Philip Newman                ...wildlife and landscape images...        Nature Photographer

WHITE TAILED SEA EAGLE, Flatanger, Norway- trip report - 17th August- 23rd August 2006

The trip started from Aberdeen, Scotland on Thursday 17^th August amidst intense airport security which limited carry-on luggage to one small bag.  However, the decision to leave the 500mm lens at home reduced the problem and I was able to get my main camera (EOS 1D Mk2) and lens (300 F4) into my carry-on bag.  The rest of the camera equipment went inside my Lowpro bag, within my hard suitcase in the hold of the plane.   The flight schedule was tight, but SAS were very efficient and after changing flights at Bergen arrived on time in a sunny Trondheim to be met  by Ole-Martin.  It was clear during the three hour drive from Trondheim to Lauvsnes that Ole-Martin was easy-going and had a great sense of humour and that sharing his boat for the next five days was going to be a pleasure.  That evening we had a taste of what was to come as we set sail from Lauvsnes at 6pm.  I was very pleased to see Ole-Martin arrive at the boat with plenty of frozen fish.  I had attempted to photograph White-tailed Sea Eagles several years ago from a boat out of Portree, Isle of Skye with Mike Lane.  Weather conditions were perfect that day and the birds wheeled overhead, but we failed to catch any fish and after two hours returned to port very despondent indeed.  Clearly, Ole-Martin knows the location of the 10-12 pairs of eagles which nest in the Flatanger region and he systematically visits each site.  On route, Ole-Martin would throw out bread for the sea gulls and this is done deliberately to get the eagle’s interest.  When an eagle was spotted, either perched high up on a cliff or in the air, a fish would be thrown out by Ole-Martin who would then manoeuvre the boat into position with regards to the  direction of light and also the lens being used by those on board.  By the way, it is a flat-bottomed boat and is quite stable in the sea.  Because of the size of the boat only four photographers can be accommodated shooting always from the left-hand side.  I never counted the total number of dives in a day, certainly the evenings proved more productive, but I would estimate about 20 per day.  Unfortunately, that first evening it clouded over just as we left.

The first full day dawned grey and overcast and whilst the birds performed well at an ISO of 800 and shutter speed of 1/320^th I was always struggling.  We returned that evening with plenty of images of these magnificent birds against grey waters.  The weather outlook was apparently good, however, I was sceptical as that night the sky looked as dark and grey as ever.  Can you imagine the excitement when the following morning when I awoke to blue skies and sunshine and it stayed like that for the four remaining days.

Now down to the serious stuff – the photography.  Quite simply, I found it the most difficult action photography I have yet attempted and the failure rate extremely high.  I will explain. Once the eagle decides to swoop down for the fish, the action is over in a matter of 2-3 seconds, all you can do is pan with the bird, hope that the focus is maintained throughout and keep your finger on the motordrive.  The big problem I found was getting the bird the right size and in the right position in the frame.  So many images were either out of focus, in the wrong position, too small or too large with clipped wings or feet, or both.  You may think a zoom lens would help, however, once the eagle has decided to dive there is no time at all to zoom in or out.  The EOS 1D MK2 with its fast motordrive and 15 RAW file buffer is certainly the camera for this sort of photography.  However, I do feel there is a shutter lag compared with my previous film cameras because what you see is not what you get.

Nevertheless, it was great fun, a wonderful opportunity to see these magnificent birds and yes I did come away with some images I was pleased with – but those near misses still haunt me.  A very big thank you to Ole-Martin who I cannot praise enough.  Would I go again, of course, but the weather is always going to be a risk and the same 5 days next year are £1625 !!.  Please view the images and form your own opinion.