Recently I visited the Newcastle Botanic Gardens, not just a lovely place to be but also good for bird watching and walking.

There were a number of birds about, but nothing that would make an image that I could get excited about.

The morning was perfect but cold, so I took the opportunity to do a bit of walking. Eventually I came to a small pond that looked promising, so I settled down and got my camera ready.

Sure enough, within a few minutes a pair of honeyeaters came in for a bath. I decided to set up the tripod as this looked like a good spot – one pair of birds in the first five minutes … not bad – and waited to see what else came along.

It wasn’t long after that a Noisy Friarbird came into the branches above and I took some shots. Decent shots, but nothing to get excited about.

Next up a White Cheeked Tree Creeper did the same thing. It was easy to get shots of the birds in the branches with the long lens, but this was no good for the splashing about in the water images I wanted – shutter speed too slow.

I tried a different approach, and set the tripod near ground level, the camera with a short lens, one flash, set on manual, 1/16 power, camera on manual (iso 200 shutter 200sec at F11). I set the focus on the stick the birds were working on. All set up, so it was time for a cup of tea.

All I had to do was sit back at a reasonable distance and over the next hour I picked up a number of shots. This short duration flash was freezing the action with good results.

A very pleasant day in great surrounds and some pretty decent shots to boot.

We are now only a few weeks away from the start of the nesting season and a few species are already preparing their nests.

Yesterday I spotted a Yellow Robin carrying material, and in another location Eastern Rosellas were working on the edge of the hole of the tree that they will nest in.

Plovers are already sitting on eggs, usually our first nesters each year. So things are looking good. Exciting times ahead.

Darter: a spearfishing champion with feathers