Mansfield

 We visited Mansfield on Wednesday. Mansfield is a market town with a 700-year old market tradition, and a campaign is running at the moment to Save the Market. Certainly the 1950's large store, formerly a Co-op, now known as Beales is in need of refurbishment. There is concern at  the decline of the town centre shops and an under-used main Market square. The town certainly did not give the feel of a vibrant market town, though they do seem to like hands in Mansfield.

Refurbishing Sheffield Cathedral

 Sheffield Cathedral is undergoing extensive refurbishment.  The pews have been removed and the floor taken up and replaced with underfloor heating and new stone floor. There will be a new welcoming entrance. This is all due to be complete in 10 days time so there was a lot of activity and consulting. Again compare with the Cathedral in 2010. The inner Chapels are unaffected.

Sheffield Quick Tour

 We made a quick trip into Sheffield on the tram before lecturing to Sheffield Photographic Society in the evening - thank you for a very warm welcome. Sad to see that the Parkhill housing estate refurbishment has made little progress since my last visit in 2010. A lot of building work is complete between the station and the Town Hall, including the Hubs - a set of four metallic domes housing the Sheffield Hallam Student Union, and the restaurants outside the Winter Garden. The reflectivewater feature balls still attract a lot of attention.

Abney Park Cemetery Stoke Newington London

 Abney Park Cemetery is one of the magnificant seven Victorian cemeteries in London. It is now a nature reserve as well as a still-used cemetery and is very overgrown. I was pleased that I had chosen to take my infrared-converted camera as this helps separation of the inanimate gravestones from the foliage.
The images have been processed from Raw using a custom profile that I created for this camera resulting in this subtle split toning. Some of them were then taken in Silver Efex Pro and the Selective Colour slider used to control the amount of colour in various areas as the yellower tone can be a bit intense in skies etc.
The top two were using a Shift and Tilt lens; the rest with 15mm Fisheye.

Lackford Lakes and Lakenheath Reserves

 Lackford Lakes (Suffolk Wildlife Trust)

Lakenheath RSPB Reserve

Visited Lackford Lakes in the morning on a dull day, which proved ideal for photographing an obligingly close Little Egret. The Wren, Shovellers and mating Redshank were a bit further away.
At Lakenheath in the afternoon, everything was a long way from the viewing points so some composites just as a record of three great sightings - Kingfisher retreating, Marsh Harrier including one riding a broomstick (collecting nest material!) and courting Great Crested Grebes. Taken with 300mm lens with 1.4X converter.

Maldon Birds Continued

Here are the rest of the birds from the Maldon trip - lots of Black-Headed Gulls behaving badly, Starlings in mating mode and some of the 200 or so Brent Geese still roosting at high tide on the Estuary.

Blackwater Birds

 I was testing using the 2X converter on the 70-200 lens as still searching for a good 'travel' set-up for bird photography. It was bright and sunny in the morning and the results were pretty good. When it clouded over, focus was not so accurate. Lots of Black-tailed Godwits feeding and then roosting on the mud banks. I always enjoy the way the light and dark change as the flocks wheel around. Coot, Moorhen and Widgeon all obliged to test the lens combination.