Toft Mud, Wood and Potholes

The mild wet winter has resulted in good winter wheat growth generally but some very muddy fields, early catkins and daffodils, vibrant lichens and some very large potholes in our lanes in Toft

Garden Bird Count in Toft Cambridgeshire

We did the RSPB Garden Bird count on the 31st January and recorded a record number of goldfinches in a single flock for the year - 22 goldfinches lined up to visit the feeder. We also had 3 Bluetits, 4 Great Tits, 3 Greenfinches, 4 Chaffinches, 1 Blackbird male and female, 5 Jackdaws, 2 Rooks, 5 Pheasants, 3 Woodpigeons, 2 Collared doves, 1 Robin, 2 Dunnocks, 7 Long-Tailed Tits. If we include the field by the house  2 Buzzards feeding on worms, and c. 50 each of Fieldfares and Redwings). Posts a bit slow at the moment as ploughing through a mound of paperwork to claim for the items stolen from may car last week and repair to the car. Hopefully back on track soon!!

Gulls and Ducks at Fairburn Ings

Last images taken with my 7dii and 100-400mm lens on Wednesday before they were stolen on Thursday in Cambridge. The light at Fairburn Ings at lunch time was beautiful so decided to test the focusing etc of the lens/camera combination on the gulls and ducks that hang around the boardwalk waiting to be fed before going down to Spalding to lecture in the evening. At least one of the Black-headed Gulls was going into summer plumage and it was good to be able to record the juvenile yellow beak and legs.

Beechwood Hanger in the Rain

Although raining fairly heavily, Jane and I decided on a walk in the Beechwoods off Wort's Causeway to try a bit of creative camera movement and double exposures. The woods are incredibly green with moss and lichen after all the rain and the mild winter. Unfortunately the afternoon ended with the discovery that my car had been broken into and the my Canon camera gear (taken just the Fuji), laptop etc had all been stolen from the boot. As I was on my way back from a lecturing 'tour' I had more with me than usual though everything of value was stowed in the boot. However, there is always access via the back seats. A reason to have a saloon not hatchback next time! To add to the problems of sorting it out, my passport, marriage certificate and various other official documents were in the boot as I had been to the bank to help sort out a locked Camera Club account on Tuesday before leaving for Yorkshire.

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.