Pine Marten (Ardnamurchan)

FourRingCircus

FourRingCircus

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John
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Some might say there's a bit of cheating going on here, as there is very little effort involved getting in these......

I'm taking these shots from the comfort of a sofa in front of a log fire (you can see the lounge fabric reflections in #2!). The feeder is immediately outside the lounge window. There's effectively no cropping here! When the Marten appears, he sets off the LED floodlights and I turn round with the camera. That said, with the weather being the way it is, there's few options for photography just now. I caught a couple of Golden Eagles earlier in the day and the results were just shocking due to lack of light. Been here three days so far and I'm impoving my night technique!! I'm totally new to night-time wildlife photography and normally just shoot wild birds.

These are with the 5Diii at 25600 ISO (!) using a 24-70 F2.8L

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Here's the chap(ess) on the front steps as he sets off the lights before jumping-up on the feeder.

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Comments and constructive suggestions gratefully received from people who do more of this sort of stuff than me!
 
Nice set I wish was there sounds great log fire on the go just my cup of tea were abouts are you stopping
 
derbydude said:
were abouts are you stopping
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The clue is in the title! The Ardnamurchan Peninsula is the most westerly point of the British mainland - South/West of Fort-William.

pooley said:
Frightening quality for ISO 25600!
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Cheers Mike! The pitch-black background helps a lot I think. Zooming-in on the face in the originals shows-up the grain problem, but I must admit to being more than a little chuffed with these results at such a silly ISO figure. These (Flickr) shots are down to 1024x768 from full size CR2 with very little pp (I'm not one for heavy image manipulation). Perhaps the proximity of the animal is also a great help at these settings. If it were an eagle on a post a hundred meters away throough a 500mm, I don't imagine we'd be enjoying the same kind of results.
 
  • Good stuff John
They're lovely animals to watch especially when you get them at such close quarters.
 
Thanks guys. I've now had a week of these very regular visitors and there is one about two feet behind me right now as I'm typing this! They are lovely creatures - almost like a hybred of a cat and a badger with a bit of stoat thrown in for good measure. Despite the ease with which I'm viewing them, I'm becoming unsure about 'interfering' with nature by spreading peanut butter, jam and (especially) Jaffa Cakes about the garden. As well as the Pine Martens, I've also had a wild Red Deer taking bread directly from my hand on the doorstep this week (they are very gentile nibblers!). Is this right? It's a great feeling to be so close to wild animals, but I'm concerned that I'm doing the wrong thing by these beasts. Perhaps it's no different to the bird feeders in my back garden, but Jaffa Cakes and condiments are maybe going too far as they aren't exactly a wild food. What's the wisdom?:thinking:
 
FourRingCircus said:
Thanks guys. I've now had a week of these very regular visitors and there is one about two feet behind me right now as I'm typing this! They are lovely creatures - almost like a hybred of a cat and a badger with a bit of stoat thrown in for good measure. Despite the ease with which I'm viewing them, I'm becoming unsure about 'interfering' with nature by spreading peanut butter, jam and (especially) Jaffa Cakes about the garden. As well as the Pine Martens, I've also had a wild Red Deer taking bread directly from my hand on the doorstep this week (they are very gentile nibblers!). Is this right? It's a great feeling to be so close to wild animals, but I'm concerned that I'm doing the wrong thing by these beasts. Perhaps it's no different to the bird feeders in my back garden, but Jaffa Cakes and condiments are maybe going too far as they aren't exactly a wild food. What's the wisdom?:thinking:
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We fed them with fresh eggs (in the shell) when we stayed in Badachro, I always assumed they get plenty of natural food from the wild. Fascinating to watch them as you say. Lovely shots
 
Great shots. Pine Martens used to be a daily (at night) sight for me. Not so much now though for some unknown reason. They became pretty tame after about a week of feeding them jam sandwiches and by the end of the week I had them feeding out my hands. I wasn't into photography back then, it was a few years ago now but I wish I was. I haven't seen any in over 6months now. I have some pictures somewhere but my dad took them on his old Olympus OM film camera.
 
Nikon Man said:
I always assumed they get plenty of natural food from the wild. Fascinating to watch them as you say. Lovely shots
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They aren't short of natural food but they are little rotters once they get fed.

I'm not sure which self catering cottage John was staying at but knowing the area and a few of the cottage letters - it's become a bit of a selling point of late.
 
dinners said:
I'm not sure which self catering cottage John was staying at...
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Here:

http://www.ardnamurchan-cottage.co.uk/

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The Pine Martens were certainly the selling point for us and the owner has already asked to use some of my images for his web-site. There are also otters in the stream and the bay that it flows into. Better still, on the first day there, a White Tailed Eagle flew straight over the garden. The only let-down for me was the weather, which was not condusive to photography at all.:mad:
 
What a place I've just favorited it as can see us booking there in the summer
 
Looks good John. Your the opposite side of the Loch to us.

There's not much you can do about the weather though :D
 
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