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I managed to get into the best hotel in all of Vietnam - Vinpearl Resort. This is truly huge and wonderful hotel I've ever seen. It's is located on a separate island. Also, from the mainland to the island stretched the longest cable car over the sea. This is a wonderful thing! After I arrived at the hotel and got the keys to the room, I took this photo from my balcony. I really like this incomparable landscape!
I managed to get out to the Pond [Lake] last week. It was a very dull day, but made a welcome change to the rain and high winds we've been getting lately.
There were plenty of ducks, gulls and geese around plus a pair of swans and this pair of white doves.
I've never seen any white doves over there before, so this was a nice surprise and they stayed put for me too.
When I got back home I decided to look doves up on line as I know nothing about them. Most results seemed a bit disparaging about them and called them pigeons. Well, I suppose they are of the pigeon family but to me they are so much more distinctive.
Anyway - I know pigeons can be seen as a nuisance, but I read somewhere that people's perception of them changes for the better when they find out how useful and stoic homing pigeons were during the war and they were even awarded medals - so there!
Haven't managed many photos during the recent bad weather so here's one from my Spain backlog. For most of my bird-watching years I have known this species as Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopicus cyanus). It was famous for having one of the most unusual distributions of any bird on the planet. They are found in far-eastern Asia (including China, Japan, Siberia) with a small population in Portugal and Spain, but occurring nowhere in the 9000 km gap between them. But in 2002 some genetic research was published that suggested they were different but near-identical species, and the European "species" became known as Iberian Magpie (Cyanopica cooki). The main difference is that the eastern species has about an inch of white at the tips of the blue central tail feathers. They are social birds, usually occurring in family groups that inhabit open woodland areas. I photographed this one mid-bounce in Spain's Coto Donana.
The eastern Azure-winged Magpie (C.cyanus) was first described by Peter Pallas in 1776, but the Iberian Magpie was first described as subspecies cooki by Charles Bonaparte (Napoleon's nephew) in 1850, and this name has subsequently been adopted for the new species. Iberian Magpie differs from Azure-winged mainly because it lacks the latter's white tips to the central tail feathers. But Iberian is also a bit smaller and browner-backed that eastern Azure-winged. The Cook after whom cooki was named was Captain Samuel Edward Cook (1787-1856) British geologist, naturalist and collector. Cook collected an Azure-winged Magpie in Spain in 1831, which was until then, only known from the Far East.
Managed to get out once while in Newcastle over Christmas (annoying 2 beautiful sunrises which I missed due to Christmas Day and a flight to Southampton!) and headed to my favourite local spot, St Mary's Lighthouse. For once got the tide height and sunrise pretty bang on for a nice level of water over the causeway.
St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay
Nikon D750 / Nikon 16-35 @ 20mm / f/8 5s / LEEfilters 0.6nd Hard Grad
This is the bridge over the pond in Benmore Gardens, recently re-opened after being closed for 2 years during Covid.
I managed to get a few keepers from yesterday mornings sunrise visit and shoot at South Bar Beach, NSW; Australia.
The rocks here again have been revealed following recent rough seas - they create a nice foreground lead - hope you agree!!
*** This again is a Large file - Best viewed Large on Black!! ***
Thanks for any comments, views or favorites - always appreciated!!
Have another awesome day!!!
Set up at Peyto Lake waiting under clear, starry skies for the Aurora to appear. Unfortunately, it was a no show but I managed a shot just after sunset when the stars began to appear.
I managed to get out and about to shoot at sunrise on most of the days and also almost every evening for sunsets. It wasn't always easy but there was always the thought that it could turn out better than those I had already seen
Here she is with her prize just after she broke it off the poplar tree. Checking her surroundings before she takes off I think... then, up and away, immediately transferring it to her talons....as I managed to catch in the previous photo!
Look at the size of the twigs and branches she likes to gather for the nest. Perhaps it doesn't look like much, but when you consider her size ... which is huge....it's a good sized branch... and, this is one of the smaller ones I've seen her carrying...
Have a look at this video if you'd like some info on the nests of eagles.
This is the Female Bald Eagle. I have found out which is which now... see that little black mark on her outside tail feather? ... That tells me it is her. I have "mating" photos of them and know from those which is the female.....the only way I can tell when they are apart is this mark.
They say the females have longer tails than the males...but, you can only see that if they are sitting side by side... this little bit of colour is a dead give-a-way.... I'm so glad I noticed it...
Links:
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The incredibly atmospheric Old City in Nazareth really does manage to meet tourist expectations. But Nazareth is a big, modern, growing city of shopping malls and dual carriageways, with a population of 100,000 and the centre of cultural and political life for Arabs in Israel proper. A great way to appreciate it in all its aspects is to take in the view from Mount Precipice (395 m above sea level).
