Sunday 4 June 2017

I'm a Nocturnal, Placental, Flying Mammal ....... Yo, The Name is Batty!


I've just come inside from having another go at photographing the bats which fly around my back garden and  although there's still a very long way to but at least this time I've actually got something!
My technique was to set the camera to Aperture Priority mode with and aperture of f/6.3 and flash. I tried a number of ISO settings up to ISO 3200 but it didn't really seem to make much different to just using ISO 800.



I sat down and focused on a garden fence post over which the bats were often flying and tracked the bats across a light part of the sky as the came towards me. I didn't bother looking through the viewfinder, I just pointed the camera in the direction of the bat and pressed the shutter.  With a wide enough zoom on my 18-105mm lens, I managed to catch the bat nearly every time, although none of the photos are sharp.


All these shots were taken with my trusty old Nikon D90 camera simply because that's the body the lens was attached to when I went for it.  Although you might think my D500 would be a better choice, there are two reasons why I couldn't use it. Firstly it's still away for repair following Black Tuesday, and secondly, it doesn't have a flash.


After asking around it seems that these bats are most likely to be Pipistrelles. And if you're wondering about the title of this post, it's a line in a rap song that Robin Williams sings as Batty Koda in the animated film Ferngully - we used to love watching this with the kids when they were younger. Here's the song lyrics and a link to the video:

"The Batty Rap" Lyrics

Yo, the name is Batty,
The logic is erratic,
Potato in a jacket,
Toys in the attic,
I rock and I ramble,
My brain is scrambled,
Rap like an animal but I'm a mammal.

I been brain-fried, electrified, infected and injectified,
Vivosectified and fed pesticides,
My face is all cut up 'cos
My radar's all shut up,
Nurse I need a check-up from the neck up,
I'm Batty.

They used and abused me,
Battered and bruised me,
Red wires, green wires, stuck em' right through me,
So hear my Batty word,
And excersise a little prudence,
When dealing with ...... humans!

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