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I paid a visit to the Oare Marshes nature reserve yesterday, the site is managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust and is found on the Kent Coast near to Faversham.

It is a great site with a variety of habitats including grazing marsh, salt marsh and mud flats.
A number of waders were evident icluding Avocet, Redshank, Ruff, Black tailed Godwit and Curlew.
Also many duck species such as Widgeon and Teal. The reserve has three hides and a nature trail, for more information please visit the [b]Kent Wildlife Trust[/b].
Unfortunately I was yet again blessed with a blustery day which made photography extremely difficult and as I am still learning to use my new 500mm lens not all that successful, I did manage a few I liked though.

I took a trip out to the RSPB Reserve in Rainham yesterday. It is a great reserve and definitely a good place to visit.

It was a very windy day which made photographing with my new lens (a Sigma 500mm lens) a bit difficult as it caught the wind like a sail.
A number of species were present but not many were in range of my camera however it was an enjoyable day and they do good cake!

Highlight of the day was a sighting of a Godwit, unfortunately I didn't have time to set up my tripod as I had just arrived in the hide so shot handheld.

Some more photographs from my Isle of Wight trip, these were taken on the beach in Ryde.
After checking a tide timetable I aimed to get to the beach just before high tide so that the birds would be moved towards me rather than me having to chase them.

I was in luck and was able to set myself up and wait, the Sanderlings were always on the move so often it mostly just a case of settling in and waiting and they would walk past you.

They never really stopped moving so I used AI Servo and the central focussing point. I have the AF-On button on the 7D configured to stop AF so I can control the focussing when a subject stops.

I paid another visit to the Isle of Wight last week part holiday and part photography. No visit to the Isle of Wight is complete unless I visit the nature reserve at Alverstone Mead and try and photograph the squirrels.

On the first visit I was not able to get any decent shots they always seemed to be too quick for me!
On the last day of the holiday I had one more go, I cheated a bit and put some walnuts out on a fallen tree in the hope of getting a likely candidate to sit still. And after about two hours my patience was rewarded!
Light levels were low so a high ISO and wide aperture were used.

I have just listed a Canon 40D and other items for sale on eBay, the Auctions end Sunday 23rd October 2011.

Canon EOS 40D - SOLD


Canon BG-E2N Battery Grip - SOLD


Manfrotto 391 RC2 Tripod Head - SOLD


Manfrotto 685B Neotec Monopod - SOLD

I have just uploaded some lenses and a tripod head for sale onto eBay, the lens auctions end on the 20th October and the tripod head on the 23rd October .

Canon EF-S 10-22mm - SOLD


Canon EF 50mm f1.8 MKII - SOLD


Canon EF 28mm f2.8 - SOLD


Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Tripod Head

Just a quick visit to upload some photos, there can be found in the 'Latest Additions'.

For me at least! I returned home from holiday to find a damselfly exuvia on one of the reeds in the pond.
I then spotted this little lady perched at the side of the pond:



She seemed to be settled in for the night so I checked this morning and was able to get a shot I have been always wanting to get of an insect covered in morning dew.


Then later in the day some males arrived and the process of creating next year's generation began.

A while ago I put forward some images for consideration by the Royal Photographic Society's Nature Group for inclusion in their annual exhibition.
I have just heard that one of my images will indeed be on display, the photo is of a singing Wren and was taken in South Norwood Country Park, South East London.

Normally when I see a Crab Spider they are cleverly camouflaged against a similarly coloured flower.
I was surprised to see this little lady providing a great contrast against a bluebell.

Spring has sprung, well just about. We are still getting some chilly mornings but the early spring bulbs are starting to bloom.
I took the opportunity to dust off the macro lens and get some photos this weekend.

The Red Squirrel is the only species of squirrel native to the UK. Unfortunately the introduction of the North American Grey squirrel in Victorian times has had a detrimental impact on the populations of red squirrels due to competition and the spreading of squirrel pox.
One place to see Red Squirrels in the South of England is the Isle of Wight which I visited last week and was lucky enough to manage a few photographs although the weather wasn't really the best.

Pond Conservation are running a survey to try and assess the impact of the cold winter on pond life.

