Water Rail

This little character is a Water Rail, one of a pair I watched at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve at Staveley, North Yorkshire.

I’ve recently resumed my pastime of birdwatching, after an absence of several years.  A new pair of binoculars and a freshly dusted spotting scope have already been put to good use as I brush up on my recognition skills.  I’ve given myself a couple of years to get into the flow again before I get into the twitching side of things.

—Stephen—

 

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I can almost see the cunning in its eyes!  Just waiting for me to move out of view before it has another crack at the bird feeders.  I will prevail…. hopefully!

—Stephen—-

Redwing

A dull ol’ day, but happened to spy this Redwing on my Mountain Ash tree.  If I go for my camera birds have usually flown by the time I get back to the window but this time I managed to a get a couple of shots off.

—Stephen—

Some Fringe!

—Stephen—

Another from the MACBA

—Stephen—

On ya bike

I confess, I’m a cyclist! – one of those lycra clad devils who take up so much road space.  I originally started cycling to overcome a problem with photography.  I got fed up driving round and seeing great pictures but nowhere to park.  I had the idea that I’d find a suitable place to park and cycle back to take whatever shots I’d seen.  I thought I’d get some training in…… and got a bit carried away!

This is my trusty steed, a picture taken earlier in the year.  It was the cheapest bike I could find that had a reasonable set of gears (relative, I know).  I’m tending to do just shy of 3000 miles a year at the moment – I was hoping to get through that barrier this year (and 100,000 feet) but the weather hasn’t been so conducive to cycling – I don’t go out if it’s raining or too windy.  I’ve done my first solo 100 mile ride this year and I’ve gone through the 40 mph barrier (downhill with the wind behind me!)

And have I used my bike to support my photography ? …. nah!  With my heart pumping the way it does I’d never hold the camera still.  But I am a lot fitter than I was!

—Stephen—

In The MACBA

Barcelona’s Museum of Contemporary Art  – it would be unfair to suggest the internal structure of the building was more interesting than the exhibits themselves but I could have easily spent half a day exploring the interplay of light and shadow as the sun moved round.  Looking at the collection/exhibits, I found the cobwebs covering my studies associated with my photography course being blown away – my Art lecturer would have loved it.

—Stephen—