In the first half of May, I visited a floodplain area along the Lippe several times and enjoyed a few lovely moments in nature. During this time of year, the grasses aren’t too tall yet, so you can still clearly spot the animals living in the meadows at "eye level." I managed to capture a few different species, which I’d like to share with you today.
This restored area is home to a rich variety of species; some highlights (which, unfortunately, I couldn’t capture in a photogenic way) included three spoonbills, a cuckoo spotted at close range, and even a beaver sighting (yes, a real beaver—not a nutria!). Sadly, I was about one second too late for the latter—just as I took my telephoto lens in its direction, it disappeared into a nearby bush.
From a photography perspective, I find the cool mornings particularly interesting there. At this time of year, beautiful ground fog often forms, creating great opportunities for landscape shots. One special moment was when I was trying to photograph a lovely tree standing in the mist—and suddenly, a pheasant flew up and perched in it. You’ll find the resulting image from that scene below.
Here’s a technical anecdote about an effect I underestimated in that situation, even though I was generally aware of it: I was driving from one end of the area to the other to reach a bird observation hut. Then I spotted that beautiful tree and took some shots of the scene directly from my car, since I was actually aiming to photograph deer and didn’t want to linger too long. When the pheasant flew up and perched on the tree, flapping its wings a few times, I took more shots.
However, upon closer inspection—zoomed in at 100% on the display—not a single photo was sharp. Even though I had already opened all the windows, the difference between the outside temperature (around 6°C that morning) and the heat radiating from the car was too great, creating a significant heat flickering, especially since there was no strong wind coming from the direction of the scene. Once I got out and moved about 10 meters away from the car, the images became perfectly sharp even at 840mm. The greater the shooting distance, the stronger this effect becomes. Fortunately, the pheasant stuck around for a while, even though it didn’t spread its wings again… That’s one of the reasons I usually prefer shooting away from the car in that area.
I hope you enjoy the photos! 👋
Best regards,
Thomas
I hope you enjoyed the series 😊
Best wishes,
Thomas