out several times - on one occasion until just before 3am. While I don't always come away with decent pictures, just being out there and taking in the sight is enough........ The first four are from Lamba Ness (by moonlight)

 Skaw by moonlight (and a slight aurora)

From Ordaal by moonlight

  There are many problems that are encountered when trying to take pictures of auroras often due to the low light levels. The main one for me is the digital 'noise' caused by a combination of having to use a high ISO and long exposures. Generally, my standard settings are 800 ISO, 30 seconds exposure @ F4, manual exposure and manual focusing. If I go higher than 800, my camera tends to show more noise if there are a lot of dark areas in the image. Also, even a shutter speed of 30 seconds, the 'streaking of the stars caused by the earths rotation is obvious (at this slow speed, the slightest breeze will also produce a blurred image). At higher latitudes where they occur, they are usually much brighter which enables the photographer to use a lower ISO (the digital 'film speed') and shorter exposures. 

  Another way to get pictures other than going out and spending hours in the cold (and I can go to bed), is to use time-lapse. This can be done in several ways, either by using an intervalometer release to trigger the camera after a set delay (which could be hours or even days) and then take pictures continuously or with a predetermined space between each shot etc. The other way - which I tend to use more often if I'm not going to stay with the camera - is to set the frame rate to 'continuous', take the first shot and then lock the remote release on and then the camera will take pictures until either the memory card runs out or the batteries die on the camera. With two batteries and an 8gb memory card and the camera taking Jpegs, that should give me over 800 images; however, the batteries usually die at around 600. I had started using an app' on my Ipod which was easy to use and worked a treat; however, about a month ago I 'misplaced' it - or rather it somehow disappeared from the dashboard of my car, never to be seen again.

  Despite that I am lucky to see otters virtually daily, I don't tend to go out and look for them to get pictures very often. On one of the few sunny and relatively still days in January, I did notice the mum and mature cub along the shore from our house. As the wind was in my favour, I took a couple of shots as they rested on the seaweed, occasionally looking up in the direction of one of out neighbours barking sheepdogs......

  I know that most 'wildlife enthusiasts'  have a favourite bird etc, I have several - ie bird of prey would be Merlin, seabird would be Gannet etc. When it comes to British ducks it's a difficult one and it has to be between Smew and Long-tailed Duck (both being the male plumage's). Long-tailed Ducks are present here each winter especially on Bluemull Sound but are difficult to get photographs of on the water due to the distance from the shore - and just as difficult  in flight as they move very fast !

  Smew are fairly scare winter visitors to Shetland and males especially so. So when a male turned up on Snarravoe a few weeks ago I really wanted to get a picture. The problem here is often there's not a lot of cover to approach something without it taking flight - however careful you might be. On this occasion I was lucky in that the bird was feeding not far from a wall that went from the road down in to the loch (several hundred yards) so I was able to use this as cover, moving when the bird dived for food. All I had to then was wait - which was around half an hour - for the bird to move back in to view. Unfortunately, it had decided  to cross back over the loch away from me, I did think it may have seem me but when a number of Goldeneye  came a started feeding by me, I knew I hadn't been sussed by the Smew......................

........Not as close as I'd have liked

.............Long-tailed Ducks

  I do like to take a regular walk along the beach at Skaw but it often takes longer to drive over than the time I spend there (my conscience is always telling me I should be at home putting 'Bodge the Builders' work right). A couple of weeks back, I walked down to the beach there and saw a gull fly - quite determinedly - in towards the base of the low cliffs at the north end. Thinking there may be something dead (bird or seal etc) I headed along the shore; I then crossed some tracks  coming out of the sea which seemed to head for the spot where I'd seen the gull.  Finding nothing at the end of the tracks in the sand, I glanced around to my right and saw a 4ft long immature seal apparently wedged in between to large rocks. I couldn't see its head but it didn't move, so I assumed it was dead. Going around the the 'front end', I quickly discovered that it was far from lifeless as it swung it's head around and half barked, half snarled at me ! On returning from getting my SLR, it had turned around so obviously wasn't wedged in at all. As long as I didn't go too close (5-6ft) it settled down and seemed ok with me being there. ( I did check the following day and it had gone)........

  Last Wednesday (19th Feb) was a really nice, relatively windless day with - sunshine ! Not to miss an opportunity like that, I took a few hours 'off' and headed for the cliffs of Hermaness, my first proper visit of the year (I did go there a month ago for a walk). Considering we are only in the 3rd week of February, I was really (pleasantly) surprised how may Gannets there were on the cliffs - and even more on the sea below or wheeling around. It certainly didn't seem like over four months since I was last there watching the numbers dwindle on Saito. As I sat there in the sun, it felt warm on my back and yet it was only 6 degrees - I don't do 'hot' anymore :)

 Last year when I was down amongst them, I photographed a ringed bird and manged (by taking several pictures from different angles) to get the ring number. I then submitted it to the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) and they have now come back with the details of the bird. Not surprisingly, it was ringed on Hermaness  just 3km from where it was now nesting, - 2607 days after it was ringed as a nestling......

