Shooting moving targets

Having studied Jan Wegener's excellent Youtube videos on bird flight photography I decided to put a few of his tips into practice. Looking through a zoom lens to find an in-flight bird has always been a problem me, and a priority to solve. The suggestion was to first follow the bird with the lens without using the view finder, then putting the camera to your eye when you think you are on target. It requires practice to get it right, but well worth the effort.

In the event I was surprised to find how easy this was as I "hit" the bird every time I put the camera to my eye.  The penny dropped that this is the same technique that is used to target a bird with a shotgun, before putting the gun to your shoulder. As my Father was a gamekeeper I did a lot of shooting when I was young, and obviously still had the muscle memory. However before anyone has an aneurysm I have not touched a gun since I leaving home aged 21. I prefer taking pictures of my "prey".

Here are some examples taken with the help of my "old" shooting skills.