Welcome to suburbia...

Its a strike day, horray! That's a day off for me and i'm not complaining. I was hoping to photograph Owls today, but a turn of events has lead me to be unable to do this, so I resorted to the local water park where I focused on more terrestrial ambitions. I wanted to photograph the loafing ducks and Pied Wagtails, but like all the best plans it all went wrong very early on when I couldn't find any wagtails. Still, loads of ducks to choose from...

I did bring feed with me, but these buggers ate most of it...

As well as a group of Swans. They were so close I switched to a 18-55mm lens, so as to get a wide-angle perspective on them...

Before long at last I found the Pied Wags, and after judicious use of a bag of seed they soon were feeding happily on the tarmac in front of me. A good end to a nice hour!

Buntings of Snow

This weekend I found myself camera in hand on a beach in north wales. There were a couple of people walking the dogs and the sun was just rising above the industrial estate behind me. Bliss. This scene was further improved by the arrival of no less than 10 Snow Buntings. For those unfamiliar with the species, these are birds of the high arctic and northern scotland that move south for the winter, and a small division always end up at a site in North Wales. I've been reading the reports of them up and down the coast for weeks now, but at last they have settled. They feed on a dead log most of the time, kindly being fed by the locals and any birders passing. To get a good shot you need to be patient, so six hours later I was still there! Here's female pretending to be a stone...

And a cracking bird right in front of me...

A rather adventurous individual coming closer than the others...

And this little one setting me up for an artisic attempt...

A brilliant day out with some very nice birds. A word of warning, if you do know this site and choose to visit, be patient and wait for buntings to come to you, not the other way around. Also, don't forget to out some food for them!

Pearly Whites

I have limited time to do photography at the moment so an hour or so at Sale Water Park, literally across the M56 from me, was very welcome. In the past its yielded grebes of 3 varieties, sandpipers and an egret, but today there were gulls. Lots of them. I went only really to test myself with close-up fast-paced action. Problem with gulls is that they're white a lot of the time, and so its difficult to get the balance of white bird and dark background right. So its enjoyable. First up the Common Gull, not all that common in reality...

And now hovering, waiting for the bread I had in my hand...

And the headshot as it whizzed past...

And of course the Black Headed Gulls, most common of all...

Alighting on a signpost...

All in all, a very nice excursion!

The Wonderful World of Macro

Its dark and gloomy and generally an standard issue November day, so I thought i'd brighten this site up with some shots from bygone days. For those who don't know what macro photography is, its when you try and reveal a level of detail that wouldn't otherwise be seen. I took it up for the first time this June, and its great. Here are a few of the more 'interesting' subjects...

Ah the flesh fly, my mother's favourite! gorgeous compound eyes, one of the reasons I love them.

The meadow brown above is the most common of all the butterflies I find around my house, and the shots of both the eyes and the proboscis are pretty interesting!

The Silver Spotted Skipper is rare in the UK, but common on the continent, so when I went on a 2 week stint there I had more than my fair share of them. Again you can really appreciate those eyes, as well as the unusual way of folding the wings.

This is an Oak Eggar moth, common in Anglesey, but being buffeted on South Stack Cliffs has made this one a little ragged.

Don't know who this is, but its a very attractive insect.

This is a Holly Blue butterfly and is nomadic, This individual was feeding by the side of a path for just long enough for a shot!

The Holly blue's cousin, the Common Blue. A large colony exists near me, so I spent many happy afternoons with them, this male was particularly obliging.

And finally another Blue, this time Silver Studded Blue, this particular species only found on Headlands in North Wales.

What a Month!

October hasn't, in all my whole 2 years taking photos, been productive until now. It may be the mad rush before I start the long haul of revision towards the January exams, a prolonged 'last night of freedom', if you will. Still, its worked! No less than 2 Birdguides notables for me, an achievement in my eyes even if those of no other. One was a Dotterel on the great orme, the other was this...

Never a dull moment with waders. Well, saying that, I had was what was a disasterously poor wader day this month, but I also saw Cheshire's first Red Flanked Bluetail! What a cracker...

The only waders of the day and the prevailing birds of the month were the Turnstone who were very obliging...

And again I saw them on a family holiday in Cornwall, this time I got even closer...

This was possibly my favourite of the month, sheltering from the rain on Perranporth beach in cornwall, this Rock Pipit had only one leg. Still, it still got along OK.



I had a long day up at leighton moss in Lancashire, and was struck by how close this Snipe was getting, a real gem of a bird, and yet another new species in front of the lens for October.