"As the icy weather draws to a close we are hearing reports of dead amphibians in garden ponds. Join in with our Big Pond Thaw survey, to help us build a fuller picture of what is happening in our ponds this winter"

If you have a pond please take the time to resond it only takes a few minutes:

Pond Conservation -Big Pond Thaw

I should have posted this earlier but this weekend is the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, there is still a day left though!

The aim is to help the RSPB by counting the number of birds in your garden in a one hour period. This wil help them create a snapshot of bird numbers over the UK.

More information can be found on the website:

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

I have just returned from Bath where a portfolio of ten of my images was under assessment for an application for a Licentiateship with the Royal Photographic Society.
The good news is that I was successful in being recomended for a Licentiateship.
Some more background can be found here in the previous post.
RPS Advisory Day

I visited the London Wetland Centre in Barnes on Sunday. At the start of the day the signs were hopeful for a sunny day, unfortunately it didn't take long before it clouded over.
Still it was a good day lots of birds to see and I even managed to photograph a few. I didn't manage to see a Bittern but there were plenty of ducks!

As it was my Birthday i took the day off work. I was hoping to get to the WWT London Wetland Centre in Barnes, unfortunately due to the snow, public transport was not working particularly well. I decided to keep local and headed to South Norwood Country Park.

It seemed that apart from the ducks who had congregated on the one part of the lake that wasn't iced over much of the smaller birds had taken cover or were foraging away from the normal places I find them.
I caught a glimpse of two Wrens foraging in an open field, they would duck into a break in the snow and hunt around and then pop back out before moving to the next patch.
I managed one quick shot, and then had a go at stalking them. I didn't do it for too long as I didn't want them to waste their energy avoiding me so the first shot was the only one I got.



After feeding the ducks (always a relaxing pastime) I headed home and decided to set up briefly in the garden to catch some garden visitors on snow laden branches. Again I didn;t stay long as I didn't want to stop them feeding (and it was pretty cold).

I have been a bit busy recently and haven't been able to get out with the camera as much as I would like. I took the opportunity over the last couple of weekends to hide in the garden shed and have another go at photographing some garden visitors.
Now that winter is starting to bite the leaves are pretty much gone from the tree which gives the birds less places to hide on their way to the feeders. Here are some of my favourite shots from the sessions.

One of my projects this year has been to put together a body of work good enough to earn a distinction from the Royal Photographic Society. At this stage I have set my sights on a Licentiateship which is the first level of distinction awarded.
To be assessed an applicant is required to present ten images that work together as a set or in the case of digitally projected images as a sequence.
I decided to uses prints rather than digital images as I felt this gave me more control over the final image the judges will see. The following criteria are used to judge an application (taken from the RPS Distinction Handbook).

-Presentation: Overall Impression of Portfolio
-Technique: Camera Work
-Technique: Technical Quality
-Seeing: Visual Awareness
-Thinking: Communication

For more information on RPS Distinctions please visit - RPS Distinctions Introduction

Yesterday I attended a Distinction Advisory Day, this gave me an opportunity to have my work viewed by members of the RPS and to help me understand if my work was up to standard and was cohesive as a body of work. I took along ten 'spare' images to allow the advisors to chop and change if necessary.

In the end a few changes were made but it was felt my work was up to standard which was great to hear.

All in all it was a great day with some stunning photography on display, if you are considering applying for an RPS distinction I strongly recommend attending an advisory day.

My hanging plan for the application is shown below, the next step is the assessment day in January.

Yesterday I set up a 'hide' in the garden shed hoping to photograph the regular visitors to the garden as they arrive to make use of the feeders.
The aim was to photograph them in the surrounding trees, unfortunately as is often the way no one told the birds and they made dashes to the feeder fro the deepest darkest regions of the trees.
In the end I photographed them on the feeder so I didn't come away with nothing! The majority of the visitors were greenfinches and fortunately they looked to be in good health.
I cannot stress enough the importance of feeder hygiene, the disease Trichomonosis is a real threat to finches and other birds and you can help reduce the spread by regularly cleaning any garden feeders.

For more information please visit the RSPB website

Here are my favourites of the photos taken all are of Greenfinches.