Mount Precipice is said to be where Jesus was chased after preaching a very unpopular sermon at the Nazareth Synagogue – when the crowd tried to throw him off Mount Precipice's steep cliffs: "They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way." (Luke 4: 29–30)
On top of the ridge above the old city is the modern minaret (2009) and onion dome of the Nebi Saeen Mosque, and to its right, the red roof and white tower of the St Gabriel Hotel. Further to the left is the 1906-23 Salesian Church, the Basilica of Jesus the Adolescent. On the lower slopes, the Annunciation Basilica is very obvious - and huge. The Synagogue Church and Christ Church Anglican are visible to its left if one knows what one is looking for. Finally on the left are the green dome and minaret of the modern Al-Sadiq Mosque.
Managed by the National Trust, consider joining, for a photographer or historian its a ticket to some wonderful locations.
Managed to shoot a few lovely shots of one of these speedsters swooping low over the field picking of midget flies. This is a 50% crop.
I have just returned from a weekend away in Suffolk with Erin, it was all about relaxing and celebrating Erin's birthday which we did but I did manage to see some great wildlife too and showed Erin her first Grass Snake, Hummingbird Hawkmoth and we both saw Fen Raft Spider for the first time! She's one lucky girl!
The Fen Raft Spider is found in and around water, usually river margins or ditches and is one of the UK's rarest spiders, being found at only a handful of sites in the UK including a couple in Suffolk.
August is an excellent time to see them as the females stand guard over their nursery webs protecting the newly hatched spiderlings for the first week of their lives. When I suggested an afternoon to look for them I was a bit worried we'd left it too late, however after some searching we found 3 adults, 2 with nursery webs!
Massive thanks to the Suffolk Wildlife Trust for all their help!
This week I managed to photograph both Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler at close quarters. This one is a Chiffchaff and I'll post the similar Willow Warbler later. Most years the Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) is the first spring migrant that I see and this year was no exception as I saw a couple of singing birds on 28 February. This coincided with some unusually warm, fine weather. Chiffchaffs do overwinter in Britain but they tend to occur at lower altitudes, so living in the Pennines I rarely see them in winter, and assume that singing birds in my area are genuine migrants. The early migrants like Chiffchaff mainly winter around the Mediterranean, so do not have as far to travel as sub-Saharan migrants. They can also make use of good migrating weather systems in Europe whereas the weather in sub-Saharan Africa has little relevance to the weather in Europe.
Chiffchaffs are very closely related to Willow Warblers and it was Gilbert White (author of the Natural History of Selborne) who first realised they were separate species by listening to their distinctive songs. He also separated Wood Warbler at the same time. This was in 1768 in correspondence with Thomas Pennant, twenty one years before he published the Natural History of Selborne. It isn't just the song that distinguishes them, Chiffchaffs are duller than Willow Warblers, with shorter wings and distinctive dark legs, all visible here. They also have a more ptominent white crescent below the eye and have a habit of down-pumping their tails. Willow Warblers are similar, except Willow Warbler is a little brighter with longer wings, and paler legs. That eye crescent is less obvious, and they don't habitually pump their tail. But if spring the song is the best way to distinguish them. Here is Chiffchaff song on Xeno Canto: www.xeno-canto.org/466006 (By Andrew Harrop at Rutland Water). For comparison here's a Willow Warbler www.xeno-canto.org/621080
The scientific name Phylloscopus means leaf-gleaner from its habit of searching leaves for insects. Collybita means money-counter which refers to the song; chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff, chiff-chiff-chiff-chaff. This really does sound like someone counting coins from a table top. And for me that coin-counting repetitive song will always herald the arrival of spring.
Managed to find my special Mimosa tree yesterday, but sadly it had a good prune at the end of last year and all the lovely low branches have gone. So used a bit of zoom instead.
Better viewed large and thank you for your favourites.
I've seen small groups of stone stacks in Pucks Glen before, but on this day there was a whole crop of them.
Highest position: 375 on Friday, August 20, 2021
So despite the pandemic my wife and I managed a little get away to the Lake District.
Wasdale is our favorite area in the lakes.
In this shot we see the view down the lake to Great Gable in the center with Yewbarrow on the left and Lingmell and the Scafells on the right.
Taken with my X-T2 and Samyang 12mm F2 @ F5.6 with 91sec exposure and ISO200
Prints Available Here: shop.photo4me.com/1076522/framed-mounted-print?o=21&e...
IN CHARACTER:
The books and assignments keep piling up in Otter's OWLs year, he is only just managing to keep up.
I managed to get a shot of one of the juvenile kestrels at RHS Hyde Hall the other evening, but today I managed to get four of them in one shot! We think this is all of the juveniles as we stood and watched for a while. The one on the edge of the nest box kept hopping down out of sight, but there was never any sign of a fifth juvenile!
I managed to stay at the exclusive Kovalam Guest House perched majestically on the top of a cliff and located at one end of the Kovalam beach. This forms the northern headland for the long stretch of Kovalam beach.
As elsewhere in the world, the beach is always a crowded area. The rock cliff of the property was a wonderful place to spend a lazy evening . It is a beautiful experience,
the crash and the roar of the Arabian Sea as it hammers the rock faces in its ceaseless rhythmic cycle of waves.
It was in school one learnt lessons in geography of how rains were made. This was one rare occasion where I got to see the black clouds gather in minutes and take an ominous shape of a violent storm seething with ominous intent. However, in minutes, the storm vanished.
