Saturday, 22 January 2011
Friday, 21 January 2011
Peach Moon Seen Nr South Cerney 19.01.11
Amazing is the only word to describe the moon tonight when I looked across a field in the fading light. Some small bits of low cloud would move across it now and again but all the time the Moon maintained this lovely peach colour.
Moorhen Wick Water Lake 2 19.01.11
Moorhen keeps an eye on me dashing across the lake into the low sun.
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Welcome Return To Lake 23 Wick Water 19.01.11
Welcome return to Lake 23 Wick Water for this little Robin who can’t wait to see the maggot tray come out when the boys start fishing.
Dominic Braxton Lake 23 Wick Water South Cerney 19.01.11
Dominic Braxton Lake 23 Wick Water South Cerney 19.01.11
Along with other Anglers Dominic Braxton made the most of a wonderful sunny day at the lakes, This time catching a 6lb Tench and having some near misses with Pike.
Lake 2 South Cerney Wick Water 19.01.11
Out of action and still recovering after the South Cerney Angling Club lost several hundred fish just after Christmas when the lake froze over. On a beautiful January day I did see some activity under water which is encouraging. Bailiffs are monitoring the lake daily and will advise when fishing resumes.
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Winter Light South Cerney 18.01.11
Winter Light South Cerney 18.01.11
Someone once said there’s no colour in winter! Well, I beg to differ, the trees are on fire, no actually it’s that lovely moment when the sky takes on a subtle icy tone, against the low sun drenched trees. Birds float across the sky to roost, Robin sings his final song and the moon comes up reminding us its going to be a frosty night. All is well at Wick Water.
Heron Fishing At South Cerney 18.01.11
Heron Fishing At South Cerney 18.01.11
Now the sun had gone I thought it could be the low light under the trees that may have prevented the Heron from seeing me, but maybe the fishing skill just took over, either way I got as close as I ever have on this occasion, across the corner of the lake still some distance though on the 70-300mm lens.
Tench by Dave Potter 01.18.11
New Year Catch 18.01.11
First of all I must apologies for the (noise) photographic term for grainy look in this picture, it wasn’t intended, my fault for forgetting a previous setting I had left on the camera, all the same I wanted you to see this picture as it was the first fish I saw caught in 2011, by Dave Potter, a local angler to South Cerney, this time catching a 6lb Tench in lake 1 at Wick Water at sun down
What lovely eyes Tench have
Monday, 17 January 2011
Mangalitza Greeting 17.01.11
Greeting 17.01.11
The Mangalitza pigs seem to be settling in now at Burley Fields Lake & Farm, not even a petrol driven disc cutter screaming away and Michael Jackson belting out on the ghetto blaster seemed to wake them from their slumber. I called in to see if I could get some more pictures whilst building work was going on extending the slurry pit next door to the pig pens. Eventually one of the females showed her face and then it was back to what pigs do best, eating and sleeping, lots of it.
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Sparrow In Low Light 16.01.11
Sparrow In The Rain 16.01.11
This is one of my Sparrows who head’s up a team of 7 but I noticed today another is tagging on. As birds go they must be amongst the messiest, throwing as much seed on the floor as they eat it seems. Still they are doing well but the winter is not over yet I fear, so will see how they do later in the spring.
The light was particularly low and raining of course. The feeder I have on a post which stands 2 meters away from me in my shed hide with a small opening 200mm x 140mm and a small shelf for additional support. I have thick pipe lagging on wooden rails for arms to lean against and have to spend hours sometimes waiting to get these type of shots.
Technical: Ignore the next bit if you’re not into Photographic technicalities.
This picture I decided to take at a fairly high ISO, so for the record ISO switched to on and at ISO 720 1/100 sec hand held at F/8 and at 240mm with -2.0 EV On Nikon D300 with MB-D10 battery pack and my Nikon AF-S VR 70-300 f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED lens I use so much and love; one of the best value lenses Nikon make in my opinion.
See my ‘Recommended’ at the side of the page for ‘Dale Photographic’ who offer a superb service & professional support to all customers.
Egret Wading In The Rain 15.01.11
Reunited 15.01.11
Well, what a weekend, usual challenges of low light I have come to love in England. Rain just adds to the drama so on goes the green waterproof gear. At least it was warm, well mild, let’s not carried away.
