Birds in High Winds at Mistley Essex

I called in at Mistley to see what birds were managing to weather the storm and had a great hour watching and photographing the various species battling against the very strong winds. More images to follow of Black-tailed Godwits as they were the definite stars of the afternoon. Also enjoyed Shelduck, Pintail and Black-Headed Gulls feeding and preening. Thanks to Manningtree club for a warm welcome and especially Jenny for hosting me for the night.

CRUFC Narrowly Lose to Rotherham

Yesterday's match was a hard-fought battle that Cambridge narrowly lost. Unusual in that two of Rotherham's and one of Cambridge's tries came from penalty tries - the 14 and 7 points, respectively, were definite bonuses on a very windy afternoon and really decided the game in Rotherham's favour.

An International Evening with Focus Stacking and Penguins

Last night we had a Table Top evening at CCC and this gave an opportunity to play around with focus stacking a Lambretta, drown a couple of ducks and a Penguin and be creative with dried flowers. Thanks to Barry and Shelagh B for their set ups and Paul K for letting us see Intelligent Arsenal in a bit more depth.

RHS Gardens at Hyde Hall

As the weather was sunny, I decided to visit the RHS gardens at Hyde Hall on my way to talk at Billericay. The temperature was too low for a lot of insect activity but good to see Honey bees, hoverfly Melangyna, Wasp spp, 7-Spot Ladybirds and two other Diptera on the Camelias.

Misty Morning Toft Wood

Last week's warm days and frosty nights produces some great misty mornings so I took the opportunity to visit our local wood (planted in 2000) and begin a year of recording  the seasons there. I loved the way the low light produced great colours in the background and dew drops.

Coot and Gull Behaviour in Changeable Weather

After all the recent bright sunny weather, yesterday saw a change and so my visit to St Albans to photograph Coots had intervals of sunshine, heavy cloud and even some rain at the end of the morning. In the duller conditions, it was impossible to portray the Coot's red eye. The Coots were fairly active with lots of chasing but only one fight and that during a rainstorm. There were lots of Black-Headed Gulls in the process of moulting from winter to summer plumage and often displaying their kleptoparasitc behaviour  towards the Coots waiting around to pinch any food that they brought up from the bottom. The gulls eat different food from the coots – gulls are carnivorous generally etc whereas the coots are mostly vegetarian,  so, presumably, the gulls aren’t actually stealing food the other birds would eat themselves.