Summer at Paxton Pits

We visited Paxton Pits after about a month's absence and were amazed how the foliage has grown. There was very little evidence of the presence of all the birds that we know are breeding there. I did get this glimpse of a young robin as it hopped out of cover.

The Mallard duck was looking after eighteen ducklings - a huge family if they are all hers. Do Mallard run creches?

There was a Brown Hawker patrolling its territory - I managed a quick shot of the head before it shot off again.

The Arrowhead was in full bloom in the river but I liked the upright leaves best.

Closeup on Moths

I have been trying various combinations of 50 mm macro lens with 25 mm tube and/or Life-size converter. I haven't completed the tests yet but thought I would post these rather splendid moth heads - Elephant Hawkmoth, Satin Moth and Peppered Moth

Like Mother Like Son

A few images of the mare and foal in the field opposite our bungalow. The foal has grown very quickly and is looking less like a rocking horse model now.

Stormy Sunset

Did anyone else have a wonderful stormy sky sunset yesterday? This was the view out of the front of our bungalow so I took a short walk up onto the fields and used the fish-eye to capture the whole of the sky.

Amazing effect when looking directly up as if the convex surface of a
planet rather than into a receding sky.

Underground

Four images from a journey across London yesterday on the Underground including a couple more takes on Mind the Gap.

The fourth picture is taken when the Underground is overground which helps with the lighting. I think I enjoy photographing in the Underground because of the very cleans lines and limited colour palette.

For Alice to choose

10 photos taken for possible cover of Cambridgeshire Journal

Porter's Way Cambridgeshire

Two traditional monchrome conversions from my Digital Infra red camera of the cloud formations yesterday morning near our home in Cambridgeshire.

The third picture is a conversion from the original colour infrared (magenta) giving an old-fashioned colour print look to the image.

Edith at 98

Not much time for photography this week but thought those who know her would like this photo of my mother on her birthday on Friday.

Wimpole and the Amazing Dragonfly

A couple of images from a trip to Wimpole Hall - there had been a scything workshop the weekend before so there were a couple of hay waggons in front of the Hall creating great timeless images. The sky was incredible on Saturday when I took these images.

This Emperor dragonfly was laying eggs in one of the ponds at Barton - a drop of water on its eye is acting as a magnifying glass so you can see all the individual ocelli of the enormous compound eye.

Cambridge from Barton hill

Three panoramas taken from above the firing range at Barton of the Cambridge skyline. The views go from left to right on the skyline, in the first image, we have the chimney of the Pumping Station, St John's College and All Saints Church in Jesus Lane. The second image is obviously University Library, Great St Mary's and King's Chapel. Any ideas for the third (rightmost) picture - must be obvious to anyone living near those cranes (the University Chemistry buiding was even further to the right on the skyline).
Last image just a beautiful sky to finish the evening.

Cambridge University Open Day

I thought I would give my tilt and shift lens an outing today as I had to go into Cambridge. I discovered it was the University Open day for prospective students. Town was full of 17 year olds with their parents - a great time to study inheritance of familial characteristics. Here are four 'tilt' images of Cambridge. Several schools had sent minibus loads to Cambridge for the day and they were having a great time on the river.

Aggressive Beetle

This small beetle is a Lesser Stag Beetle and was amazingly aggressive attached itself to my toe while gardening. Although only an inch in length, it could give quite a painful nip. I liked the orange membranes and hairs that offset the metallic black exoskeleton.

Emperors in Flight

I spent a hot hour this afternoon trying to photograph Emperor dragonflies in flight - a very frustrating activity but I did end up with one sequence of images in focus - typically the very first images that I took. Which wing position do you think works best?