The sun was out again. A commercial jet wound its way up in the skies.
The waves started thundering again.
Back to normal !!!
I managed to acclimate this Swallowtail Butterfly to me when it was a caterpillar, and it remembered me after its metamorphosis. It's willingness to let me get close, coupled with some cool temperatures, allowed me to take a lot of photos.
Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (over 2x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI, Sharpen AI, and Clarity in that order.
CSX 911 leads E700, as it works its way eastbound through Kent, Ohio. The lighting and substantial overgrowth was tricky, but we managed to make it work.
I visited Mittenwald right at the cusp of autumn and winter, and managed to get this confluential morning of snow, rain, clouds, autumn glow, and sunshine all within short timespans of each other.
Not sure if I will manage to make a photo today (has been quite dreary of a day). I've still been processing photos from yesterday, and loved the composition of this photo felt it needed some help. So todays photo is an edited version of a previous photo.
I managed this shot a couple of nights ago whilst on a short trip to Bournemouth. I used my f@4 . 70-200 on the long end, a lens that never fails to deliver.
Photographing piers is a bit of a novelty to me,as we don't have these great structures in Cornwall.
having managed to pull myself out of bed with only 3 hours sleep, i drove to buttermere in the lke district uk. its a place i frequent but havent had a walk round it for a few months.sunrise wasnt anything special but there was some interesting driftwood laying around and the low water levels made the usual shot of the lone tree a bit unpleasant on my eye.
this old branch on the other hand stuck out like a sore thumb. i really like how its twists and the textures on it really appeal. it made an excellent foreground subject.
Yesterday was a horrible day. While overcast, the temperature climbed steadily along with windy conditions leading to the hottest day for 12 years.(since 2014) according to the ABC. A state of emergency has been declared after multiple fires were ripping through the state.
Staying under cover was so important for humans and wildlife, though we are yet to know the overall death toll (3 missing) and damage to land and property.
The air is smoky here in Melbourne this morning with clouds, wind and lightning storms overnight.
I really don't know how the emergency services people manage and the wonderful CFA volunteers.
Power and phone services are also non-operable in some affected areas.
On a brighter note - the cooler weather has arrived giving some days to recover. But not enough rain to impact the fires raging out of control.
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-09/fire-weather-heatwave-live....
Up north Queensland, a tropical low possible Cyclone is threatening large dumps of rain with probable flooding. I hope people keep safe there as well.
I managed to persuade my grandson to come for a short walk after dinner but, he was quite alarmed when I asked two young ladies if they mind me taking a photo of their drinks.
Just when got her prefect badge, lol!
Meh edits and all that jazz. I just needed a picture for the profile on her wikia... So here it is! <.<
I managed to sneak up onto another young Nursery Web spider yesterday, not an easy thing to do, normally they scurry off before I get anywhere near but this little one stayed put long enough to get a few shots.
I used MP-E 65mm with 2X converter and defused flash
Managed to get out for a couple of hours on Wednesday when a strange yellow thing appeared in the sky!!!!!!!. This GSW was one of two males that took advantage of the fine weather.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
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Death Valley national park is the closest national park to where I live after Joshua Tree and when I heard that a rare super bloom was happening there after almost 11 years, I knew it was time for a second visit. Only problem was I only had a day to do it and drive for almost 9 hours back and forth as there were no hotel rooms available for me to stay over.
So that’s what I did and to say it was hectic would be an understatement. I left early in the day and thanks to a cloudy colorless sunset I managed to get home by 11pm. And death Valley as usual didn’t disappoint. It’s a stunning sight to see the whole valley covered in desert gold flowers. This shot was taken at the Beatty cutoff road from over a ridge. Hope you all make it here.
...we managed to catch a bit of the sun before it was too late. Lucille isn't entirely thrilled with the flares on her face! :D Rebecca (glamourfae) was in Denver...fun dinner with her!
After seeing Laura's (plastic_fashion) gorgeous GR today, I was in the mood to photograph Lucille! Lucille is wearing a darling dress from Sugar Baby Love. Thanks so much! We love this dress set!
I didn't see as much today at the swamp, but I managed to find another new species. Either a Pacific Forktail male found in northern California and Oregon only, or a Green-eyed Forktail found at the swamp, take your pick. Very difficult to tell the difference since the male of the former and the immature of the latter are darn near identical.
There were hundreds of people at the swamp and reserve today, along with hundreds of dogs and perhaps a hundred children under the age of 6. Imagine if the weather had been good and not overcast. Both from a nature and people standpoint, this was not the norm.
Anyway, Ischnura cervula, the Pacific forktail, is a species of narrow-winged damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae. It is found in Central America and western North America. This one was probably four or five days old. This may be a very interesting time for me and the dragons and damsels since, in previous years, I didn't get started until most were adults, and some already on their last ... wings.
Tomorrow, I may post the Pied-billed grebe with a crawdad going down the hatch or a Great Blue Heron. Or maybe, it's time to bring out wildflowers that I've finally identified.