Sunday 9th October 2011

Black Swan at Thames Valley Park, Reading.

84mm, 1/400s, f/7.1, ISO 400

Friday 19th August 2011

Taken with the Kodak, but this is what it's probably best at. This is a model of an Osprey at the annual Rutland Water bird fair. Made of sheets of plastic, it's taller than a person and quite imposing. I went to take a closer look and the sign informed me that using my fair ticket I could go to the other side of the reservoir and view the real life Ospreys, so after I'd finished looking around the stalls I did just that. I took two cameras with me, one a wide angle and one without a memory card, this giving myself zero opportunity to take photos of the Ospreys through the binoculars but some things are worth watching with just your eyes. I quickly spotted a specimen through my binoculars, seeing it fly past at a distance just as I was asking someone where to look. The male switching between flying in a little circuit and sitting on a perch near the nest, and occasionally he'd plummet towards the water, making a splash then flying off. Apparently this is so that they can clean the back of their talons that they can't clean in any other way, and is characteristic of Ospreys only, helping you identify them. When he was sitting on his perch I could really appreciate the grace and beauty of this striking bird with its dominant white markings and head held high.

6mm, 1/506s, f/4.8, ISO 80. (auto)

Monday 25th July 2011

Young jays.

250mm, 1/200s (auto from aperture priority), f/6.3, ISO 800

Sunday 17th July 2011

A greylag at Ely.

141mm, 1/125s (auto from aperture priority), f/5.6, ISO 400

Wednesday 8th June 2011

This photo doesn't have spades of technical appeal but I just couldn't resist. My two darlings have both gone broody (meaning they're trying to hatch eggs, even though the eggs aren't fertilised and I remove them anyway), and while it's not good for me as it means no eggs, it's quite sweet watching them try to be mummies, and funny to watch them attempt it in the same nest box. Pepper, the darker one, has been broody for 2 months and took to it quite naturally, she readily goes for her daily feed and defecate when I lift her off the nest and throw her down the stairs. Coriander has just started and looks like she doesn't quite understand what's going on, bless her. If I lift her off the nest and put her somewhere else, she just squats down again and resumes her broody pose. The first day I pushed her down the stairs like I do Pepper to make sure she went for some food, and she fell down in surprise as she was still trying to squat, what a little sweetie!

29mm, 1/15s, f/4, ISO 800

Sunday 15th May 2011

I always forget that I'll see Red Kites when I head down South, and I'm always awed by them. Such huge beast grazing power cables and rooftops. On my back home I almost made myself late for an engagement as I kept stopping every time I passed another batch of them (or possibly the same lot, scarpering whenever I stopped to watch). They eventually seemed to congregate over Watlington and a lady gave me a tip of a particular hill to go up and watch them so I may do next time I'm in the area.

250mm, 1/250s (auto from aperture priority), f/9, ISO 800

Monday 25th April 2011

This may look like any other little bird but it's a snow bunting! The first one I've ever seen, and I was only saying earlier on that it would be great to see one this trip. It was very obliging when I pointed a lens at it, at first lying flat thinking it was camouflaged against the snow and that I couldn't see it, but then it noticed I was creeping right towards it but still stayed put until I was just a couple of metres away.

250mm, 1/250s (auto from aperture priority), f/6.3, ISO 400

Thursday 7th April 2011

One of a pair of gorgeous grey wagtails frolicking up and down an old mill weir.

250mm, 1/50s (auto from aperture priority), f/6.3, ISO 800

Wednesday 23rd March 2011

On a little ride around on my motorbike today I stumbled across a museum that puts on free lunchtime concerts, and an adjacent park with aviary. I don't know what type of bird this is, some kind of finch, but it was lovely and soft and delicate, and still characterful with its bright red beak and spotted underbelly.

155mm, 1/800s (auto from aperture priority), f/5.6, ISO 800

Thursday 17th March 2011

Another black headed gull, devouring this morsel before any other birds got in on the act.

250mm, 1/500s (auto from aperture priority), f/6.3, ISO 1600

Wednesday 16th March 2011

Sitting on her throne.

70mm, 1/125s (auto from aperture priority), f/5, ISO 1600

Monday 14th March 2011

Young black headed gull still in winter plumage at Bathpool park dam.

