Goshawks

markyboy.1967

markyboy.1967

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Mark Molloy
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Well this weekend I'm hoping to realise a dream of photographing wild Goshawks. I have been looking at pics and drawings of these birds for 35 years now and enough is enough- time to see for myself. I'm spending 5 days looking for these birds with a friend. This has been in the planning for a year now and we have made some great contacts to help us in our quest. Our main contact is the man who keeps all the birds records and rings the chicks etc so he will be invaluable to us. We won't be able to use hides due to one of the locations so it's going to be some very careful stalking involved. Did I forget to mention that one of the locations is in a very large wooded graveyard- yip in a graveyard! I really don't care where I shoot as long as I get the shots of this bird- people at work think it's just weird.
 
Best of luck with the quest and I look forward to seeing your images of this elusive raptor.

As it is a woodland specialist do please post with the lens used as I surmise it needs to be medium/long and fast because of light levels.
 
They're apparently quite easy to see in certain German cities, Berlin. being the best location.
 
Good luck mate.
 
I really hope all your planning pays off Mark, good luck and with just a little touch of envy, I look forward to seeing your results (y)
 
The W said:
They're apparently quite easy to see in certain German cities, Berlin. being the best location.
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Its Berlin im off to but they arent that common. In 344 square miles there are aprox 100 pairs, you just need some good luck and a little expert help to put you in the right areas at the right times.
 
I saw Sam was out last year with our contacts. We should be getting similar seeing as one of the pair of Goshawks are the same birds. My friend went last year and watched them for 5 days after which a male bird was so used to him that it tried to land on his tripod- he had to move quickly away which scared the bird and it aborted its landing.lol
 
I look forward to seeing the photos. Visiting Berlin for the goshawks is on my impossibly and unaffordably long list of things to do...
 
The W said:
I look forward to seeing the photos. Visiting Berlin for the goshawks is on my impossibly and unaffordably long list of things to do...
Click to expand...
Its the cheapest trip i have some so far. Cheap flights and a cheap hotel only 5 mins walk to their territory. Waiting on rain clearing before heading to the goshawk territory.
 
Well day 1 allowed us about 2hrs searching for the Goshawks. A few sightings led us to an area where we stood looking around but seeing nothing. We almost gave up when above our heads and i mean above our heads(15feet or so)was the male just watching us- it was the only area we hadnt scanned. He sat for 30 mins allowing us shots of him before he flew off on a hunt. Within 50 meters of the area we stood was a Kestrel nest and above that in a church tower is a Raven nest. We also found the Goshawk nest very close by. Day 1 was a success.
 
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Day 2-an early start today with breakfast in the hotel- not to bad. We checked out the site from yesterday but it was quiet so decide to check out another location several miles away. We had a look around and saw a male fly from a tree so we decided to wait around. The male and female did many flybys but at a distance. After a few hours it was very cold and overcast so we went for lunch. After lunch we decided to move a few hundred yards away from our morning location and found the male in a tree but it was to dark and to many branches to get a clean shot. 5hrs standing in the cold without any shots wasnt like yeasterday. Ready to head back we spotted the male fly past and land in a tree. Quickly we moved towards him but lost sight of him on our travels. 10 mins looking and i started to pack up only for my friend to point upwards and sure enough the Goshawk was on a low branch above my friend. We moved back and the male sat eating a bird for us for 5mins. Still not a clean background in the shots but we were happy to get shots of him at the newer location. Will try again tomorrow. These birds just cant be seen unless they are vocal.
 
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Day 3- a strange day. We met a few other photographers who travelled to meet us. They knew who we were and had known our movements in tge area, one tog was a local policeman so one of the police told him where we were headed. Lol. Anyway the day started off with us looking fir red squirrels which we found after 10 mins- wish the Goshawks were as easy.a few pics later and we went for Goshawks again. Clear skies in the morning but overcast and freezing temps later. We saw our pair of Goshawks but they were distant.as we spoke to the other 2 togs the male landed close by- a few quick shots and he moved up the tree amongst the branches and we couldnt fet a decent shot. No more oportunities today but hey its wildlife and this can be expected. We had a local press officer talking to us about the Goshawks and it seems its year of the Goshawk here in Germany and they want to use some of our pics at an open day about the area.....another few days to go if we can stick to the plans however some ban news came my way today to say my mother had passed away today in Scotland so i may need to cut the trip short.
 
