Hello and welcome
I have always had a keen interest in wildlife and the great outdoors;
I was an Angler for over 30 years but gave it up a few years ago to
concentrate on photographing wildlife. I lived in Runcorn; Cheshire a
short distance from the M56 that gave me great access to the Wirral,
Northwales and Lancashire, with some great countryside on my doorstep
I didn't have to travel too far in search of wildlife and photographic
opportunities.
Some of my wildlife photographs range from as far afield as Cuba,
Antigua, Saint Martin, Saint Lucia, Dominican Republic, Tuscany ,
Corfu, Turkey, Spain, Portugal.
I now live in the Charente area of western France.
Cuba 2009
Cuba 2009
In 2009 I went to Cuba for two weeks it wasn't a photographic holiday it was something my wife had arranged.
I did have my camera with me so took advantage of the opportunity to photograph some of the local sites and wildlife.
Great Lizard Cuckoo
Eastern Meadowlark
Turkey Vulture
Carib Crackle
Green Heron
Yellow Throated Warbler
Cuban Grassquit
Black and White Warbler
I would like to go again in the not too distant before it all changes.
Snow at Last
Snow at last
Although snow is not a good thing if you have to get to work, it does have lots of recreational use
skiing is the of obvious one and photography is one of the others.
I have been waiting for the opportunity to photograph birds in the snow for weeks.
The last time we had a good covering in the garden I was at our house in France.
It did snow a little bit whilst I was there and I did manage to photograph a Hawfinch in the garden
but they are a bit disappointing, so I was a optimistic when some snow was forecast here.
I made sure all my garden feeders were full and set up my camouflage screen and waited.
I don't have to wait long as the birds sit and watch me fill them up and before I am back in the house
the birds are on the feeders.
The birds don't hang around too long as they are very nervous of the Sparrow Hawk which visits the garden from time to time.
The other problem is that the snow is not sticking and will soon melt.
Last year I was getting Siskin and Redpoll in the garden but that has not happened yet.
What I am getting is lots of Goldfinch some Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Long- tailed Tits,
Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tit, Nuthatch and big fat Woodpigeons.
It's the same old birds that I am photographing but having snow makes them a bit different.
More later.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
It's my second trip to photograph Short-eared Owls, the first trip was uneventful. It could have been the very cold wind that put the birds off, it certainly put me off, I was bloody freezing.
I returned today as it is the last day of the week with any reasonable weather ( still crap) but that's how it is.
Not long after arriving in the distance I noticed a Short-eared Owl quartering the field, if I'm lucky it could come my way.
With rubbish light I decided to stick with 500mm ISO 800 and hope the Short-eared Owl would come within range.
I could even get an half descent photograph of one ( that would be a first).
True to form the Short-eared Owl kept a good distance from my camera lens (should have put the converter on) it's all a bit too far.
None are good most are bad and some are ugly.
I will give it another go next week if the weather improves
Frozen
It's very cold today but I thought I would have quick walk around my local nature reserve ( according to the weather forecast rain was due later) so I wouldn't be out for long.
After a brief scan of the trees for the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker the cold started to get to me I was frozen
so I decided to call it off and go home after two hours.
With my camera focused on the feeding station my garden seemed a better option.
A Long-tailed Tit called in for a visit.
As I tried to focus on the very active Long-tailed Tit the postman arrived, I am expecting a map of the Brenne area of France that I ordered off Amazon.
I opened the padded envelope in anticipation only to find the Cheshire and Wirral Bird Report. I had forgotten that I was being sent a complimentary copy as it one contained one of my photographs.
Cheshire Life's magazine also contained one of my photographs in its December issue (That's enough self promotion).
Back at the feeding station I was trying to photograph birds on some Bracket Fungi as the Long-tailed Tit was long gone.
Its a bit dull
Long-tailed Tits
Long tailed Tits are one of my favourite garden birds, one or two visit my garden most days
Long-tailed Tit: Aegithalos caudatus
Shorelark at Fleetwood
More shots of the Shorelark at Rossall Point, Fleetwood, Lancashire.
It’s been about six years since I last saw a Shorelark, I didn’t manage a photograph of it at that time
due to the distance of the bird.
This time the Shorelark was at close range and not put off by the human activity which enabled me
and many other photographs to get some reasonable shots of it.
More in the folder
Great Grey Shrike
Great Grey Shrike
Great Grey Shrike not the best of photographs but still worth pressing the shutter.
Small numbers visit the UK in autumn and spend winter here
Shame it’s a distant shot with a lack of detail
In search of a firecrest
A trip down to my local wood in search of a firecrest didn’t disappoint, after a short walk I spotted the resident bird.
Hawfinch in my garden
As for the wildlife in France I didn’t know what to expect in the garden in winter. Blue tits, Great Tits, Chaffinch, Robin,
Blackbirds, Goldfinch. House Sparrows, Dunnock, Willow Tits, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Green Woodpecker, Wren.
I didn’t expect to see a Hawfinch. It was in and out of the garden all day for most of the week.
Getting a photograph of it was a challenge with not enough light and shooting at very low speeds.
Hawfinch photographs taken at 40th of a second
Shorelark
Back from France after a two week holiday, whilst I was away I processed my Shorelark images taken before I went.
They are not the best of shots. In fact they are very disappointing, but they are Shorelarks, so worth keeping.
I didn’t want a photo of a Shorelark on grass but on the shore.
That’s where it should be feeding on the strandline
Christmas in France
The road to France is a long one, door to door is about eighteen hours, by plane about five and a half. That includes downtime waiting at the airport. Both have advantages the later being the obvious one. You do need a car to get around; we just hire one at the airport, it’s so easy. The cost between the two is competitive depending on the time of year.
The road to France involves a five hour drive to Newhaven and a ferry to Dieppe, the crossing plus the downtime waiting to sail six hours. Then it’s a seven hour drive to the house. It’s a long but easy drive due to the lack of traffic.
Hope to upload some images over the next two weeks