 Towards the 'Neap' Hermaness Feb 19th 2014

       Robbie

It's been a while

  As the title suggests, it's been a while since my last blog post, so firstly I must say a belated Happy New Year (too late for Merry Christmas).

  The weather here over the last month or so hasn't been particularly good (were are in winter I suppose) although there have been one or two nice days thrown in and even some snow. However, the most dominant feature has been the wind and the rain; not quite as much as down south, but still quite a lot.

Looking east to Ordaal (centre) from The Houb, Baltasound

 Looking east towards Lamba Ness, Christmas Day

Looking back towards Norwick from Lamba Ness, Christmas Day

Looking north west from Ordaal

  The period just before Christmas was pretty busy with a lot of work at home to get the dinning room finished (well almost) so I could decorate it. I also had a trip back to the Cotswolds for a week to go and look at a cottage that we have had rented out over the last few years. I have to say that I was extremely lucky with the travel plans etc as on both legs of the trip, I missed some very rough crossings and delays or cancellations to the Northlink sailings. Indeed, the night before I was due to come back, three people were taken to hospital and several cars were damaged due to the rough sea conditions.

  Also just before and during the Christmas/New Year period, we had our first guests to stay in the cottage who found us using the Air B&B website. This is a web based site where you have your own page and can list what the rental property has in the way of rooms, facilities etc. So far it seems a great way to either find holiday accommodation or if you have anything to rent out from a single room for for a few nights or a luxury mansion - almost anywhere in the world. Click on the Air B&B link above and will take you there.

  On the wildlife front, the winter (so far) has been fairly normal with only one of two scarce or rare birds around on Unst. One of the first unusual birds (for the time of year) was a Grey Phalarope found by Brydon up at Norwick on Christmas Eve. I went up but by the time I arrived, it was early afternoon and the light was pretty bad - just to get a usable shutter speed I had to up the ISO to 2500 which isn't good news.....

Grey Phalarope at Norwick 24th Dec 2013

  Another even scarcer bird was found by Mike (Pennington) on Jan 6th over at Ungirsta and that was a Glossy Ibis. The last Unst record was way back in 1920 and this was Mikes 305th species for Unst. I missed it on the 6th (the bird had flown off after being buzzed by a Peregrine) but 

caught up with it the following day. The bird was a fair distance from the road and, not wanting to disturb it, I took some 'record shots' using the 500mm + 1.4 + 2x which with the crop factor (1.6x) made the combination in 'old' 35mm terms a 2240mm lens - which is not going to produce a very good picture !.....

Glossy Ibis at Ungirsta Jan 2014

  A few days later, another bird (which was at first thought to be the Unst bird) turned up down near Spiggie on South Mainland. However, the following day the Unst bird reappeared, so there were almost certainly two on Shetland. (When the Unst bird showed up on the 6th, 5 were found on the Faroes) The Unst bird seemed to be pretty flighty but the one on South Mainland was quite approachable which allowed some really nice photos - here

  Below are a few 'birdy' type pictures which I've managed to get on some of the nicer days of the  last few weeks..........

  I think there were quite a few people recently, that would have been aware of a prediction for a really strong aurora (it had been mentioned in the media a number of times). Unfortunately, it didn't materialize but had it of done so, it would have been one of the strongest we would have seen up here since arriving in 2008.

   In preparation, I'd decided to leave my camera out over night at a location here on the island, with a view to trying to get sometime different. However, as the poem says ' the best laid plans o' mice and men' etc, things didn't go as planned. On returning to the camera in the morning, not a frame had been taken, I obviously had either forgotten or had overlooked something. As it had been a bit of  a rush to get to the location and then be back in time before it got dark, I didn't check the settings on my  Ipod app properly - which is why the time-lapse didn't start. We can all be wise after the event, so I'll just put this down to experience - or lack of it :)  - I was so glad that there hadn't been a mega aurora. 

  As I'd got my 7D tied up with something else, later on in the evening I headed up to Lamba Ness with my 40D. The 40D isn't particularly good at long, high ISO night exposures as it shows up a lot of digital noise, but as it was my only option I though I'd give it a go. Anyway, as I'd just mentioned, there were no northern lights showing, so I tried a few moonlight pictures - to justify the drive up there at around midnight.  But despite staying out until two in the morning, I didn't go home with anything I really liked.....

From Lamba Ness looking west towards Saxa Vord hill by moonlight

      Robbie