More drawings for the Ayrshire Bird Report

Here are the final two drawings I did for the report at the weekend: a hovering Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and a fluffed-up Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus). Click for larger versions or visit:
www.fssbirding.org.uk/sketches.htm

Ayrshire Bird Report 2009

I've almost completed the Ayrshire Bird Report 2009 and will be ready to send to the printers on Monday. I'll keep all Ayrshire birders posted on when it is available to purchase. Sample images below are of the front cover, title page, internal sample page, & rear cover. More details to follow.

Grebes & Shoveler sketches

Here are a couple of pencil drawings I did at the weekend: a pair of displaying Great Crested Grebes and a wing-flapping Shoveler. Click for larger versions or visit the main site: www.fssbirding.org.uk/sketches.htm

Aberdeen & Stonehaven

Here are a few photographs from last weekend in Aberdeen and Stonehaven.

Return to Richmond

Yesterday morning was colder and there was some nice mist in the hollows but the group of deer I had photographed a few weeks ago were not in the same locality. I found another group about a kilometre away but the sun was getting higher by then and I became distracted by some very showy Ring-necked Parakeets in beautiful light. I managed a few pleasing images of the deer but not the early morning atmospheric ones I had in mind. Still a few weeks to go...

Hello goose, where are the herons?

Early Saturday morning in the park, but it was a cloudy start. I tried a new angle on the Greylag Geese, this time from above rather than ground level. One heron was nicely lit in a Weeping Willow.

Dark side of the heron

Trying some more silhouette and backlit work on the herons yesterday morning before work, I used an aperture value of 40 at 400m to produce the star-like halos often seen in night and landscape photography. These actually result from the eight blades of the aperture diaphragm in the lens. Positioning myself to make the most of the dawn light I managed to get several of the reflections to bend around the bird's head creating the glitzy portrait below.

Autumn excursions II

After a bit more foraging, I made (some - others in the field) these images in a lightbox with a macro lens.










www.fssbirding.org.uk/photos.htm