House Martin ( Delichon urbicum )

The first of our House Martin nests fledged a while ago.  This one however started a while later, the young have only just reached the stage of sitting at the entrance waiting for the parents with food.  This means visits are very very rapid.

Catching a parent in flight is to say the least not easy.  So I dug out my Pentax it has a couple of things the Canon doesn't.  Firstly it has a sensor for the remote control at the back as well as the front.  This means you can be behind the camera watching the nest and still trigger the shutter. Also it has a burst setting when using the remote.  Ideal.

So it was a case of turn focus to manual, and exposure to manual and ISO to automatic.  Manual focus meant I could focus on th nest and know there would be no movement to get in focus when the shutter was pressed.  Manual exposure gives control over both the shutter speed and the aperture.  To ensure the exposure is OK you need to allow the ISO to decide the sensitivity it needs.