Eagle Eyed

 I think that in the natural world my favourite things are birds of prey and I always get a buzz of excitement when I see them in the wild. There are several birds on my bucket list of birds I want to see and hopefully photograph in their natural habitat. In reality I don't expect to get to see many of them so I am grateful for places like the National Centre for Birds of Prey at Duncombe Park where they do great work for the conservation of so many species that I would never get to see in the wild. 

I visited with my mum recently and although we got caught in the rain we got to see some beautiful birds and enjoy a wonderful flying display. Of course I took loads of photos some of which I will be sharing.

For today I have just one image of a Tawny Eagle a species which is more at home in sub Saharan Africa. While in some regions the population is fairly strong in other areas it is considered as a threatened species with population loss due to poisoning and shooting or from traffic.

I  think this is a stunning looking bird, I love the intense expression.

I have had to do a close up image because this bird was in an aviary and I was shooting through the mesh of the enclosure so it is quite a soft image but I think by doing so I have been able to emphasise the intensity of its stare and get across something of the power of this beautiful bird.

In Flight

 I have recently been reading some articles about photographing birds in flight so while i was at Staithes I thought I would try a few shots of the gulls around the harbour. 

Sometimes gulls are relatively easy to capture because they can glide by slowly, or in strong winds they almost hover in the air allowing time to focus and plan the shot but on this particular day these birds were on a mission and they swooped past at high speed. I think is did quite well with these shots of Herring Gulls but think I could have done better with a faster shutter speed.

On the other side of the harbour there were even more gulls building nests on the cliffs but they were even harder to photograph, I may have one or two useable images to share but I will save those for another day.

Blue Anemone

 

I think this is possibly my favourite image from my walk around the garden at Dunham Massey, the light is perfect and the colours are so vibrant, I love the lustre of the deep blue petals which beautifully frame the flowers' golden heart.

The flower is Anemonoides apennina, Apennine Anemone or blue anemone. Nearby there were many other anemones but their colour was a little muted compared to this one so when choosing a photo to share today there was no competition. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Corvids

Birds like Rooks, Ravens and Crows are easily overlooked. They're mostly black with no obvious distinguishing features and from a distance they are fairly uninteresting and then when you consider their personal habits well, they're pretty gross. But, get up close, and they really are quite amazing.

Take the Hooded Crow in the first picture, I first saw one, or actually properly noticed one in a park in Gothenburg, it was being mobbed by a pair of Chaffinches after it had raided their nest and was devouring a chick. Like I said "gross"! But that's nature for you, it can be cruel. But look closely they are really beautiful and poised on Neptune's trident this one looks quite regal.

The second and third images are of a Carrion Crow, it was strutting around on a lawn and rather than cawing as you might expect it was coughing as though it had something stuck in its throat and it looked pleadingly at me. I had never realised before that they had feathers on their beak, it looks pretty cool doesn't it.

So next time you see one of these birds and think "it's just a crow" think again...

Golden Fly

So today is my birthday and I went for a walk at Bickerton Hill in Cheshire. The day had started off wet and grey but by this afternoon it brightened up a little.

I had my bag of kit with me, unsure exactly what I would shoot but I spotted this fly and decided today would be a Macro day...

I got some nice shots of bugs and some early season fungi and I look forward to sorting through them and sharing them with you.

It is pretty much universally accepted that flies are ugly, dirty pests but when you take a closer look they often have some really interesting features. Take this one for instance the golden stripes on its face set it off. In the original shot (this is a low res image) the features are really sharp too so you can see the individual lenses that make up the compound eyes.

Long Tailed Tit

Such a cute little bird, long tailed tits are often seen flying about in noisy little flocks as they chatter to each other non-stop. They are quite hard to photograph as they are small and are easily hidden in the branches of trees and the hedgerows so when I spotted this one taking a brief rest I was really pleased to get the opportunity to take his portrait. For his part he didn't seem to mind posing either.