Dartmoor at Dawn

Managed to leave the Travelodge near Plymouth in time to record the dawn on Dartmoor. There was a bit of mist around but not enough for an atmospheric picture. Still worth recording.

The River Dart was very photogenic as the light gradually lit the banks and water. I used a neutral density filter to slow the shutterspeed. Looking forward to printing these.

Red Kites yet again

Visited Watlington Hill as staying overnight in Thame. Kites very busy clearing up remnants of picnics. One appeared to have an egg or golf ball. Liked the last picture as it shows how the kite uses the secondary feathers as flaps to manouevre in the dive.

Ayrmer Cove and Burgh Island

I visited Ayrmer Cove this morning to look for adders and photograph flowers. The adders were difficult to photograph among the brambles but I did find a mating pair. The Sea Campion and Sea Thrift are at their best on the cliffs. Also Spring Squills.
There was a good view of Bigbury Sands and Burgh Island, which is reached by a causeway at low tide and a sea tractor at other times. It also has the Art Deco Hotel , which served as the setting for the Agatha Christie films Then There Were None and Evil Under the Sun.

Birds from Burgh Island

The Wren, Linnet and Fulmars were photographed on Burgh Island.

Devon Woods

I spent a very enjoyable day photographing in various woods today. Thanks to Susan Brown for showing me round and lunch. I was practising with my Shift lens ready for a trip to Wengen for the alpine flowers later. The first picture is taken with the 24mm end of the 24-70mm lens; the second with the shift lens showing the relative shift of the fern compared to the background. The other images are also using 24mm Shift lens except for image 6, which is the 200mm end of the 70-200mm lens, and the last two taken with 50mm macro.

Redshank Pirouette

Paignton Early Morning Walk

A few images from an early morning stroll along Preston Beach, Paignton. The obliging dog was called Nelson and gave me a complete facial wash from his advantage position on the wall.

Sunny Paignton

Images taken yesterday afternoon around 4pm showing the very unseasonable beach scenes. Lots of people on the beach, and many brave souls swimming and paddling. Because the ban does not start till May 1st, there were also lots of dogs on the beach to add to my collection.

Slimbridge this morning

Spring is in full swing at Slimbridge - the Jackdaws were all busy collecting nesting material, while the Sedge Warbler, Chiff Chaff and Willow Warbler were singing to maintain territories.

Gloucester

I got as far as Gloucester last night on my way to lecture to Torbay Photographic club tonight. Unfortunately the sunset wasn't as good as Phil's taken in Toft so just a few shots along the Canal.

Nightingales in Full Song

A quick call in at Paxton on way to Devon to check on Nightingales and, yes, they have arrived in numbers now (we counted 6 singing birds along the first section of path. I did not get any clear views but this one was of interest to the warden as has colour rings from ?nestling ringing. One male did display beautifully out on a twig but I was too slow and just got the departing bird but it shows the beautiful taill very well.

More Red Kites

Today, there was blue sky and sunshine, which helped the birds against the sky giving more colour and contrast but made them more difficult to photograph against bright hillside backgrounds.

The first 2 images below show the birds against the attractive background of the Chiltern Hills and Woods. In the last 2 images the birds are progressively closer so the background is more out of focus. (all at 2500th sec, f2.8 ISO400 )