RSPB Reserve,Fairburn Ings, Yorkshire

I visited Fairburn Ings reserve this week when travelling to and from giving a talk at Bishopthorpe Club - thanks for your welcome and to Chris for his hospitality. The Kingfisher stayed for a long time on the brook bank but in the shade so an unerexposed 1600 iso image is very noisy. The morning visit had better light but no Kingfisher. Interesting to see a White-tailed Bumblebee - alive but a bit torpid in the cold air.

CCC Table-Top Session

Last week, Wednesday Workshop ran a Table-Top photography session. There were a wide range of subjects available from flowers (Alstroemeria) on a lightbox, to light tent set ups with models, bottles, vases and watches. Great fun - thanks everyone who supplied set ups.!

Second Visit to Shortgrove Estate

We made a return visit  to Shortgrove Estate for a CCC Start to Finish Day on Sunday;  a day of taking and processing photographs (see previous visit). This time the weather was wet and windy so a bit more of a challenge. I decided to use my Pinhole adapter for the Canon to give an old feel to the swimming pool and greenhouses. Still amazes me what a good image you get with just a hole and no lens. Watering can is shot with a lens and IR filter. Many thanks Sylvie for arranging this and putting up with all the wet boots etc.

Short-Eared Owls Hertfordshire

We decided to try a different location for Short-Eared Owls and drove over to Heartwood Forest near Welwyn, where we joined lots of other owl watchers including Ray. My favourites were the first two images, which are the last I took yesterday when the sun finally came through just before we headed home. The light at 3pm when we spied the first owls was not good and I really missed my 300mm 2.8 lens as working on the 7D and 100-400 mm resulted in very noisy images. However, I enjoyed the visit very much with lighter equipment and the photos are certainly good enough to remind me of the experience. Will take tripod next time!! Last image is of Rudolph the Red-nosed Owl!!

Windy Skies and Early Snowdrops

Yesterday was very windy all over the country due to Gertrude - in Cambridgeshire the rain cleared in the afternoon so went out with big stopper filter to take some long exposures - one and three are 30 second exposure while two is one second.

Last week, we visited Anglesey Abbey where the snowdrops were in full bloom.

Cambridge Sunrise

 I had a couple of hours between an early drop at the station and the shops opening so took the opportunity of some early morning photography in Cambridge. It was a beautiful clear sunrise with some frost on the grass (and a very cold wind!!)

The Biodiversity of Pasture Field, Toft , Cambridgeshire

These images of a pair of Buzzards and Redwing and Fieldfare (part of a flock of more than 100 birds) were taken from our bungalow window in Toft this week,  It is a wonderful habitat for wildlife. For several years now, it has been horse grazing land but these have been removed and it seems there is the possibility that planning may be put in for house building. This was tried some years ago but failed because it is outside the building line of the village, because of the lack of amenities in the village and because of its value to the ecosystem of the area. None of these objections have changed but Government has! As well as supporting a large population of birds, including Barn Owl, Little Owl, Tawny Owl, Buzzards, Pheasants and many species of small birds, we have found both crested newts and the rare Cave spider on our property. I have also recorded 2 species of Bats and 7 species of dragon/damselfly along with Hare, Muntjac and Fox.

Seaford Head Sussex

It was still frosty when I arrived on Seaford Head on Tuesday morning with a clear sky and lovely light conditions. I have done some quick conversions to b/w as I think it suits the subject but will need a bit more care to avoid halos etc. As well as taking the classical views, I enjoyed time on the beach with the groynes and pebbles.