Kicking off this year's odds and sods with Starlings in a rainbow on that extreme rarity: sunshine.
It was early morning, with the sun barely cresting the tree line. We were able to get out for our morning walk as it wasn't raining. This photo is my trusty Canon 80D and Sigma 18-300mm lens zoomed in at 300mm.
Pulling back a bit.
And finally all the way back.
Oh, 2024 got off to a good start with this.
So far my cat, perhaps two neighbouring cats visiting our garden, a local fox and Tawny owl, and this trap have accounted for at least five of the beasties. Sightings of rats in our garden are getting rarer, so I think I'm winning. Two rather timid and wary rats, that I know of, are proving more elusive to catch. I've resorted to buying a lethal trap. The trap was triggered, yesterday, but no rat, sadly. Though a mouse might have triggered it, and was small enough to be within the kill bar.
90% luck, 5% field craft, 5% camera skills.
Thanks Mike, they were so poor I didn't post them.... and you've seen plenty of the dross I HAVE posted lol
Looks like you are making progress PB :) I like that last one.
Good morning PB, those look great shots, I store mine in Lightroom and edit via Photoshop, just how I've progressed but now I've started, it has changed my shots completely. I also ended up investing in a second hand Mac, the big screen makes a hell of a difference (not an Apple person) If I take my laptop with me, I can't handle the difference in the screen display so it's now gathering dust.
As Mike says, laptop screens allow so many variables, but, of course, it's the original shot that makes the difference long term, looking forward to seeing more.
Woohoo! I wasn't finished typing this when my Mac restarted! And it's still here.
Haven't had much to post recently, just odds & sods ... so where better to post them ...
Little squirrel in a local park - quite a cool pose
For some reason there were thousands ... well hundreds ... well, a lot of ladybirds of many different colours on a wooden sculpture. I've never seen so many in one place.
Porcelain Mushrooms, I believe. Also known as Poached Egg Fungus
Inkcap Fungus. Also known as Lawyers Wig.
And another kind ...
A Buzzard, on the way home. Not too good. It was pretty high up and I only have a 70-300 lens
Coming back through the churchyard, sat on a gravestone
Back home, and there was a Jackdaw on the feeder
Nice photo's BD, I like the macro photo's of the ladybirds. Nice fungi, need to look for some myself. Some nice specimens in the lawn
Great set of photos, BD. Love the porcelain mushrooms
Thanks Snappy. My lawn is looking a bit messy too. I thought I had done with mowing for this year ...
Thanks Kevin. Yes they do look good if you can get some light - partucularly behind, they get a diffused light showing through, like porcelain ...
Nice set, BD. I like the first squirrel.
The ladybirds are Harlequins. They are the only ladybird I can identify correctly. They can congregate in huge numbers (hundreds or thousands) mainly through winter, piling up against each other to try and stay warm.
The Inkcap is a shaggy inkcap. Good eating, if harvested before the cap opens up. Inkcaps were used as a 'cure' for alcoholism. They make you feel mighty sick if ingested with alcohol; allegedly. Never tried it myself...but as you know of a good source of them, you could try it out and report back.
Great set BD, nice to see the various fungi too
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Regards, Hazel