250mm, 1/800s (auto from aperture priority), f/6.3, ISO 400

Tuesday 1st March 2011

Into the third month and my enthusiasm for my 365 project hasn't waned, there's so much scope it's actually great to have this challenge to allow me to explore it all.

I hope you enjoy this Canada goose, having a stretch inbetween grazing.

141mm, 1/320s (automatic from aperture priority), f/5.6, ISO 400

Sunday 27th February 2011

This is Mousetrap Zawn at Gogarth on Holyhead, Wales. Such amazing textures and colours of rock on such a grand scale, it's really eye-catching and I hope I've managed to show some of that here.

27mm, 1/80s, f/11, ISO 100

Sunday 20th February 2011

This little pied wagtail was too busy strutting about looking for scraps of food to be worrying about a weird girl stalking him with camera in hand. I whacked the ISO up as I was handholding the camera.

250mm, 1/250s, f/6.3, ISO 1600

Friday 11th February 2011

Today I managed to get the shot I promised you on Wednesday. I got that one - this cute little nuthatch, and more - bullfinch, dunnock, jay, and a few others, hence the dead heat for today's post of the day. The trouble with getting a new camera, taking photos non stop, spending an inordinate of time in front of the computer post-processing them, and doing all manner of periphal research, is that you can no longer judge the quality of your shots. However even though I can't *see* how good or bad these photos are, I *know* that they're the kind of shots I dreamed of taking with my new camera, and you've got to be happy with that. I'm sure the ability to see the quality of what I'm taking will return after I've gone away and come back to them - and in the meantime at least I know I'm in seventh heaven while I'm actually taking them, excited about what I may end up with and enjoying getting out and doing it.



This nuthatch was actually a little bully, it didn't come down to feed as often as the others but when it did NO other birds were allowed at the seeds, it kept turning around and stamping towards them to scare them off. The bullfinch arrived just as I was about to reluctanty return to work - it pays to wait!

250mm, 1/400s, f/6.3, ISO 800 (both)

Wednesday 9th February

Yesterday was quite a mission to run to the waterfall and back in my lunch hour, but I was quite enamoured with the variety of interesting and relatively tame birds (and various other things - that park is a photographer's paradise) that were a lot closer to the car, so I decided to return today. I didn't quite get the shot I wanted, but I won't give that away as I plan to return with some bird seed another day, so in the meantime here's a photo of a cheeky little handsome Great Tit eyeing me up to see if I was going to feed him.

250mm, 1/640s, f/7.3, ISO 800

Saturday 29th January 2011

I had high hopes for today as I was heading out for a photography day with my knowledgable friend James. We rendezvoused in the Peak District and sauntered off down a riverside footpath, enjoying having all the time in the world to stop and snap away, without having anywhere else we needed to be. I valued having the opportunity to talk non stop about various tips and tricks and pick James' brains. Towards the end of the day we crossed some stepping stones and got some lovely photos of the streaming textured water with various hues within it, and I thought that would be my photo of the day. However just as we were approaching the road to return to our cars, James alerted me to 'something interesting' over to my left and there was a whole flock of Waxwings, which aren't particularly common in this part of the world. I've never seen one before and here were dozens! Gorgeous creatures. I fired off a couple of shots then we approached them from the road instead thinking that would be less likely to spook them and it worked. Just as I was shooting photos of them in high a tree one popped up in the hedge to my right greedily eating berries, and thankfully my camera already had the correct settings (spot metering, ISO off 100 and on to automatic, as fast a shutter speed as I could get given the light) to record the moment before it flew off.

If my capture is anywhere near as good as this one I'm overjoyed!

250mm, 1/125s, f/6.5 (auto from shutter priority), ISO 400 (auto)

Saturday 22nd January 2011

"Walking on water"

I walked down to a nature reserve near my house today and arrived just at the same time as a chap who had leftover chips from the fish shop to feed the ducks. This bunch was waiting eagerly for some to be thrown their way, then waddled eagerly towards it, skidding all over the shop on the ice.

129mm, 1/60s (auto from aperture priority), f/11.0, ISO 160

Sunday 16th January 2011

Whilst walking in the Cairngorms today we were gifted with a sight of a pair of Ptarmigan, peacefully pecking about in the snow just close enough to grab a photo of. I'm glad I didn't settle with my first few photos as the computer revealed them to be blurred, thankfully I thought to creep a bit closer.

250mm, 1/500, f/6.3 (auto from shutter priority), ISO 200 (auto)