Horseheath Point-to-Point

Typical Easter holiday weather in East Anglia so it was pretty challenging both physically and photographically at the horse event with strong winds, intermittent rain and poor light. The Fuji (XT-1 and 100-400) performed well at 3200 iso and allowed me to capture some of the action - not as high a success rate as with my previous Canon gear but the ISO performance means that any captured action is presentable. These have only had the standard Lightroom adjustments. Images 5 and 6 show that the burst rate also keeps up with action though the buffer did fill quickly. Need to investigate if settings can improve this.

Spring Morning at Anglesey Abbey

Warm sunny day for a morning visit to Anglesey Abbey. Lots of Brimstone and Comma butterflies on the wing along with ladybirds and various flies and bees.

Macro Lens for Fuji CSC

I recently purchased a Zeiss 50mm macro lens for my Fuji cameras to complete my lightweight  'walk-about' wildlife kit. After having the car broken into and my heavy Canon gear stolen, I now want to be able to carry all my kit with me when on a lecture tour etc. Very impressed with the quality of the images - many of these are straight from the camera - the colour rendition especially of the blues is excellent. Not easy to use but when right will be a very good lens for flowers, insects etc as well as general scenery and any bird that comes close enough! 

Rye Meads RSPB Reserve

All looks well for the pair of Kingfishers at Rye Meads - they were in constant attendance at the hole bank and mated twice while I was there. They are a long way off but still good to see and capture a few memories. Other water birds are also looking in good condition. 

Bedworth Near Nuneaton

I stayed over at Bedworth after giving a talk to East Midlands RPS on Sunday so I could go to the Photography Show at the NEC today. Bedworth is an ancient market town and for a time relied on coal mining. The last pit closed in 1982. There are a lot of empty buildings in Bedworth including a fine brick built pub. The train journey involved a change at Coventry.

Spring Markers 2016

After an unusually warm winter, March has been cold and dull so the flowers have remained about the same for the last 3 weeks. Thus on the 21st March same markers out as previous years - coltsfoot, wild daffodil, primroses, dandelion, celandine, plum