[gull cries]
[music]
Hi everyone and welcome back to another dreich, damp, drizzly, dreary
day here in Scotland, and more specifically at Loch Lomond! Yes, I'm back here again.
For a few reasons: one, because I live here; two, because on- in the comments to my last
video somebody left a really lovely, well-meaning comment saying that, y'know, now that I have
this kind of set-up why don't instead of photographing birds all the time I go on safari to photograph
y'know lions and tigers, they suggested the Maasai Mara in Kenya, y'know, they suggested
India. And I was like y'know: "I'd love to, I really would" but um- I checked with my
bank account and she said no... It's been my dream to go to Maasai Mara in Kenya since
I was really, really wee so y'know hopefully one day but I don't really see it happening
any time soon. I'm "stuck" with Scotland's wildlife. Fortunately, for me, maybe unfortunately
for you if that doesn't excite you. Each to their own. But I thought that I would make
a point today of coming down to Loch Lomond to show off my appreciation for my local wildlife.
And to hopefully inspire you guys to appreciate your own local wildlife. Whether you are lucky
enough to have your local wildlife be tigers or elephants or giraffes, whatever. Or if
you like me are, y'know... stuck with gulls and ducks and pigeons. Um... I wanted to show
that, y'know, while objectively seeing a lion is cooler than seeing a pigeon. It doesn't
mean that seeing the pigeon isn't y'know... [crickets]... doesn't have it's coolness too
[laughs]. That is the point of today's video, that is the point of coming back to Loch Lomond.
I'm sorry if you guys are a little bit fed up with seeing it because I have came here
with my camera quite a few times now. But this is where I live, this is the wildlife
that I have access to. As you can see, lighting conditions are not the best. It is January,
in the west of Scotland, we don't get much sunlight. Y'know the sun rises to a point
and then it's just kind of like: "OK that's me done." A lot of you guys on my last video
suggested using auto-ISO, which is something that I had never considered before. I am using-
or trying out auto-ISO today focusing on shutter speed and aperture. And the camera that I
am doing that on is my Canon EOS 80D and attached to that I have my Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary
lens. I'm gonna go see what of Loch Lomond's wildlife I can photograph. Yeah, let's go
do that! [music and crunching gravel] So already, I've seen something which I consider to be
pretty cool, I'm sorry if they're- they're not lions! Just as little black specks in
the dis- bleh - just as liddle... [sigh]... just as little black specks in the distance
I see some tufted ducks. Which I've actually never seen before in person, so, that's exciting
for me. They are quite far away so I'm going to just try and get them in a picture. [laughs]
I honestly love them they look they have little mullets and it's the cutest thing ever. You
probably won't be able to see it very clearly in my picture but if you want to google a
tufted duck you'll see their little mullets, and it's the best. Today I'm also - I've done
it in the past, although it's not a habit yet - been trying out using the back button
focus, which... for those of you who - sorry - for those of you who don't know - ugh I
can't do this one-handed - it is this button. Where you can kind of see it says AF-ON, or
for you it says NO-FA. That's purely just preference as opposed to pressing the shutter
half down. I've been trying that out and I'm actually really enjoying it. Although, like
I said, using the shutter is a habit for me, so I'm just gonna keep trying them both to
see what I prefer in the long run. I was lucky enough to get the biggest poser of a robin
to [laughs] model for me. They sat in front of me for ages, working different angles and
I think I've got some nice, sharp shots of it. So, I'm looking forward to seeing those.
'Cause they were just like Loch Lomond's Next Top Model. Guys! I have finally, finally got
a goosander! And it's definitely a goosander, like, I'm 100% confident. Yes! Just also got
a few shots of a pied wagtail gettin' it's wiggle on! It's super cute. Just giving itself
a little bath, and, a little shimmy... What am I talking about!? [laughs]
So some old dude just came along with a big loaf of bread
so, um, you can imagine... it was pandemonium.
[gulls crying and ducks quacking]
That's the only word- way to say it. There's a lot more
goosanders now. And! Behind me; cute little moorhen just chillin' out. Although I'll just
clarify right now that I am in no means promoting using human food to attract wildlife, you
should not do it! You also should not feed bread to ducks and swans and other waterfowl,
despite what your grandparents might've had you do as a kid, it's not good for them! Just
to clarify - I don't agree with that. Yeah... I think next time that I do one of those 'how
many species can I photograph in an hour?' challenges - because I had a lot of fun and
want to do it again - I will definitely come here. Because, I've seen quite a lot of stuff.