Day 3- a strange day. We met a few other photographers who travelled to meet us. They knew who we were and had known our movements in tge area, one tog was a local policeman so one of the police told him where we were headed. Lol. Anyway the day started off with us looking fir red squirrels which we found after 10 mins- wish the Goshawks were as easy.a few pics later and we went for Goshawks again. Clear skies in the morning but overcast and freezing temps later. We saw our pair of Goshawks but they were distant.as we spoke to the other 2 togs the male landed close by- a few quick shots and he moved up the tree amongst the branches and we couldnt fet a decent shot. No more oportunities today but hey its wildlife and this can be expected. We had a local press officer talking to us about the Goshawks and it seems its year of the Goshawk here in Germany and they want to use some of our pics at an open day about the area.....another few days to go if we can stick to the plans however some ban news came my way today to say my mother had passed away today in Scotland so i may need to cut the trip short.
 
Day 3- a strange day. We met a few other photographers who travelled to meet us. They knew who we were and had known our movements in tge area, one tog was a local policeman so one of the police told him where we were headed. Lol. Anyway the day started off with us looking fir red squirrels which we found after 10 mins- wish the Goshawks were as easy.a few pics later and we went for Goshawks again. Clear skies in the morning but overcast and freezing temps later. We saw our pair of Goshawks but they were distant.as we spoke to the other 2 togs the male landed close by- a few quick shots and he moved up the tree amongst the branches and we couldnt fet a decent shot. No more oportunities today but hey its wildlife and this can be expected. We had a local press officer talking to us about the Goshawks and it seems its year of the Goshawk here in Germany and they want to use some of our pics at an open day about the area.....another few days to go if we can stick to the plans however some bad news came my way today to say my mother had passed away today in Scotland so i may need to cut the trip short.
 
Thanks for the updates Mark, your sure doing you best with this project and its been interesting to follow. Please accept my condolences for the loss of your mother, that's got to knock the edge off your trip big time, I feel gutted for you. Good luck with whatever plans you make or what route you take from here on.
 
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Day 4- up nice and early to visit an area for red squirrels in the morning. Ended up chatting in broken english to a birder whilst my friend got stunning pics of the squirrels- you win some you lose some. Got to the Goshawk site around 10am and right away say hooded crows mobbing him to show his location.10 mins later he flew to a tree 40 meters from us. He stayed right close to the base of the branch so each ahot has the tree trunk in the pic but good light and catchlights in his eye. I knew before coming that these pics would show more of the habitat and not as clean backgrounds as im used to so im not dissappointed at all. It clouded over as we geaded looking for some Kestrels at a location a mike or so away but only distant shots so headed back by which time it was raining. Goshawk showed about an hour later when tge rain had stopped. He flew about 6 feet above my head but slow shutter speeds and bad tecnique stopped and decent pics. Rain started again so i packed my gear up at which point he flew to an open branched tree but i just watched him. Rain stopped and some broken clouds propted me to unpack and set up again. He sat there with a nice catchlight and blue skies in the background whilst we filled our cards before he was chased off by a female kestrel- the kestrel gave up very quickly though and i dont blame her.tomorrow is an early start again.
 
Day 5- the male Goshawk was showing well today but unfortunately the weather was poor. Photographing a bird in a tree with a bland grey sky isnt very good looking. I was up at about +2.3 EV just to get the bird exposure correct. It was again freezing cold and each day, we are spending 6-7hrs out on the hunt for Goshawks. We watched today as one of the local Raven pair came to a tree about 30 yards away, the Goshawk went on the offensive and attacked the Raven. The Goshawk brought in a plucked pigeon near us today which was nice to see. The Goshawk landed on a branch with no clutter in the background just as we were about to leave and just at that point the clouds parted for 2 mins and we had blue skies and the bird lit up in the sunlight- the best images we have managed after a dreadful and heavily overcast day. Tomorrow is my last day due to my mums funeral so i will post a few images when i can.
 
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