Gigrin

Hi All,

I am hoping to be at Gigrin on Tuesday, never been before, so was hoping for some info. Is it possible to stand and take photos rather than use one of the hides? Do Ravens still come in?? Would 600mm be a bit overkill, other than that I have a 70-200mm (wish I'd never sold my 300/2.8 !! )

Regards

Rob

Rob

The old place where you could stand has now been filled in by the Gateway hide. There are hides as follows;

several general tourist/birdwatcher hides where the viewing slits are now considered too narrow to use and the floors bounce from people movement - £5 - I'm not sure how we ever used these before Chris built;

The Gateway hide - similar to the general hides but with much bigger viewing slot so you can get your lens skyward - £10

The Tower hide - a raised hide with a virtually open front which makes aerial photography much easier - £15

New "Video" hide - a larger version of the tower hide - £20 (I think?)

The feeding starts at 3pm but there is just too much action and congregation of birds in the first half hour or so to get any "clean" shots - its better to wait as the food will last a good 2 hours. Most tourists get bored after half an hour and leave so there are no kiddies poking arms and heads out of the viewing slots

Wind plays an important part on how the kites will circulate before doing a feeding swoop ie whether they prefer a clockwise or anticlockwise tour round the field to face into the wind. May be an issue if you don't want a treeline in shot.

If its your first visit spend a bit of time just watching the Kite behaviour before they enter the feeding swoop - once you pick up the signals you can anticipate the dive better - its usually a half wing roll after three or four circuits to enter the dive - it is a very rapid piece of action when they go for a piece of meat. Its usually easier to pick out and follow an untagged bird on its circuit rather than try and follow diving birds

Ravens are regular feeders but they are always very shy and rarely come close to the hides. In all teh times I haev been to Gigrin I've never had a raven come within decent camera range. You will have 5 species of corvid there and lots of buzzards as well

Regards equipment, for flight shots you realy need at least 300mm preferably with a 1.4 tc, 500mm is perhaps just a tad too long and quite unwieldy unless you have great lens technique and big arm muscles - for flight shots its much easier to handhold then try and use a tripod. For ground shots of the buzzards etc you need at least 600mm and 800mm is often too short.

Don't go if the weather forecast is a grey overcast day, the aerial photography is just plain awful in these conditions, and you will waste your time and money

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the detailed info. re the hides, is it a case then that you have to use a hide? Is there not an outside area to observe from ?

Regards

Rob

I went earlier this year, and advise using one of the Tower hides. Even then a 300mm was often too powerful for flight shots, especially from about half an hour after feeding started. The shyer feeders tend to come in later, although ravens can be around relatively early. for these I would recommend a 600mm and 1.4 converter. There is an area in the caravan field where you can watch what is going on from outside a hide, but it is furthest from where the ravens tend to congregate.

The Tower hides are much closer to the ravens, but are fairly open so you are unrestricted by a narrow slit, as you are in the tourist hides. I found the tower hides were well worth the additional fee.

I agree about it being not worth going on a grey day.


David

As David says there is a definate pecking order during the session, the adult birds come in first and then you get waves of younger/juvenile birds. If the activity goes quiet and the birds seem to have drifted away wait 20 mins or so for the next wave to arrive/drift in. The later birds are also less adept at snatching food off the ground so you get more continuous action

In the winter months Chris reckons on 300-500 individual birds now come to feed. Some of the best photography can be had in winter time when the sun angle is really low lighting up the underwings, or when snow is lying and reflecting light off the ground.

Chris has used to dissuade people from "hanging around" the old access gate before he built the photographic hides during feeding time as it does spook the birds. I'm not familar with the caravan field mentioned by David. I know that members have photographed resting birds from the farm trail but I've always just used the hides.provided.

One last thing take plenty of storage cards and batteries - You will find yourself in C-AF mode enabled and running most of the time which quickly drains your batteries especially if you start "Chimping" to make card space

The caravan field is higher up, behind the farm buildings. It may have been a temporary arrangement over that particular weekend in May, as I had never seen anything other than stock in the field before. A number of caravanners were sitting out watching the kites. It is too distant for photography imo and I would stick to the hides if you want photos.

David

Hides it is then !! thanks for your help

Regards


Rob