Maybe if I hit 5,000 subscribers this year I could do another one. If you liked that
video um.......subscribe. What I'm trying to say with me implementing a lot of you guys'
advice is that I am 100% eager to learn from you guys, y'know, this channel isn't like
other wildlife photographers who are y'know SO good. And SO professional. I am a beginner,
I'm still learning, so I'm not making these videos with the intention of teaching you
guys how to be wildlife photographers, if that makes sense. I'm literally just doing
it to share my love for this hobby, which I've just recently discovered in the last
year, and to share my love of wildlife which is something I've had my entire life. For
fear of making this sound really, really cheesy and corny is that the final image is not that
important to me, so some of the shots that I will show you guys will not be up to your
personal standards, will maybe not even be up to mine. But it's for the intention of
showing off the wildlife rather than the quality of the photograph, if that makes any sense.
Obviously, I want to get better images I wanna get better at taking really sharp, good shots,
great composition, great lighting, everything, I obviously that's a goal. But, for me, getting
a good shot, or a good final image, is just a bonus. What I love so much about wildlife
photography isn't so much y'know going home and seeing what- putting them on my laptop
and seeing what they look like, it's more being out there and seeing the wildlife and
studying them through the camera, and seeing them in detail, and spending time with them.
And that really does sound so cheesy, but I just wanted to make that clear that at no
point am I claiming to be an expert or even claiming to be any good. I just love to share
my love for wildlife, and for wildlife photography now. So, I just thought I would put that out
there. As well as an invitation for you guys to 100% critique my images and give me advice,
as long as you're doing it in a constructive way, because, there's nothing worse than,
for someone who's just learning a hobby, who's just learning how to do something, if people
come on and are really nasty and are really... presenting a lack of encouragement, I dunno
if that's a good phrase to use. But yeah I just thought I would put that disclaimer in,
because I don't think I've talked about it so much. Yeah... You're more than welcome
to give me advice, and as I have kind of proven today, I will definitely implement it, I will
listen. I'm here to learn, as much as here to show the wildlife. Anyway! Back to it!
I have just spotted through the trees something really, really exciting and I'm gonna just
have to make my way through either thicket or bog to try and photograph them. But this
is, oh my god, I really hope I can 'cause this is really exciting! Ehm... if I photograph
them I will let you see them, if not, I'll tell you what it is afterwards. Do I go through-
try and climb through the trees?Right, I'll see you in a minute. Right in front of me,
just through- right there, are - 1, 2, 3, 4... about 5 or 6 mandarin ducks. And this
is so exciting to me 'cause I have been looking out for these guys for months, coming here
trying to find them, and I've just spotted them! And they're right there and they're...
oh they're so beautiful. For those of you who don't know, mandarin ducks are not native
to the UK. They're technically an invasive species, and they have kind of got a bit of
a population going here, just from escaping from collections. The stronghold was mostly
down in the south of England but they have somehow managed to make their way up to Loch
Lomond. And I'm so excited that I've found them! They're a bird that's native to Asia,
and they just are absolutely stunning. When they've got their winter plummage, the males
are so colourful, just must be the most colourful bird that we've got here in the UK. So I'm
so excited I seen them - oh my god! I just, I saw them and my heart just stopped. There
looks to be, like, about four males and one female. The female is just the grey one, like
in a lot of - there's a dog behind me - like in a lot of birds the males are the ones that
have got the colour and I'd literally climbed through trees and spikes and thorns to get
down to see them... oh there's a dog doing a poo behind me. I can honestly not overstate
how happy this has made me just to spot these guys. So, I think I will be here for a while
photographing them. I might creep closer, but there's lots of spikes and thorns and...
I might do that. It's worth it. Y'know I've been jagged several times, my feet are freezing
because I'm literally pretty much in the loch, but my heart is so full. And I'm so happy
watching these guys and I don't wanna leave. Like I just don't wanna leave them. I know
that what I was saying at the beginning of the video that pigeons and mallard ducks and
gulls can be cool, but seeing these guys is also just really, really exciting. And also
just I feel fulfilled because I've been looking for them for so long, and now I've finally
found them. I feel like I'm the human personification of the heart-eyes emoji right now. I definitely
don't see myself leaving these guys any time soon so I thought that I would just end the
vlog with them; I wanna thank you so much for watching, I hope you enjoyed and I will
maybe see you next time. Bye!