More Black Redstarts

Are you tired of seeing my photographs of Black Redstarts yet? I’m beginning to feel like one of those 1970s dads with the curtains closed insisting on projecting yet another box of transparencies onto a rickety screen from a bunch of Instamatic slides after a pioneering foreign holiday.

Black Redstart - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

They’re very active and constantly on the move which makes them impossible to follow.

Black Redstart - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

It’s a better strategy to find a perch they occasionally visit and manoeuvre to the ideal background and then sit on a small portable stool and wait. Here’s one with a typical block of Rome flats in the background.

Black Redstart - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Finally, a male comes to visit. There are many, many birds which are female or juvenile but males are unusual visitors. I liked this curved and fire-blackened branch and so waited for him here.

Black Redstart - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

As they say, “Lovely plumage”.

Black Redstart - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

It’s also possible to catch them on the hop. That’s if your camera can take photographs lasting 1/4000 of a second.

Black Redstart - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

High speed photography reveals another world which is normally just a blur before our eyes. It’s a revelation to see into their high-speed lives. It’s all so fast I’d need a sit down if I wasn’t sitting down already.

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