Woodland stroll

Early last month I went for my daily brisk walk in the countryside around our village, and decided to include a jaunt through Alsa Woods before the paths get too wet and boggy for an enjoyable experience. I took my camera along, armed with just one small prime lens and used it to capture anything that caught my eye as I walked. While none of the resulting photos are ground breaking, I do enjoy the process of limiting my options with a single focal length lens and it was a joy to spend some time looking for interesting light, patterns and textures.

Photos taken 2 September 2024

Random acts of photography

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve tried my best to get back into the habit of some daily exercise - either a trip to the gym or a brisk walk around our village. One day last week I walked a circuit through Alsa Woods, over the M11 and back through the village of Ugley, taking a small camera and single prime lens with me. I had no photographic agenda, other than looking for scenes which caught my eye and I came back with this random selection of images.

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My route across the motorway beckons…

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Photos taken 2 September 2024

Garden visitors

Every year, around this time, our garden is visited by a large gaggle of starlings, usually accompanied by this year’s fledglings. It’s as though they know our garden buffet is always well stocked and make a point of stopping by! This year has been no exception and yesterday morning a flock of between 15 and 20 birds appeared periodically. They’re such a rowdy bunch that they’re generally oblivious to our presence in the garden so I sat down on the garden path with my camera (just six feet or so from our feeding station) and simply waited for them to turn up. I didn’t have to hang around for long and they were soon tucking into the mealworms I’d left out for them.

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Of course the young ones are entirely capable of feeding themselves by now, but why feed yourself if there’s an adult nearby who will do it for you?!

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With some tasty morsels on offer, other birds came by too during quieter moments, so I was able to catch quite a few different species. Several of the adults were looking a little ragged, after a spring of feeding their offspring. The young robins weren’t as brave as their parents, but I managed to photograph one of them hiding in the tree nearby.

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Mrs Blackbird was particularly confiding, happily foraging close by. Mr Blackbird popped in too, but I wasn’t able to catch as good photo of him.

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Every spring the local bluetits bring their little ones to feed in our garden and I caught this youngster sitting on our feeding station, demanding food with much ruffling of feathers. Meanwhile, one of the parents was looking distinctly frayed around the edges!

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Finally, I spotted a dunnock, flitting through the flowerbed. These sweet little birds come and go almost without being noticed, but when you get a closer look their mottled plumage is actually very pretty.

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Photos taken 27 May 2024

Inside the walled garden

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During my recent course at Cannington Court, near Bridgwater, I had the luxury of a couple of hours off, so I took the opportunity to go and explore the walled gardens in the site. I was in the mood for focusing on smaller subjects, so I spent some time chasing the bees and insects, fortuitously discovering that the zoom lens I’d brought to Somerset with me is remarkably good at focusing on small subjects like this!

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Lots of interesting shapes and textures among the foliage too.

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I found this colourful insect beetling around the flowers. I’ve no idea what species it is, but I was pleased to catch it in the sunlight to show off its wonderful iridescent shell.

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A small splash of colour in the arid glasshouse.

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Someone’s cast-off feather, captured on the branch of a bush.

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Photos taken 22 May 2024

A Welsh idyll

I’ve been coming to Llanerchindda Farm for twelve years now, but have never really ventured very far off the beaten track with my camera - largely because my free time has been limited by the work that’s brought me here. This morning I wanted to get out for a stroll before the rain arrived but, after a busy weekend’s conducting, I wasn’t in the mood for anything too energetic. I donned my walking boots and headed off along one of the farm tracks, in search of the pond - a little uphill and down dale, but nothing too taxing.

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When I arrived at the lake I found the resident Canada Goose waiting to greet me with a solitary gosling. Sadly his or her partner (I’m not sure how you sex Canada geese!) was killed, probably by a fox, a while back so this was a single parent family. No wonder my presence elicited some hissing - I was undoubtedly deemed a threat.

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As the first drops of rain began to fall I took that as a sign to head back, enjoying the swathes of bluebells across the hillside as I carefully picked my way down the steep, rocky incline which was more like a stream than a path in places,

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Photos taken 13 May

A walk in the park

When I arrived in Maidenhead for my monthly visit for work last weekend, the sky was clear and the sun was shining to I dropped off my bag and went for a stroll around Ray Mill Island, which stands in the middle of the River Thames. Everything was looking very verdant, enhanced by the sunshine and even the ducks seemed more chilled out than normal.