Driving along side the river Churn I thought I must check my usual spot as I’ve not seen the Egret that comes up this way in the winter. I was Just about to drive by and yes, I see him, could be her of course, along the bank, wading in the water fishing in the shallows. So we stop and start to get ready in the car as this bird is about as hard as any to get near. The Heron is a challenge but the Egret, well, okay if I were a mole coming out of the ground, same routine; I move, it takes flight from what seems like a mile away. A 300mm long lens is just not enough for such things, well not exactly, you see birds are part of the landscape they are in, so as I see it that landscape is part of the picture. Well that’s my view anyway, until I fork out for a longer lens. Meanwhile I hope you enjoy my attempts to get within a mile of the bird, don’t quote me on the exact measurement though!
More to follow on this one.
Mangalitza Hungarian Curly Hair Pig 15.01.11
Pig mat 15.01.11
We called in the farm today at Burley Fields Lake. Have you seen the new pigs Steve's just got Pam said, whilst tidying up the farm shop, I grabbed a camera with a low light lens, 35mm 1.8G for the photographers and made my way up the yard in almost darkness to be met by what can only be described as a cross between a Coir mat and a sheep but in fact is a Hungarian pig called a ‘Mangalitza’ UK spelling ,‘Mangalica Hungarian spelling and I thought pigs were, well pig like, you know pinkish, some with spots and generally smooth coated. I was told they are aggressive but this one was quite shy, so I'll be back as they say, and hopefully get some more pictures.
I’m sure he winked at me……….
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Heron In Flight
Giving Me The Slip 09.01.11
South Cerney Angling Club Lake 1 & 2 Wick Water
I spent some time today taking pictures of the Heron, well trying anyway, he’s not always a welcome visitor to the lakes but as usual kept giving me the slip each time I got within shouting distance. The loud bang from the bird scare gas gun at best makes him blink, but any movement that seems like a mile away and he’s off. So, we have this on going battle, I move into position, he sees me the other side of the lake and takes off, so I move round the other side and he lands across the lake in front of me, where he takes flight again and this goes on and on, until he thinks he’s given me the slip and heads off to lake 1 or lake 23, I sneak off around the other side of lake 1 where the winter sun is getting low now , I’m lucky, I just about get into position by hiding behind a tree and get a few shots, still at 300mm and just about qualify as photographs worth viewing, this time it only took me about 2 hours !
Monday, 10 January 2011
Lake 2 South Cerney 09.01.11 Ice Almost gone
South Cerney Angling Club 09.01.11
Cotswold Water park
Cotswold Water park
Lake 2 Wick Water Freezes Over
After similar reports from around the country, work carries on removing dead fish from our club lake 2 after plummeting temperatures froze the lake over just after Christmas. Other lakes also froze but not completely so did not suffer the same fate. Lake 2 as most club members will know is well stocked with fish, so in time will re generate with the strongest fish surviving of course. Most fish lost have been Mirror Carp and have been destroyed by burning for health and safety reasons. The environment agency were informed and confirmed this was by no means an isolated case. The lake is now being oxygenated through the day to help restore conditions and when I left today some roach were seen thrashing about, so early signs are looking good.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Dusky Emperor 07.10.10 Chilean Grey Buzzard Eagle ICBP
Dusky Emperor, Chilean Blue Eagle, also known as a Grey Buzzard Eagle will be captivating audiences once again with her majestic flying displays and I for one can’t wait to see her flying. She is a large bird but in flight shows such grace and flight control which I have really got to enjoy.
After my first visit to The International Centre For Birds Of Prey in Newent I soon started to take pictures of her, all the time trying to capture how she flies, still of a mind that flight is a magical process anyway, even though we see it all around us.
You may wonder what those feathers are that point upwards at the end of the wings, well, I thought I would investigate a bit as they also seem to be sprouting up on passenger aircraft more recently, The technical term for these parts is 'Winglets' they are aerodynamic aids which essentially reduce drag spiralling around and off the back of wing tips called 'Vortices'
On aircraft they are fixed and do not change shape but change position by wing flex, they form an important percentage of overall wing dimension and came about in an attempt to reduce drag that the wing produces cutting through the air and more recently to improve fuel consumption.
Now for the clever stuff on birds; the winglets are made up of feathers that open, close and constantly change position altering the drag whilst flying which I think is pretty amazing especially as they take account of wind direction, speed of flight and flight pattern all at the same time .
Certainly seeing a bird like this close up really does offer us a rare chance to see these technical flight adjustments at work.
Nature really does have lots to teach us still it seems.
Nature really does have lots to teach us still it seems.
See this and more wonderful birds at The International Centre For Birds Of Prey in Newent.
Open from 1st February 2011
See link in my ‘Special Places To Visit’
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