Northumberland Not Majorca

We had booked to take the girls to Majorca this week for a beach holiday but the firm we booked with went out of business two weeks ago so Northumberland was a hasty replacement. Hopefully as the firm issued an ATOL certificate we should get our money back. This evening it was still and sunny - not as warm as Majorca but pleasant enough for the girls to have a paddle.

Infrared at Wimpole

I gave the infrared an outing today and was pleased with the results taken in the gardens. The water lilly leaves are actually floating on a covering of blanket weed that looks the same colour as the weed so the colour difference is very surprising. I also like the near natural colour achieved for the flower pots.

Macro Insects

 Went to Burwash Manor pools to see what Dragonflies were about - the answer was none but some valiant flies and bees were feeding on the flowers despite the wind and cold. There seems to be a plague of Alder Leaf beetles this year. These were taken in Salford at the weekend.

Twycross Birds and Butterflies

 The best part of Twycross for me is the walk-through aviary with a large colony of Cattle Egrets all nest building and scabbling at the moment with each other and the Pied Cormorants and Night Heron. The flamingos looked very happy filter feeding in deepish water while the Pelican definitely was having a bad hair day. They also have a brand new Butterfly House - a large area not yet fully stocked but looking good.

Twycross Zoo

 We decided to visit Twycross Zoo on the way back from Manchester - it has a good write up as regards its conservation and breeding work. Certainly there were several babies or young animals around including Orang-utang, Meercats, Black-tailed Prairie Dog, Coati and bush dog. (Birds to follow) Most of the enclosures are large and with plenty for the animals to do but the monkey enclosures are cramped and very uninteresting - hopefully this will be their next expansion. It was difficult to photograph with dull light and rain yet again!!

Salford Quays

 After a long journey in pouring rain, the sun finally broke through late in the afternoon giving fantastic light and clarity.

Macro at Butterfly World

 Visited butterfly world near St Albans for the first time yesterday with Meredith who obviously has the Entomology gene. The indoor areas are small but the wildflower meadows and gardens very extensive.  It was not the best time of year or weather for a visit as the delight of the place is its very large array of themed gardens, all full of butterfly and insect habitats. Promised myself a return later in the year.
(All except image 2 (100mm macro) were taken with 300mm f4 with 12.5mm extension ring and small fill-in flash.)

Iceland Book

Today I completed my book of photographs from the trip in February to Iceland where we were fortunate to witness the best Northern Lights display for 20 years. Click image to show preview of the entire book

Blurb as usual have a 30% discount at the moment which makes it just under £40 for 156 A4 pages including delivery. I compiled this one through the Book module in Lightroom.It has quite a few layout disadvantages over Blurb's own booksmart software (no altering the position of the image and text boxes and no borders to the photos for instance). However, the ability to alter the digital processiong of any image in the book from the Deleop module overides this for a large photo book. With Booksmart, you would need to delete a photo, go back to the processing software to do the alteration, save the jpeg and reload into the book.

Orchids in the local Clunch Quarry

Not as many Man Orchids as some years but still a reasonable display along with very abundant Twayblades and a sprinkling of Common Spotted Orchids. I used my 70-200mm lens with a 25mm Extension tube to bring the focus point nearer. It gives a nice diffuse background provided the subject is a far enough away from the other plants.