A Regent's Treat

Oh what a pun that is! Try reading it back, try it on your friends and bask in its comedic glory! Don't know whether you can tell but i'm quite pleased with myself, this way with words must be a direct result of my time in the capital for that is the reference of the title. I found myself of a Tuesday in Regent's Park looking for the Bearded Tits that were resident, only to find they'd flown literally that morning. In fact, I can't believe my bad luck. Still, the birds were excellent despite the lack of rarities, no more was this true than with the excellent Heronry that is on the island there...

...that's a young bird by the way, unusual to see one breeding so early in life...

...but up close in the dying light you can see their Dinosaur origins...

...but the very same light sets the cloudy water on fire of an evening...

....The amazing thing is how easy it is to get close to the ducks, they're so acclimatised to the good folk of London they're not adverse to the odd Manc...!

...in short, a nice trip to a nice park. Wish we had such a park in Manchester. Whitworth ain't bad I suppose. But its so busy down there, not for me.

On Glassen Waters...

Its one of those things that is generally accepted about photography, that there are certain places to see certain species. Now I tend to have to avoid these places, these places tend to be a long way from the railway line and civilisation in general, so it is only when I have the help of others that I get out to these species-specific sites. This was the case towards the end of last month as I had a weekend in Wales, I managed to get out to photograph a rather confused bird.

Now that last statement may require some clarification; clarification I am more than happy to give. The word for a male 'Goose' is a 'Gander', whilst a female is referred to as, well, a 'Goose'. As a result, it is surprising to see a bird called a Goosander, they're not hemaphrodites as far as I can see! The Goosander Gander (if I can call them that) is well renowned as the hardest bird to expose. Ever. White on the bottom, green on the top. Now I love that bottle green and the salmon-cream white of the underside, but trying to get them both the correct colour, jeez. But hey ho I had a go, have a look fer yourselves...

...and the full body shot...

...now take the next one with a pinch of salt, its an arty effort...

...gettin' down low...

...the fable male...underexposed...

...and the flappy shot...

...all in all a top morning out, hopefully get down there again soon!