Spring cometh.

There have been a few days of good weather and Spring is definately underway. I have Blue tits taking nesting material into the box in my garden. There is a Moorhen sitting on a nest at the nearby pool and the Swans have started to do the same.

Trips to the FOD have given me some nice images.

and also the opportunity to search for, and find the Great Grey Shrike, albeit from a distance on possibly the worst day I have had in the Forest recently.]

Nice to see it all the same.

I've spent a bit of time trying to improve on my previous Pheasant shots.

and I have done a  bit of small stuff, this Bee Fly (Bombylius Major) was a challenge.

I have added some stuff to the Gallery page, see links.

Hoping for better weather than is predicted this week. come back soon.

Sunshine at last!!

So finally a bit of good weather and the opportunity to make the most of it. It wasn't wasted.
Trips to the Forest were very productive.

A trip to the Elan Valley was also great. I was up there at 7am and some of the views were amazing.

Didn't see any Merlin, or many raptors for that matter, just a Buzzard and a few Kite, didn't see Wheatear yet, and if I'm honest didn't expect too. Did see Meadow Pipits though.

Then having done a quick trip to Gilfach to look for dipper,

successfully, it was off to Gigrin for more practice on the Kite and Co, the Rooks came pretty close.

Back nearer to home some Pheasants proved to be interesting.

I have decided to go with Smugmug for my gallery page. I have added some shots too it, and removed some others over the last 24 hrs so please have a look. It's to the right in my links.

I want to once again thank Chris G, for his help with some technical stuff relating to the gallery and Lightroom, I know it's not easy for you mate guiding me through it, but with your help I am able to save myself a lot of time and effort and we both know that left alone I'd have just continued to struggle with the long winded way. I very much appreciate your help. Also with the advice re the lenses etc.

Looking forward to a warm spring, come back soon.

Something New

I believe that my photography has come on in the last year or two, I'm not at the stage where I want to be just yet, there are still things that I need to learn.

With this in mind I have been looking at either changing the way I post my pictures, changing the blog or incorporating a gallery. I do have issues with the blog, which I've voiced before, but on the whole it serves a purpose, which is recording where, when and how I've got my pictures, usually in the format of a story with pics.

Therefore I have decided to trial gallery websites. One that I have often heard of is Smug Mug. I am currently trialing it and have attached a link to it in my links, (Brians Gallery). The pictures are not necessarily ones that will end up in there if I take it up, I merely wanted to upload a good number to see how it sits. I would also envisage having more galleries in it when I have insects or landscapes, for instance, to show.

I would be grateful if you would all take a look and see what you think, I have identified one problem myself so far and that is that there doesn't appear to be a way of returning back to the blog direct from the gallery once you've finished having a look, I am sure that there probably is, it's just that I haven't worked it out yet. The template I am using is one of many and I quite like it but that too is not set in stone.

If you have any strong views please let me know, if no-one comments then I will presume it's okay. Thank you for your anticipated assistance.

This week I have been mostly in the garden.

Not strictly true, it was last week and it was in the house photographing birds at the bottom of the garden.

Having lived in the house for nearly 7 months it was only in the last week or so that I began to take notice of what was in the trees at the bottom of the garden. Nothing sexy or spectacular but still some nice stuff. Mostly Blue and Great tits.

But also a few others,

Also a rather plump little Squirrel.

None of which came anywhere near whilst this was around.

I moved house again now though so I won't be seeing any more of them.
A nice morning last saturday (22nd) saw me down in the Forest of Dean and the opportunity to get some different stuff.

Coal Tits,

Marsh Tit,

Nuthatch,

Reed Bunting,

Nuthatch again.

It really was a beautiful morning. I have to offer thanks to a chap called Ian who let me piggy back his set up.

On route back home I went to Wyastone park and had a look at the Fallow deer.

Ok so not technically wild but still lovely.

Like I said at the beginning I'm in a new house now, in fact it's not new it's where I was living last time in Hereford. I'm looking forward to doing some small stuff in the neighbouring parks and fileds in the summer. I've also joined Herefordshire Nature Trust so I'm looking forward to doing some different stuff in their reserves too.

I'm also looking forward to seeing Chris G and Mike S next week, our pilgrimage to Birmingham is here again.

Up in the Valley, down in the Forest.

My brother Alan came down the other weekend. Really nice to see him it was too. He brought with him his camera kit, I gave him my 50D with a 100 macro lens. I wanted to see if he had been using it and if he had how proficient he had become. Unfortunately I don't think he's used it much. We set about putting that right with a trip to Gigrin and the Elan Valley. There cannot be many better ways of getting a feel for your camera than trying to catch Kite in flight, combined with a bit of landscape photography thrown in.
Fixed up with my 300mm lens and 1.4 converter he set about getting some practice. The weather was not brilliant, but fortunately there were some bright spells.

These are three of my efforts. They are cropped but they have to be. The Buzzards and Rooks came reasonably close too.

Having spent well over an hour with the place all to ourselves we decided to shoot up to the Elan Valley and do some landscapes.

Cabon Coch Dam, nearest the visitor centre. I have never seen it with water flowing over it as far as I can recall.

Claerwen Dam

My brother Alan,

Alan had never been to the Elan and I think he liked it. He didn't like some of the high drops though, he suffers from Vertigo.

Saturday was a wash out and we had to look after my grandson KJ whilst his mum was in Hosp. We took a very wet, windy and cold walk around Wellington Gravel Pits.

Sunday however was stunning and it was down to the Forest to give him some more practice at small stuff on the feeder table and ducks etc on the ponds. This time I let him use my 600. He was soon Chimping like a good 'un.

I had a go at the little Grebe,

All in all, I think he enjoyed his weekend. He treated himself to a Sigma 75-300 lens whilst down here for shots in his garden and particularly his pond. I'm looking forward to seeing some shots.