Otterly fabulous day out

crieffy

crieffy

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John Moncrieff
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Yes
I took a wee stroll to look for otters - and was not disappointed.

1/ ISO was too low for the first few shots. Upped to 1600 but only this one of them fighting was in focus.
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2/ Who's that?
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3/ Safety in numbers.
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4/ Just about to go in to hiding..
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Edit/ No.5/ added image
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These are probably the best Otter shots I've done - also got some video footage too:) There were four otters in total, the two cubs in the safety of the rockpool, and two adults fishing in the heavy seas.


EDIT/ bit of video here..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9joinWf844
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU7EbhK2yZI

Another edit.. A sequence of the cub coming over the top of the rock and doing a double-take when it spotted me.
spotted.jpg



Cheers,
John
 
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Magic(y)
 
AndySwinden said:
I'm going to swear :D

Fantastic shots - just awesome, were these near your house ??
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LOL, not far, about half a mile away. It was a spot I had seen lots of footprints in the snow a couple of weeks ago. Really hit it lucky today, cold, wet, and shaking with delight. Want to bring your next trip forward a bit??:)
 
crieffy said:
LOL, not far, about half a mile away. It was a spot I had seen lots of footprints in the snow a couple of weeks ago. Really hit it lucky today, cold, wet, and shaking with delight. Want to bring your next trip forward a bit??:)
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Sadly, its not me you need to convince :LOL:

They really are crackers, I hope you are going to print them and get them on the wall.
 
Wonderfull shots I''m really envious ,how lucky to have them on your doorstep.
 
You are making me jealous! I used to do some work on Otters, surveys etc but it has been a long long time since I was close to an Otter in the wild.
I notice your exif is saying that was at iso 1600. Great detail in the shots.
 
Great shots again John,must get to Shetland sometime & see your otters.
 
Thanks all, I was squeaking like a little girl watching these two:LOL:

sawman said:
You are making me jealous! I used to do some work on Otters, surveys etc but it has been a long long time since I was close to an Otter in the wild.
I notice your exif is saying that was at iso 1600. Great detail in the shots.
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I'm impressed with how they turned out, with hindsight I could probably have gone higher with the ISO and caught more of the action. I had to take off the teleconverter as they were getting so close, that helped shutter speed a lot too.
 
Thanks again, will be hard for me to top those ones. Getting so close for any length of time is unusual.

A few from today.. Went for a drive and lunch up north and decided to try Toft ferry terminal for otters (always a good spot) and after 5 minutes this one appeared, right alongside the pier. Couldn't get that close as the wind wasn't in my favour, but still got a few reasonable ones.

6/
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7/
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8/
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Cheers,
John
 
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(y)

WOW.
only ever seen one otter in the wild in 40 some years. Top pics. Thanks for sharing.
 
Fantastic shots John,hard to choose a favorite but do like no. 8. looks as though you are in the sea swimming as well.:LOL:
 
John these images are simply stunning thanks for posting them, they are so fantastic, the only problem I have with them is that you have now added yet another location to the list of places that I would like to visit ;)

Matt
MWHCVT
 
lovely images of a gorgeous creature
 
Absolutely fabulous shots! (y)

Otters are such fascinating creatures, the nearest I get to any is at the Slimbridge Reserve, it would be great to see them in the wild.

Here's one taken during the recent cold spell.

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Had a look at the EXIF's, I'm assuming you used a Nikon 300/f4 and a 1.4x TC?

Great stuff. Congratulatioons once again! :clap:
 
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the first shot smacks of the cross eyed German one in the zoo :)
 
we have some otters on our river ... is there a good time to try and find them ?
 
Thanks again for all the kind comments, folks. Greatly appreciated thank you. If any of you are ever up here, I'd gladly take you Otter spotting - can't guarantee anything - I get many blank days, but it's such a pleasure to see them when they do appear.

Blind Pugh said:
Had a look at the EXIF's, I'm assuming you used a Nikon 300/f4 and a 1.4x TC?

Great stuff. Congratulatioons once again! :clap:
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Hi, spot on, it's a Nikon 300 f/4 afs. I had the TC14E on for the first shot, but had to take it off as I struggled to get them in frame as they came closer, even then they were filling the viewfinder.

John
 
Eth said:
we have some otters on our river ... is there a good time to try and find them ?
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I have most success on a receding tide, but that's probably not much use for river-dwelling ones:( Up here they are often seen in broad daylight, but I've seen most at dawn or late afternoon - just when you could really do with lots of light for a good shutter speed!

John
 
Just had a look at your videos John ,very good,but you must have been laden with gear, or were they filmed on another occasion? Rob.
 
robbed said:
Just had a look at your videos John ,very good,but you must have been laden with gear, or were they filmed on another occasion? Rob.
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Hi,

Videos were done at the same time - it's just a pocket-sized Samsung thing, and I just had the D300 with 300mm and teleconverter with me. It was a big dilemma on whether to film or shoot stills - made sure I had a few keepers first before filming though! lol

I've been considering a D300s or D7000 for getting video, but may wait and see if a D400 appears...

John
 
crieffy said:
I have most success on a receding tide, but that's probably not much use for river-dwelling ones:( Up here they are often seen in broad daylight, but I've seen most at dawn or late afternoon - just when you could really do with lots of light for a good shutter speed!

John
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Our river has a weir at both ends so the tidal effect is limited. I saw them playing at 11am but that's been the only time.
 
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