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Spring blossom everywhere…

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I know grey squirrels are foreign interlopers, who pushed out our native red variety, but this chap was so trusting I couldn’t help but be won over by his inquisitive nature. He came within a couple of feet of me, no doubt hoping for food, but had to settle for posing for a portrait when I proved to be empty handed.

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Photos taken 13 April 2024

All creatures, great and small

There was a time when I was a regular visitor to the British Wildlife Centre, but after a three year absence I was keen to return to see which animals would be out and about. The foxes took a little persuasion in the shape of some tasty morsels of food during the keeper’s talk, but once Ted and Basil emerged they were more than happy to loiter in front of my camera.

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On the prowl…

It’s hard work being a fox, didn’t you know?! Click on any image to see it enlarged.

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I think this inquisitive portrait of Basil is perhaps my favourite from the day - who could resist those eyes?

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Down at the otter enclosure, more portraits awaited me, lurking by the pool or yawning in the sunshine.

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I’ve never had much luck photographing the pine martens before, largely because my camera’s autofocus struggled to lock onto them behind the wire of their enclosure. My new Panasonic G9II showed just how much better the autofocus is and I was thrilled to capture this intense stare.

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Down at the water vole pool the marsh frogs were showing very well and croaking in loud choruses. The first time I heard this sound was at Rainham Marshes three years ago. I couldn’t seem them then, and assumed I was hearing a flock of ducks quacking until I was told otherwise! The recording below was from that day in 2021 and gives you a glimpse of their very own frog chorus!

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As Marsh Frogs call, their cheeks puff up into round balloons, which look very comical. I was able to catch this head-on view by leaning over the wall and placing my camera just above the waterline.

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The cutest animals of the day were definitely the stoats, who were racing around, having tremendous fun. Catching them on camera was something of a challenge, but the feeling of satisfaction when I succeeded made it worth the effort!

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Photos taken 11 April 2024

Animal focus

A few days after my new camera arrived I made a visit to Colchester Zoo to test out its improved autofocus skills. The Panasonic G9 mark 2 has phase detect autofocus (unlike its predecessor) which promises to lock onto animal and human eyes more speedily, as well as new car and motorbike focus abilities.

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Sure enough, it makes animal photography so much easier, locking straight onto their faces and eyes - exactly what I’ve been hoping for!

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The Rainbow Lorikeets were very happy to pose for photos, although I was less pleased when one of them decided to poop on my back!

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One of the zoo’s more recent new arrivals - a young rhino and his mum, plus two jackdaws on the hunt for a tasty snack!

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I’ve got my eye on you!

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“Do we eat it or kick it?!”

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I spent a long while in the chimpanzee enclosure, watching them exploring some food puzzles the keepers had created for them. Eventually they settled down to digest their food and watch the world go by, allowing me to catch some lovely portraits.

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Photos taken 10 November 2023

The excitement of the new

I try to reign myself in when it comes to buying new camera equipment but sometimes a new gadget comes on the market which is too good to pass up. On this occasion it was a successor to the Panasonic G9 camera I bought back in 2018. With much improved autofocus, and many other new tweaks, it sounded like it would conquer all the small irritations that remained with its predecessor so I pre-ordered back in September and began the long wait…

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At the beginning of November it finally arrived so I used a very welcome sunny afternoon to take it for a stroll around the village. Photographing mostly stationary subjects wasn’t the harshest test, but even through these few photos I could sense the improvements.

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The real test will come when I get to photograph wildlife and fast cars, but I tested the waters with a portrait of Lucy the same evening. The camera’s autofocus locked straight on to her eyes so I figure if it can do that with a black cat in a fairly dark living room I’m onto a winner!

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Photos taken 7 November 2023

A walk in the woods

One hot summer’s afternoon I decided that if I was going to have my daily walk it would need to be somewhere shady, so I headed for Alsa Woods.

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Naturally I took a camera along and on this occasion I decided on some slow photography. I had no fixed ideas about what I wanted to photograph, but just kept an open mind and looked for interesting subjects and views through the woods.

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There was barely a breath of wind but I wanted some movement in this photo, so I created my own by blowing across the leaves during the 45 seconds the shutter was open!

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A ghostly self portrait on the footbridge crossing the M11 motorway.

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I intended to take another ethereal self portrait sitting on the tyre swing, but I found a teenage boy sitting on it next to his bike. It struck me this might be even better than my planned photo and fortunately he didn’t mind me including him in the photo!

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Photos taken 24 June 2023