One from a local wood.  Not quite a blanket of Bluebells so I decided to work on individual plants.

Turnstone in Whitstable Harbour taken with a Canon G12 compact camera  Great fun trying to get this shot.....

I can't believe that its been so long since I posted anything here....
Oh well here are a couple of Kingfisher images to get me back into the swing of things...

A Seabird Selection

When good friend and fellow wildlife photographer, Brett Lewis, offered me the opportunity to accompany him whilst he conducted Crested Newt surveys across the UK, I jumped at the chance.  The surveys would take place in the Peak district, Yorkshire and a site close to Newcastle.  All of these sites would be within a short distance from very good locations for wildlife photography and we made sure that we made good use of the weather (which at time was too bright!)  Here is a small selection of the shots I took, more will follow when time allows.

Richborough power station cooling towers demolition. End of an era

Sunday 12th March 2012 saw the end of an era with the demolition of the Richborough power station cooling towers.  Thousands of people packed the roads and lanes surrounding the site to get a view of the last moments of these iconic East Kent symbols.  I was fortunate to be able to view the spectacle from the air in a helicopter from Heli-Charter based at Manston.

The Great Escape

Master fishers they may be, but they don't always get it right.  The first shot shows a lucky escape for one minnow as the Kingfisher "catches" a stone rather than the fish.
These shots are part of an ongoing project and I will give updates as things progress.

Click on an image to see a larger view.

A Fisherman's Tale

Its been a few weeks since my lost blog post.  My house has been sold and I will be moving soon.  My elderly mother suffered a major heart problem and has been fitted with a pacemaker.  Thankfully, she is now doing well.  My Father suffered a fall and broke his hip.  A few days after having an op complications set in and sadly he passed away in his sleep.

I hope that I will be able to keep the blog updated with a bit more regularity from now on.

My passion for photographing Kingfishers started a few years ago.  It seems that once bitten by "the bug" you have to keep going back and try out new ideas.  Not being satisfied with "a bird on a perch" (although I still take perch shots whenever the opportunity arises) I have tried many different approaches to capture diving shots.  Previous experience told me that the only way to obtain "sharp" diving pictures was to use high speed flash.  Now a few years on and using a Nikon D3 with superb high iso capabilities, I have tried again using the cameras top shutter speed of 8000th sec.  Despite firing hundreds of frames I have yet to obtain a truly sharp image of a diving Kingfisher, however I have managed to get sharp shots of birds erupting from the water and I have posted some of those images here.
I have also included a perch shot which shows a young female taking up an aggressive stance to warn off another Kingfisher that is flying into her territory.

Click on an image to see the larger version.

My What a big mouth you have.

My nephew, Lea, had made it his objective to shoot Cuckoo chicks in the nest this year.  An invitation to join him this morning was too tempting to miss, despite a 3.30am start!
One more day would have been too late as this particular Cuckoo was jumping in and out of the nest.  I am sure within 24 hours it would have flown.

The first shot taken just after 5.30am was at 3200iso to "try" and keep the warbler sharp!

The eyes have it.

I have been working on Water Voles over the last week or 2.  They are quite obliging apart from the time of day/lighting conditions.  I had to resort to 1600 iso for this shot.

Marbled White at sunset.

The foxes on the local lane are still very active, especially on a Tuesday evening when the residents put out the rubbish for the morning collections!

Had the good fortune to have this image published in 4 national papers along with numerous web sites.  It makes all those early mornings worth while!

The same Common Blue Damselfly from side on.