Dipper in challenging light and a Bee in a web!!

I've always wanted to photograph Dippers and I got the chance to at Waterrow in Somerset during a flying visit earlier in the month.

   However, after locating a bird on the river that flows through the village I realised how hard they are to photograph! For a start, the overhanging trees caused huge shadows making it very dark under the canopy, and where the Sun did manage to squeeze through it reflected on the water, shimmering brightly! Getting sharp pictures of a small bird quite a distance away in these conditions was extremely difficult! One of the drawbacks of my Sigma 150-600mm lens is that it isn't great in low light. At 600mm it is f/6.3. I upped the ISO, but the resulting pictures were too noisy, and it didn't make much difference to the sharpness.

   So instead of cropping too tightly on the less than sharp bird, I decided on photo's where the bird could be seen in it's natural enviroment, with the surrounding greenery, reflections, shimmering water and dappled light. I quite like them!

Below are a few pics of the Dipper, plus a few other photo's from the last few weeks, including a Bee in a web, Willow Warbler, Kestrel, Gulls in flight and some colourful Anenomes! :)

^Above^ - Dipper at Waterrow.

^Above^ - Dunnock at Waterrow.

^Above^ - Kestrel at Brent Knoll.

^Above^ - Hobby at Brent Knoll.

^Above^ - Long Tailed Tit at Brent Knoll.

^Above^ - Meadow Pipit at Brent Knoll.

^Above^ - Bee caught in a web! Poor thing.... the Spider was nowhere to be seen, so I rescued the Bee after taking the picture.

^Above^ - The Bee leaving a Thistle just before getting caught in the web!

^Above^ - Spot the odd one out!!  A Wasp seeing what all the fuss was about at a beehive in my home village!

^Above^ - Cabbage White Butterflies.

^Above^ - Woodpigeon at Milverton.

^Above^ - Willow Warbler at Baltonsborough in Somerset.

^Above^ - Lesser Whitethroat at Baltonsborough.

^Above^ - Black Headed Gulls at Sutton Bingham reservoir.

^Above^ - Lesser Black Back Gull at Sutton Bingham reservoir.

^Above^ - Ragged looking Crow at Sutton Bingham reservoir.

^Above^ - Mallards at Sutton Bingham reservoir.

^Above^ - Wing shaking domestic duck at Sutton Bingham reservoir.

^Above^ - Great Spotted Woodpecker at Sutton Bingham reservoir.

^Above^ - Black Headed Gulls at Chew Valley Lake.

^Above^ - Female Mallard at Chew Valley lake.

^Above^ - Somerset Hawthorn berries.

^Above^ - Anenomes besides the road at Baltonsborough.

^Above^ - On the Somerset Levels...

I have my own Facebook page where I post a daily photo here;
https://www.facebook.com/CarlBovisNaturePhotography