Blog
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Local Patch
05 Jan 2021
2020 has shuffled its awkward way off stage to be replaced by a fresh, naive, and optimistic 2021 that, for us, has started by a reimposition of a ‘COVID Lockdown’. Oh well! Looking back, 2020 was a low point in photography for me but I didn’t entirely stop recording changes…
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Fungi and Lichen
07 Nov 2020
A quick shot from the daily walk today. This spot is a regular spot for the honey fungus every autumn. Normally, you only see the lichen. But today it was an attractive combination in the autumn light
This mini landscape seems curiously alien in its miniature aspect.
I think it’s…
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Green Elfcap
31 Oct 2020
This is just a a bit of a field curiosity. Some days ago my wife spotted a bit of broken branch on the ground that was a curious colour and snapped a picture in the field because it was a vivid green-blue. We eventually found it in a guide book*…
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Stags & Bracken
15 Oct 2020
It’s now towards the end of the red deer rut in the UK and this morning looked like the weather might be fair. Consequently I dashed up to Richmond Park through the morning rush hour to get there for just after dawn. There is nothing quite like getting out of…
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Now, this is what I was after…
28 Jul 2020
After what is now approaching six weeks of trial, error and adjustment and try again, I finally got the photo of a fox in infrared ‘light’ last night. The is the photo that I’d envisaged at the outset; the fox sliding gracefully under the fence with head slightly turned towards…
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In a quiet corner of a garden…
16 Jul 2020
… a young fox squeezes through a scrape under a fence to forage.
It can be a long process to get the photo you ‘visualised’ from a camera trap. It’s partly about the animal behaving how you hoped and putting themselves in the right place and then being precisely in…
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A Shot in the Dark
11 Jul 2020
For a while I’ve wanted to experiment with photographing wildlife in dark. Sure, you can use flashguns to light up your subject and I’ve done that. Many, actually the vast majority of animals are not bothered by the quick flash of a camera flashgun; even when it’s two or three…
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Great Spotted Woodpeckers ready to fledge
01 Jun 2020
For nearly three, weeks we have been watching a great spotted wood pecker nest that is just a few metres off a main trail along which we walk the dog. It’s not the best nest to photograph as it’s a good 8m high and not as isolated as I’d normally…
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Spring Bunnies not Bears…
29 May 2020
Right now, I should be on my way to Canada to photograph grizzly bears in the far north west of British Columbia. Obviously, due to a touch of the ‘pandemics’ I’m not and that’s going to have to wait for another year. Consequently, yesterday I found myself at my usual…
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Playing with infrared light
16 May 2020
Word of warning, this post is a bit different from the normal stuff here and is a bit photo techy but hopefully most folk can still get something from it.
Some weeks ago I had my, somewhat underused, Nikon D7200 converted to Infrared photography for a project I had in…
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Garden Feeder
19 Apr 2020
I only very rarely photograph birds at the feeders in the garden. We actually have quite a few; five at the count today covering quite a range of foods. The feeders are there to support the bird-life in the garden. I note not wildlife because we discourage the grey squirrels…
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A fallen crab apple tree in bloom
12 Apr 2020
In the winter of 2018-19 a crab apple tree at the edge of ‘my’ (strictly speaking, not mine but you know what I mean) woods became a victim of a winter storm and was almost completely snapped near the base of the trunk. Last year it did break into leaf…
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First Bluebell of Spring on Good Friday
10 Apr 2020
While out for a (COVID 19 rationed) daily constitutional at my local woods early this morning I caught sight of my first bluebell of the year. It wasn’t there yesterday morning today it is; what a difference a day can make. Bluebells are always a welcome sign and really makes…
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Super ‘Pink’ Moon
07 Apr 2020
The clouds cleared tonight and I got a good view on the Super ‘Pink’ Moon. There is always something spectacular to photograph out there even if its a quarter of a million odd miles away from the garden and we are otherwise unable to potter about taking snaps. Keep safe…
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Locked down or free to roam?
15 Mar 2020
The world has entered a strange place with COVID 19 / Corona Virus having taken a hold and closing off meetings / events / travel in a bid to contain or delay the spread of this unpleasant bug. I and my colleagues are now officially mainly working at home in…
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Murmers of the new year in Avalon
30 Dec 2019
December 30th 2019 and we are knocking on the door at the end of the decade with this last post of the year
The weather forecast yesterday suggested that, with a bit of luck, we might get a quiet day with the sun making an appearance. By no means certain…
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Leopards don’t exist
26 Nov 2019
Notwithstanding the wildlife films you see on TV (it’s all made up yah know), I’ve come to the empirical conclusion that Leopards are mythical beasts and are not of this world. They inhabit a parallel but intersecting universe to ours. Occasionally, very occasionally, they can materialise in our time and…
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Contrast
17 Nov 2019
Two very different photos from today that rather summed up the quality of light at this time of year. On one side of the large pond the light was reflecting off the open water and backlighting the subjects and on the other, everything was in strong shade with just a…
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Autumn Appears
02 Nov 2019
Work and other commitments pile up and you suddenly realise you haven’t had or found time to get out and take some pics or even add anything to the blog (I’m still sitting on a pile of photos to publish from out summer hols). As a result, it’s now well…
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In search of fresh pastures
14 Aug 2019
The ‘big excuse’, if we really needed one, for returning to the Maasi Mara was intrigue of the annual wildebeest migration in East Africa. This is often touted as one ‘great wildlife spectacles’ and I was happy to go along with this view. Well we went, saw, experienced and concluded…
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Under African Skies - Again
28 Jul 2019
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We have just arrived back from a trip to Kenya’s Maasi Mara area. So here is a little taster with he promise of more to come in the next few weeks.
This photo of a cheetah was taken at sunrise just after it had decided that it’s preliminary chase of…
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A touch of summer
23 Jun 2019
It’s late June but it’s been a cold and wet summer month so far and I’ve been away working for most of it. Yesterday, just after midsummer’s day I found a warm sunny day and popped out to a local wetland / heath area (yes, a bit of a contradiction…
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A few from today: Some of our larger water birds
01 Jun 2019
I thought I’d just pop up some of todays photos taken while on one of my regular dog walks. All of these were taken at our large pond at the wildlife reserve. Nothing particularly rare but it’s always good to see out two resident herons (Grey Heron and Common Egret)…
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Slow Worm - First of the Year
05 May 2019
It’s the 5th May and today was the first time this year that I’ve seen a slow worm. We had a warm period in March but things have been cooler since and the last few days have been quite cold again. This one was trying to warm up and wasn’t…
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Long Tailed Tit - Visualised and Realised
29 Apr 2019
I’ve posted here a few times about Long Tailed Tits and my attempts to photograph them. They are tiny birds (body about 6cm max with a 9cm tail) that have fascinating behaviours like congregating and raising young in family groups. They also build the most elaborate and beautiful little nests…