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Archive for the ‘Pictures’ Category

I would never have imagined myself becoming that interested in birds but perhaps because whilst looking after my Mother, a daily morning bike ride mixed with a little photography by the banks of the River Brue led to an interest in Herons and Egrets. Additionally there are my two Gulls, Oscar and Girly that I inherited from my Father and turn up every morning for breakfast, they are quite old now but still full of character and for wild creatures, very smart and often funny.

Long before David Attenborough appeared on TV, there was Peter Scott, a naturalist and no mean artist, he set up a nature reserve at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire and used to do programmes from there. I had never visited the place so a week ago, I made a visit with a friend of mine. The weather was very good but what a truly amazing place it is, I will visit again and often but if you want more information on it: http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/slimbridge . In the meantime, I thought I might share some pictures.

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Ever since I was a child, I have been totally ‘entranced’ by the whole concept of flight although as a ‘city boy’, this was confined to aircraft. It was only when I moved down to the Somerset Levels and on my daily ‘photographic bike rides’ that I realised bird flight was just as fascinating particularly when watching Herons landing and taking off or those masters of flight, Seagulls in action.

Over the years and as the opportunity arose, I liked to go to Air Shows and every year down here is the Yeovilton Air Day held at the Royal Naval Air Station and I last visited it in 2006 but not since due to looking after my Parents both of whom have subsequently died. A neighbour of mine persuaded me to come with him and some months ago, we booked for both this show and the one at Fairford in Gloucestershire next weekend.

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This story concerns photography and in particular, a ‘back up camera’ I bought towards the end of 2003 called a Canon G5 which is a rather chunky “compact camera” but certainly not something that you could slip in your pocket easily then or, even today’s versions of the same camera such as the G10 and G11, chunky they remain.

At the time I had my original Canon D30 DSLR camera and there is nothing as flexible for ‘serious’ photography whereby you can change lenses and add external flash units however, it does mean carrying a whole bag full of kit around with you which is fine if you are going on a ‘shoot’ but less so if you are carrying a camera on the ‘off chance’ that you might come across a good picture opportunity whilst you are out and about.

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Had I but World enough and time… I am very fond of the Herons I see down by the Rive Brue, they are truly spectacular birds but, if you want to get good pictures of them, you really do need to be as patient as them and sit and wait. However right now, I have to restrict my morning ride to no more than one hour so I’m grateful for what I can get, hit and miss as that maybe.

I sense the season starting to turn, Autumn my most favourite one will arrive a couple of weeks earlier than usual. I notice this because I find my self winding up the “film” sensitivity from my normally preferred 80-100 ASA to 200 and 400, it is getting darker in the mornings.

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A week ago I photographed a family of Canadian Geese in one of the ponds on the flood plain of the River Brue. Goslings like ducklings are very vulnerable and it was quite noticeable just how protective the parents were. Although we have a lot of Canadian Geese around here, they nest elsewhere and normally are found on the lakes in the Apex Park which is beside the River Brue.

This morning riding home I spotted them actually on the River and the parents still had all three, just a little bit bigger and fluffier. Of course I couldn’t get too close and didn’t have a long enough lens but never the less, it was good to see them again.

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As politics is a bit boring currently, I thought a picture entry might be more fun and I like these images which in a couple of cases, via a bit of careful work in the “digital darkroom”, could become very special. The other day I came across my friend the Heron again, he is such a magnificent bird. I suppose if I had more time to sit and wait as the Heron does, plus had a faster and therefore ludicrously expensive telephoto lens, I might be able to do better but I like this sequence although it was a case of a “quick grab”.

Herons are “cool creatures” and don’t panic whereas the majority of the wading birds and Egrets, are highly nervous and take to the wing at the slightest disturbance.

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I normally use the Press and the on-line blogs to provide me with thoughts and inspirations for my own but Lordy, Lordy, right now it is an “Anger Fest” with all rationality gone out of the window so, time for more interesting things and in this case, Canadian Geese. Whereas Ducks are definitely rather “Daffy”, Geese are really cool creatures unlike say, Speaker Mick Martin.

I spotted this pair with their three goslings on one of the shallow crab ponds on the flood plain of the River Brue. I had never seen them with their young before and it was charming, they were very dutiful and protective parents.

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Yesterday on my ride by the River Brue, I took these pictures that I thought I might share. To me the perfect conditions: Big sky, clouds and blue, high tide and still water, a sheer joy to be there and drink it all in.

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Born in London, I am by nature a “City Boy” and although I have lived in other places and other cities my love and feeling for London always plucks at my heart. For some, perhaps many people, cities can be both frightening and lonely places but I always find them motivational because when you are tired or have run out of ideas, all you do is standstill and both watch and feel the City move around you, it doesn’t take long to be back up and running again !

But for all that, in the almost 5 years I have lived by the coast, I have got used to seeing the sea everyday and would miss that if I moved away. I would also miss sights such as this, my friend the Heron who is a great character. Herons are very big birds and tend to keep away from humankind but I caught these moments a couple of days back and thought that I might share…

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Although like any youngster I had ridden bicycles, it was following a divorce over 20 years ago and encouraged by my youngest son, a keen cyclist to this day, that I got back into cycling. Moving back into Central London, quite apart from the economics, riding a bike as my main mode of transport and not owning a car, made most sense.

It gave me freedom of movement, cost effective reliability and, the most surprising thing of all – total predictability in the time taken to ride from one place to another, regular ‘commutes’ could be timed to within one minute regardless of traffic. I still have three of the bikes I bought along the way or should I say, three stories…

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