Predatory shieldbug

An image from our trip to Wicken Fen yesterday - oh if only it was all in focus - this shieldbug predates caterpillars - it carried this one around with amazing strength as it must have weighed much more than it.

100 macro lens

This image was more satisfactory as the shieldbug was still and all in the same plane of focus so could use F16 but still some of legs out of focus.

The spider spinning its web was taken with a ringflash with the camera set to Manual (200th f32) and hence a better depth of field.

Looking Up

A couple of pictures from a recent walk around Cambridge looking up at the ceilings in King's Chapel and in the Round Church.

Clair and Paul's wedding

To view Clair and Paul's wedding photos go to my website and request a client user name and password.

Happy Birthday

Millie is 8 today having been born on an unforgettable day September 11th 2001.

Here she is enjoying an unusal quiet moment during our morning stroll

Rose

Still testing my Sony for closeup - used the flash on this and surprised that it illuminated even when close to subject. Rose about 10cm diameter.

Windy Sky

The sky at lunchtime today was so striking that I took the camera a couple of hundred metres up our track to get a clearer view.

Infrared really brings out the cloud and vapour trails

Sawfly Larvae

Not an easy subject I have discovered - the larvae are reluctant to extend their tails in the same plane and also swing the tails suddenly just when the shutter is being released.

Macro Pictures with Sony H50

I have acquired via a rewards scheme a Sony DSC-H50, which has an amazing 15X optical zoom and also focuses to 1cm. Today I tested the macro.

For web photos and small prints, it seems very good. There is no RAW facility and fair amount of noise and chromatic aberration so large prints may be out but useful light camera for keeping in the car for those unmissable moments
Thanks to Tricia for an enjoyable morning photographing in her garden and eating breakfast.

Under the Rainbow

Drove back from Berkhampstead yesterday through hail and rain storms but was rewarded by some of the brightest rainbows I have seen for years. The one on the left is illuminating a field just by the M1 near Woburn. Cambourne is at the end of the rainbow on the right.

Play of light,shade and ferns

Some intriguing images from the Well House at Ashridge House. Many thanks to Terry for showing me round the house and especially this wonderful window in the basement of the house. It was lit from a grating at ground level and the play of light and shade as the sun went in and out was awe inspiring. In the first picture the sun is behind clouds so the contrast is low enough to make out all the features of the window frame and the grating outside. As the sun comes out, shapes appear on the window pane

Thethird image shows the maidenhair ferns that are growing under the grating. In the fourth image, the camera has focussed on the dirty glass in the window with soft outlines of the ferns behind.

The last two images show progressively closer images of the light playing on the dusty and cobwebby glass.

A Sculptor's Garden

A couple of images from John McGill's (Sculptor) garden in Toft.

Infrared Images from Cambridge

Definitely weather for Ducks on Friday. Many of the tourists taking punt trips were provided with umbrellas

Very pleased with the Water lily images - looks like an Xray in that you can see through the overlapping leaves.

It is very unpredictable as to what colours are generated by the infrared making the processing stage very interesting.

In the Blink of a Frog's Eye

Just for fun - how a frog keeps his eyes clean

Sign of the Times

Some pictures from a closed-down petrol station in Eversden - great subject for infrared

The Best of the Bunch

I have only just had time to sort through the Red Kite pictures and find the best of the many hundreds I took on the afternoon that we spent at Llandeusant. Mostly I have kept just the sharp images but there are some where the attitude of the bird is unusal and these have stayed (at the moment!)

More images from ICBP

A couple of images of a very acrobatic Lanner Falcon. Most of the birds that the Centre flew were young birds still in training but this Lanner Falcon was an experienced flyer and performed the most amazing acrobatics.

International Centre for Birds of Prey

We called at the International Centre for Birds of Prey on the way back from Wales. It is situated near Newent and has a very extensive collection of raptors. They have a very good record for breeding from their captive birds including a Golden Eagle.

Visit their website (www.icbp.org) to learn more about the Centre.

These two peregrine pictures were taken during one of their flying displays - I love the graphic nature of the images - remind me of the paintings in the Thorburn bird books that I have treasured since I first became interested in bird watching.
The Yellow-billed kite image isn't unfortunately very sharp but I was so amazed by the Concorde impersonation that I have shared it on my blog

Blaenavon

I was expecting the Welsh Valleys to be littered with remnants of the coal and steel industry. In fact, almost all traces of the former industries have been completely erased - the buildings demolished and the slag heaps landscaped into country parks for mountain biking and such like.

In December 2000 UNESCO named the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape as a World Heritage Site for the following reason:

"The area around Blaenavon bears eloquent and exceptional testimony to the pre-eminence of South Wales as the world's major producer of iron and coal in the 19th century. All the necessary elements can be seen, including coal and ore mines, quarries, a primitive railway system, furnaces, the homes of workers, and the social infrastructure of their community."

We visited both the Iron works and the Big Pit coal mine.

Unexpected birds

While visiting Treorchy to photograph the buildings and cemetery, we were amazed to see both a heron and a dipper in the stream alongside the busy main street. The heron took off almost immediately but the dipper continues to move along the bank dipping into the water at regular intervals. It then rested for a time on one leg giving us a chance to photograph it.

Kite in the Sunshine!!

After Monday's rain and poor light, yesterday was perfect for photographing the kites. They also obviously enjoyed the weather as, at one point, there were 20 of them circling overhead in the thermals. This one did an obliging quick fly past just at a distance to be correct in the frame (small crop behind the bird to decentralise it)

Red Kites

Unfortunately the light was very poor for our attempts at photographing the red kites up in the Brecon Beacons and it was raining!

These two were taken at ISO1000 and therefore have a fair amount of colour noise but they do show the wonderful colours and shapes of the birds.

Old and New

This huge oil refinery at Rhoscrowther has been built close to a small village - you can see the very tall church tower (marked with red arrow) completely dominated by the refinery chimneys.

We visited the churchyard - a very peaceful place in spite of the hum of the refinery close by.

Pembroke Dock

We spent Saturday walking around Pembroke Dock - a town waiting to be discovered by the tourists. They are hoping to get a Harry Potter museum set up there as parts of the films were shot in the area. This will certainly bring in the masses but I doubt they will appreciate the stylish Georgian architecture and Naval History from Nelson's time to the Sunderland Flying Boat station in the last war.

Upper picture is Shipwright Inn and Gun Tower Museum.


Lower picture one of the fine Georgian terraces in the Naval Dockyard