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Long-tailed Tit

Today’s images all come from the Woodland Hide at Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve.  And fittingly they are all of Woodland Birds.  It was nice to see a flock of Long-tailed Tits feeding on the suet feeder.  Which even in dull overcast weather gave an opportunity to photograph them as they approached the feeder. Here are the best three images that I got today of them. Later on after walking around

Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)

Finally a bright Saturday in 2016!  After many grey days at the weekend it was a pleasure to walk around Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve today, and chase some of the elusive wild birds that are there.  Well not literally chase, but try and get them in the frame of the lens, not easy, as the birds seem to have a sixth sense that means, once you point the lens their

Tufted Duck

I have been visiting the hides at Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve over Christmas and New Year – but no real keepers in 2016 until today. Like much of the Christmas / New Year period when I was off, it was grey and overcast – before turning to downpour. Here a the first three still keepers this year. However – despite having no stills before – I did take some video

A Christmas Eve visit to Blashford Lakes, and some very un-Christmas spirit was being shown by a Cormorant,  as it attacked a male Tufted Duck.

Not my best video, but I liked the action.

 

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Nasty grey wet weekend weather wise, so not ideal for birds photos.  And as it was wet,  the only option was to go somewhere with sheltered hides, so I visited my local Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve. I did manage to photograph a male Black-necked Grebe for the first time. Although they are large 50% crops. The advantage of a reserve like Blashford, where you have several habitats, and importantly several

What's up ?

Whilst Storm Clodagh blew through on Sunday, the best location in my mind was to be inside, and the bird hides at Blashford Lakes beckoned.  With the adverse weather the light was low and so a higher than normal ISO was required to get a shootable speed.  After the tern hide, and Ibsley hides provided nothing close by in relating to wildlife, a short visit to the Woodland hide provided

Kestral at Tuckton Effected

I was fortunate to come across a very patient and docile Kestral, sitting in a tree on a sunday walk from Tuckton to Hengistbury Head today.  I took a shot from the distance that I first saw the Kestral, as normall when you get close to a raptor, it will take flight. However, much to my suprise this one did, not and with these next images, I was more or

Bronzed Robin

This cheeky Robin was a difficult subject to capture on camera today at Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve, but not for the normal reason, it kept hoping towards me and getting too close to the lens to take. However a bit of perseverance by me, in backing off from it I got a couple of close up images of the bird. Having recently purchased Topaz Texture Effects, I decided to have

Sunlit Moors

Whilst up in the Yorkshire Dales in September,  a walk on a sunny day, gave me the opportunity to take out my converted Canon 20D camera and take some Enhanced Colour Infrared images. Having now processed them using a variety of methods and several Topaz Plugins ( including Adjust, Restyle , Glow and Texture Effects), I have this collection of Colour Infrared Landscapes from the day.

After Topaz Texture Effects

Topaz Labs Texture Effects is a new Photographs Tool, that allows users to create a variety of textured, toned, and lighting effects in a fraction of the time it takes in other editing software. The program includes a library of over 150 expertly crafted effects, an extensive collection of texture assets (275+ high-resolution assets!), and instant access to effects other Topaz users have shared with the new Topaz Community. That