Saturday, 31 July 2010

Gateway Butterfly

I'm always very pleased when I come away from a 'non-photography day' with a decent photo or two. Yesterday saw me "hunting bears" in the woods with my two-year-old godson (with me fill the roles of both hunter and bear). On our return, we found a patch of bracken which was alive with butterflies - including a couple I've never seen before.



The gateway butterflies rarely settled, and startled easily - but after a bit of patient stalking we managed to get a few shots.

Saturday, 24 July 2010

The one that got away

Well, I had a great few days up in Northumberland, and saw lots of interesting things - including my first ever Sandwich Terns. However, although the forecast rain mostly held off the light was seldom good enough for photography. To add insult to injury the day I was in Seahouses the boats to the Farnes were not sailing due to poor sea conditions. So most of my reasons for going that way will have to wait for another time.



Instead of heading out to The Farnes I spent the day meandering along Bamburgh beach, dodging the jellyfish (I have never seen so many in one place). When I got into Bamburgh itself there were a large number of swallows feeding on the wing a few inches above the grass. I positioned myself on one side of the green and watched their antics for nearly an hour. They are so fast I was rarely able to even take a shot - but by some miracle I did manage to get two in focus shots out of the encounter. Not the best - it was quite dark so I really pushed the ISO to get a decent shutter speed, but I was rather pleased to have managed it at all.

Flying Swallow

Sunday, 18 July 2010

Old photos, new hope...

Over the last couple of weeks I have been sorting though a backlog of photos from earlier in the year. Quite a number of shots I'm rather happy with - like this inquisative gannet at Bempton.

Looking round


And this week I'm hoping to make a trip across to the Farne Islands - although the weather forecast does not look promising. But I'd be happy with a few more like this!

Saturday, 10 July 2010

Wagtail at Dungeness

Yesterday I visited Dungeness RSPB Reserve. All in all it was a good day - very hot, but there was a lot going on. Several decent marsh harrier sightings and a brief glimpse of the purple heron. No photos of either of these though.

I did get a shot of this wagtail on the roof of the visitor centre. I'm assuming it's a juvenile pied wagtail from the coloration. I particularly liked the way that the orange lichen provides such an interesting back-drop.

Wagtail

Thursday, 8 July 2010

Black is the new black...

Today I felt inspired to give the Quantum Tiger blog a bit of a face-lift. Just a few tweaks to the layout and colours (or shades of black). And to celebrate that here is an image of a suitably black bird too - taking full advantage of the newly increased width!



This was taken a few weeks back. Various circumstances have curtailed outings with the camera on recent weeks.