Introduction

First off, I don't claim to be an expert on birds or photography, so if I confuse a silent Chiffchaff for a silent Willow Warbler (or vice versa), or get into a muddle over crop factors then please let me know and I will endeavour to correct my mistake. (Constructive comments are always welcome.) However, I do like to think I've learned a few tricks over the last few years, so perhaps you'll find some of these posts interesting and maybe even useful on occasion.

I've been reluctant to start a blog of this nature before now because a) I've never been one for keeping a diary, and b) having maintained a Flickr page for several years I've always been of the opinion that a good photo should speak for itself without any distracting words. However, I'm often asked how I got a particular shot, how I processed it, or indeed what that thing is on the end of my camera, so hopefully this blog will go some way towards answering those questions.

As there are already a number of excellent websites and photography blogs covering the wildlife in and around East Kent (some of which I've linked to on the right), I don't intend to simply replicate what's already out there. So, as well as describing what I've seen in a given week, I'll also be writing about how I take and process my bird photos, as well as occasionally venturing beyond the Earth and into the realm of astrophotography.

The common thread linking these strands is that almost all of the photos you'll see on this blog were taken with a Canon DSLR mounted at the prime focus of a telescope; the birds and insects with a Tele Vue-60 apochromatic refractor (focal length approximately 400mm), and the moon and the planets with a Vixen SP-102 achromatic refractor (focal length 1000mm and - with a Powermate - 2500mm). There are pros and cons (and misconceptions) to using a telescope instead of a dedicated camera lens - some of which I'll be talking about in future posts - but I have to admit there is something quite appealing in being "that guy who shoots with a telescope" as opposed to being just another photographer with a big white lens.

Plus, telekilnesis has a nice ring to it, don't you think?