I had a really good spell at Mere Sands Woods reserve yesterday during a brief respite in the horrendous weather we've had recently. I watched a lovely Little Grebe fishing and saw a stunning kingfisher fly directly towards me before it looped off around the mere.
Then at a different spot I heard the tell tale call of another kingfisher and and after a few minutes searching the reeds I spotted it and spent the next 15 - 20 minutes watching it fish. It caught what appeared to be newts, eating one and after killing the second he hung it on a branch possibly to go back for later.
Although I managed to get a few pictures it was too far away to get a decent clear image. I will have to save hard and maybe have to sell some gear to be able to afford a better lens and get the sort of images a fellow photographer managed to get (but his camera and lens set up would have been around £17K so I would have expected the sort of images he was keen to show off).
That being said I don't think you have to spend such a huge sum of money to get great images and I think these shots of a fishing Great Crested Grebe are proof of that.
I think these are such regal looking birds and they are so sleek as they dive in search for food, barely leaving a ripple as they break the surface.
I don't think anyone can deny these are truly beautiful birds. They are so elegant in the water, they glide along seemingly without effort and then they power themselves into a dive without a splash before surfacing in a distant spot usually with a minnow or small fish in their powerful dagger like bill.
The diving also forms part of the courtship ritual that can be observed at this time of year but instead of fish they come to the surface with weed in their bills which they offer to each other.
I really enjoyed watching these birds as they serenely cruised past bringing a splash of colour and beauty.
Well you wouldn't play cards with a cheetah...
Sorry I know it is a dreadful joke.
I love cats, even though I won't have a pet one (so nobody ask) and I love big cats even more. My favourite is a close tie between a Jaguar and a Snow Leopard but not far behind is the cheetah, It is so beautiful, it has such poise and bearing. It is so powerful and ready to leap into action to chase down its prey. At the zoo the cheetahs enclosure is being refurbished and improved so they have been moved to a smaller temporary enclosure which meant I could get really close, it was amazing. It was always on the move so I was thrilled to get such a good clear shot, even through the wire.
I love swans, they are such regal and graceful birds and walking along the canal near Garstang I spotted this solitary bird swimming between the boats which were moored along the canal side.
I approached to take a few pictures and getting down low to get the shot the swan made the most unusual noise, a rasping sound that made me think it had something stuck in its throat. It seemed friendly at first but as I leaned forward to get a better angle it lunged forward a couple of times almost hitting the lens so after a few shots I left the swan to itself and went for a brief but very pleasant walk along the canal and a happy ending to my day out.
Here are five shots of a Common Gull taken from the cliff tops overlooking Lulworth Cove. Just moments before, I had swapped lenses from my 150 - 600mm zoom to my Canon 24 -105mm. I was slightly frustrated because with the bigger lens I would have been able to get some cracking close ups and not had to crop the images so hard however I think that even at 105 mm these are sharp images with a fair amount of detail so I'm pleased with the results.
It was quite windy and so the bird was using the air currents to stay up without exerting too much energy. I really like the fourth image which shows how it was using its wings, tail and even feet to steer and turn in the air. Gulls get a lot of bad press for stealing food from tourists and leaving a mess on cars but they are still beautiful birds and very graceful in flight.
I really like swans, they are so graceful and serene (when they're not hissing at you). They will often pose obligingly for a photo as in the first of today's pictures and then they swim away so gently leaving barely a ripple. I am really pleased with the second picture because it captures the reflecting well. A few moments later a strengthening wind broke up the water's surface and there was no chance of getting another reflection. As always timing is the key.
