Archive for the ‘birds’ Tag
41 Day 233 – Spring is On Its Way 4 comments
41 Day 220 – Winter White 4 comments
This is another of the images taken last weekend whilst out enjoying the recent snow. I wanted to keep the theme of white whilst trying to go a little off the beaten track, those of you who have followed me for a while know that I have tended to stay with tried and trusted methods but with the sheer brilliance of the snow I tried breaking a few rules and wanted to achieve something different. Some time ago I posted a shot of a swan sleeping, in colour, detailing the feathers and highlighting the colour in an otherwise white bird. This time I have photographed this very willing subject with the emphasis on the whiteness of his plumage. He was an absolute star, preening and posing to perfection, a beautiful Swan indeed, white as the snow around him, not in the least bit bothered by my constant fiddling with the camera and recomposing the image! So here he is in all his winter white glory…
41 Day 209 Low level Fly Past 4 comments
41 Day 208 – Chilly Dip Leave a comment
41 Day203 – Swans on Flood Water Field 2 comments
Driving to work a few days ago I couldnt believe the amount of rain that had fallen, flooding lanes and villages on my route, turning ploughed fields into shallow lakes. One field in particular borders the lane that I drive and the water had risen to almost the height of the road, swamping the fences and overflowing into the ditch, luckily it had not breached onto the lane! The light at that time of the morning was soft and low and the colours it cast across the water was so soft, like a watercolour painting. As I drove past I saw 2 swans appear from the edge of the flooded field and glide regally into sight, taking great pleasure in their new found home. I just had to stop! but as always there was so much traffic behind me so I drove to the end of the lane and then promptly turned round and headed back, stopping a few yards away on the grass verge, careful not to go to close to the saturated ditch. Then, would you believe it! My batteries died in my camera!! Admittedly it was only my small pocket camera but I was livid! Marching back up the lane to the car I had only one option, to use my phone camera, so not quite the shot I wanted, definately not as crystal clear and sharp as I would have liked but still a pleasing shot.
41 Day 103 – Splashing Time Leave a comment
The sun shone and so I made the most of it! (well you have too!) I drove out to Thornton Reservoir, a place that I knew was there but had never visited until recently, so today was a test to see if I could find it again! Having parked up I set off, the reservoir has a circular walk around the banks and is simply lovely! Even though there were many people there it wasnt crowded and it gave me plenty of oppotunity to take some photos but today I have shot in RAW format. This particular shot was taken whilst enjoying a hot chocolate! The duck was having such a good time, splashing around and generally annoying all the other ducks who were waiting patiently for some crumbs to be thrown in their direction, no chance! I was enjoying my cherry muffin far too much to share!
41 Day 73 – Imposter! 1 comment
Today is Easter Sunday, a religious day for Christians around the world but do you know why we give eggs at Easter? Well apparently eggs are a forbidden food during the period of Lent, and so eggs are given at this time as a celebration of new life and new beginnings. An Anglo Saxon legend tells how the Saxon Goddess Eostre found a wounded bird and transformed it into a Hare so that it would survive the Winter, the Hare found that it could lay eggs and so decorated them each Spring and left them for the Goddess as a gift! In more recent times the first Easter eggs were birds eggs which were hand painted in bright colours and given as gifts however around the world there are many different references to eggs at Easter. Personally I love eggs and I especially love chocolate eggs! So todays image just had to be egg related! (How did I manage to get through this post without one egg joke?? Eggstremely unusual for me!)
41 Day 34 – Bottoms Up! 2 comments
By the time I got home tonight it was still light and so I headed to a small village a mile from where I live in the hope of finding todays photo. I wasnt really sure what I wanted for todays photo but just as I was about to return to the car I noted a group of ducks with their young heading down the canal. The ducklings seemed to be having a great time chasing each other round and diving head first into the water copying their parents! At this point I started to snap away and have ended up with a rather cute image perfect for a caption competition…let me know your caption!!
Do you reckon she's gone yet??
41 Day 31 – Caught on Camera 2 comments
For the last few months I have been doing my bit for the bird population and from a more selfish perspective I love to see the different birds flying into my garden to feed on the seeds and nuts that I leave out. However, for sometime I have noticed that the appetite of these small birds, sparrows, bluetits and robins seems to have grown considerably to the point that wihin 24hrs of topping up the birdtable (that my dad made!) it is empty, with nothing but husks left behind. However it is not the birds that are feasting with such gusto, it is the cheeky chappy featuring in my image of the day, yeap that cute furry rascal otherwise known as the grey squirrel! Caught in mid action I havent the heart to chase him off! So knowing that he is making the most of the table I have hung out another feeder for the birds, so they dont miss out!
Daylight Robbery!
41 Day 21 – You’re Buzzted! 4 comments
As I write this I’m smiling…..because the young subject of my shot today is proving to be the most troublesome subject I have ever had! Now I have photographed children, reluctant adults, hyperactive animals and changeable landscapes but this guy / gal is proving to be the most challenging! On the drive home from work the light wasnt great but the nights are showing signs of lengthening as we move towards Spring and so I decided to drive the lanes rather than the motorway. As I turned off the main road and headed down the lane that is flanked by open fields to both sides I spotted him, sat casually on a post on the side of the road, who I hear you ask?! Well I have been seeing a young Buzzard almost every time I drive this route, and every time I see him and pull up he takes to the sky with a jump. So tonight I wasnt going to let the opportunity pass me by! So I reversed up the lane as much as I could without spooking him and reached for the 70-300mm lens, then hung out the window of my car and started to shoot, unfortunately as you will see there is some blur to the shot but that was due to the lens resting on the window and a degree of excited energy! After 3 shots I was about to try more zoom but who should appear on the brow of the hill but a police car! Now Im sure there’s no law against photographing wildlife but Im not so sure that there isnt some bylaw that states you are not allowed to pull up on a main road for the purpose of snapping birds of prey! To be fair the policeman was quite friendly and had spotted the bird and noted the camera now sat on the passenger seat…..so following some nervous ramblings from me he decided I wasnt in need of assistance but made it clear I should move on - by now the young bird had hopped off and was now sat at some distance in the field probably quite pleased with himself at having managed to evade being snapped yet again!
I come with Police protection!
