The first swallows of 2025 have returned to Biggar Lagoon Wetlands in Grimsby, and were welcomed by a good number of bird watchers and a few photographers.

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This is always one of my favourite times of year as it signals that the spring bird migration is picking up steam.

The swallows haven’t arrived in a large quantity yet, but there are a sufficient number to make a visit to Biggar Lagoon Wetlands worthwhile.

As is my standard practice, when I first arrived at Biggar Lagoon Wetlands I did a quick survey of the various swallow nesting boxes to try to assess the bird population and which boxes were in use.

Some of the boxes appeared to need some maintenance or repair and had not yet been commandeered by any swallows. A couple of the boxes had sparrows in them. Time will tell if the swallows chase them out.

This limited my photographic opportunities to just three or four nesting boxes.

To capture interesting body and wing positions I’ve found that concentrating on the action taking place around nesting boxes is the best use of my time. Trying to capture swallows in random full flight is possible. This approach tends to yield rather mundane images… including plenty of belly shots.

Activity tends to ebb and flow so as the action slowed down at one nesting box, I’d do a quick scan of other boxes and move to the next most promising location.

I had to determine the best shooting angle at each nesting box, trying to capture the action against monochromatic backgrounds if possible.

Early in the season there tends to be a fair amount of aggression between different birds. This gave me the opportunity to capture images of open-beaked swallows.

On occasion the action around a specific nesting box would become a bit congested with birds leaving and arriving in close proximity. This activity added some addition interest to a few of my photographs.

I used Pro Capture H for all of the photographs featured in this article… with my standard settings. 60 frames-per-second with the first frame locking exposure and focus for the balance of the run. Pre-Shutter Frames and Frame Limiter were both set to 15. A single, small AF point was used throughout.

Depending on the swallow behaviour that I was anticipating, I’d place my single AF point on a perched bird, or on the entrance to the nesting box. Then I’d half depress my shutter release and start spooling images into temporary memory.

Depending on the action around the nesting box I would reframe my composition as needed… while continuing to spool images. Once a subject bird completed the action I was anticipating I’d fully depress my shutter release to then write the last 15 spooled images onto my memory card.

As long as the swallows stayed active I remained at that nesting box, and maintained the identical shooting position. Once the action slowed down or stopped, then I’d choose another shooting location.

Using the M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS zoom is a great lens to use for this type of photography. It allows me to back off a bit from the nesting boxes so my presence does not disturb the birds.

If the action around a specific nesting box slowed down, I’d use “both eyes open” technique so I could better anticipate an approaching swallow.

I missed getting ideal framing on a number of my images, but I didn’t let that worry me. It’s still early in the season and it can take some practice to better anticipate bird movements and flight paths.

There were numerous times when I had to maintain focus on a bird or nesting box entrance for minutes on end. Using a large, heavy lens like the M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS handheld in this situation can be a challenge. Simply tucking in my elbows close in to the side of my body does not create a sufficient amount of lens support.

To reduce the potential for arm fatigue I made sure to pull my left elbow across my body, then prop it up against my rib cage. This arm position acts like a shelf bracket and transfers the weight of the lens into my body, rather than forcing my arms to bear all of the weight.

I wore my Cotton Carrier G3 Harness but only used it sporadically as the swallows were fairly active throughout my visit to Biggar Lagoon Wetlands. It was great to have it with me as it made my hike back to my car less physically demanding.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured handheld using camera equipment  noted in the EXIF data. All images were created from RAW files using my standard process in post. I used Pro Capture H for all of the images featured in this article, with my standard settings of 60 frames-per-second, Pre-Shutter and Frame Limiter were both set to 15. A single, small AF point was used. This is the 1,454 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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