Hazel Flowering

Below images of the female and male Hazel flowers. The catkins in the bushes in our wood and hedgerows are at all different stages of flowering and led me to ponder how this diversity in flowering time is maintained in the populations. The male catkins release pollen before the red stigma flowers appear and so the latter are pollinated by adjacent bushes. It is obviously necessary for a wind-pollinated species where both sex flowers are produced on the same plant to prevent self-pollination.

Our Red Setter

 Images of our elderly Red Setter in the evening light - she is twelve and a half so is doing pretty well for a larger pedigree dog.

Barn Owls at Lakenheath RSPB

 Thrilled to see and photograph (albeit rather distant) a barn owl in wonderful warm evening light at RSPB Lakenheath. We were also lucky to see a pair of Cranes in flight, a Bittern and various Harriers coming into roost.

Leicester Abstracts

 Leicester is being extensively rebuilt at the moment but there are a few finished projects. One of these is the Curve Theatre with strong coloured lights. St Peter's Square has a fascinating a wall of eyes - takes me back to childhood and collecting marbles. The new shopping centre has lots of mirrors producing an upside down view of the world.
Last image is from my window in Donnington Park Travelodge - the start of a series!!

Bradgate Park

 Stopped off for a couple of hours at Bradgate Park on the way to lecture at Melbourne, Derby. Light came and went but when out the sunshine was a wonderful warm colour. There were lots of people walking lots of dogs but the chap above had the most I think. Didn't come across any Red Deer but several herds of Fallow Deer. Tried the waterfalls at 1/3200th and 1/6th second.

Lackford Lakes, Suffolk

 Some images from Lackford Lakes yesterday - a first visit there and very impressed at the numbers of birds and species. The Egyptian geese spent a lot of time preening while flocks of Shoveller, Teal and Lapwing filled the air. Shots also of Greylag goose and Widgeon landing and portraits of Shoveller and Golden Eye.

Suffolk Crossbills

 It is quite a few years since I had good sightings of Crossbills so it was a great pleasure to photograph them today in beautiful winter sunlight. Not ideal positioning as there were lots of twigs obscuring them but managed a female and male more or less clear of obstructions. Then a fight broke out - the 1250th that I used was not sufficient to stop wing motion but the bird was travelling very fast when you see how far it has moved in the next consecutive frames (10 frames /second).

Fowlmere RSPB Reserve

 Beautiful sunny day yesterday so couldn't resist a trip out. Fowlmere looked superb in the winter sunshine but was practically a bird-free zone - only 2 mallard and 2 moorhens came within range of the camera. Resorted to reed patterns etc - the last image reminds me of a viking boat.