Some days just sighting a Kingfisher is enough and somehow I know if the number is likely to be up with capturing one with the camera. Today was one such day with a sighting 30 minutes into an 8 hour trek then no more. The constant status of ‘Blue Alert’ that I immerse myself in […]
Female found loitering on dockside
A different female to the other day. These creatures are fiercely defensive of their territory. Even at 550mm they are quite small in the frame. Grebe are a tad skitish too. The forward one of this pair scudded throught the water at a rate of knots without removing her beak from her puffed out chest […]
Meteorological Spring brings Winter a tad late, but also a male Alcedo Atthis
It just is, it will always be so. As soon as some threshold gets crossed or a statistic blurted out across all media platforms that the passing season has been the warmest/coldest/wettest/driest on record, thensome incredible weather pattern hits us to keep us on our toes and reaching for an extra ganzie. This morning saw […]
March is a month that can bite you on the bum
March is a vicious month in my opinion. I have had everything today, torrential downpours, snow, sleet, glorious sunshine, bitingly cold wind, stupendous cloudscapes and all that blows away with the cavorting of a particular female. With the tail wind ruffling her feathers, this female Alcedo Atthis brightened my day. Fitting that this was a […]
Pleasant pheasants
In between the interminable periods of waiting for Kingfisher activity last week I kept my eye in for other opportunities. I have noticed before, on other holidays, how glorious pheasants look as they strut their stuff along the banks of the Bure. They look so different to the farmed pheasants let out to be shot […]
Fish suppers
Mrs O and I do not often have a fish supper. Mostly, when we both happen to have the same day off and the sun is shining for instance, we might take a trip up the coast to Aldeburgh to scoff fish and chips on the sea wall by the Martello Tower. Last week we […]
Teased, tormented, transfixed. A surfeit of Alcedo Atthis
What a week this has been for Alcedo Atthis. Many readers will know of my predilection with these small, skittish and utterly charming birds. One of my theories in getting close enough to photograph them is to use a boat especially on waters where the birds are used to boats. The River Bure must at […]
What better way to start Boxing Day than sighting a Kingfisher
Yesterday I took it easy. I did not go out photographing as is my want most days. Instead I got stuck into setting the fire, peeling the spuds, roasting the beef, pulling the cork, devouring the beef and roasted vegetables and quaffing an extremely good Cos ’98. Top all that much later on with a […]
Zen and the art of Kingfisher photography
Some of my regular followers will have seen a spate of posts this week regarding my pursuance of Kingfishers. I deliberately did not post any information about my whereabouts but now we are home I can reveal that I was on location in Mylor Churchtown, Cornwall. In all I spent 19.5 hours driving there […]
Seven times she teased me this morning
Different tactics today. I was out before sunrise and within 10 minutes she arrived screaming in low over the water almost like the avian equivalent of a Red Arrows jet then she pulled up and turned to port then starboard and settled on the headline of a trawler behind me then quick as a flash […]