A Walk on the Wild Side - January 2011

We went to Dartmoor for a walk to try to get rid of the post Christmas weight gain. To be fair, I didn't partake of the walking too much, spending my time taking photographs from a safe distance :-)

I have also been practising with images to produce HDR (high dynamic range) images. This process uses clever software to take the highlights and shadow detail from three images of the same view that have been given different exposures and then combines the best bits of all three into one image. It takes a bit of fiddling to get it looking decent and it usually has a sort of fantasy world look to it but some images do become much more dynamic as a result.

Waxwings at Last - December 2010

After many weeks of hoping, I finally got my wish and connected with one of the many flocks of Waxwing that have visited our shores during November and December.

BRRRRRRR!!! - December 2010

We had a really long spell of cold weather this December. The birds got through more sunflower hearts than I would have thought possible and it was positively grey and frozen on most days. There were some nice things about it though, hoar frost being one of them and the opportunities for some novel photographs.

Dipper City - November 2010

Some friends came to visit us from Norfolk and on one of the days we decided to go to Exmoor. Coming from Norfolk they never get to see many hills so it seemed a good plan. We eventually reached Lynmouth and walked up the river where the great flood in the fifties had destroyed most of the town. On the day we were there it was a much quieter scene and we were soon on the hunt for a good photograph of a Dipper. These amazing birds spend all their time along fast flowing rivers and streams, a lot of the time walking under the water to find food that hides under the pebbles on the bed of the stream. After some careful stalking we managed to get some very nice shots.

Dawlish Tug-O-War

On a walk along Dawlish Warren, our attention was grabbed by a furious growling and splashing down at the tideline. On investigating we were amazed to find a full scale tug-o-war competition going on between a Great Black-backed Gull and a Cormorant over a fair-sized Flounder. It looked as though the Cormorant had caught it near the shore and as it was a fair size, it had been trying to swallow it. The gull, seeing an opportunity for a quick meal grabbed the tail and while we stood and gaped at the sight, it dragged both the fish and the protesting Cormorant out of the water. Eventually the Cormorant relinquished its grasp on the Flounder and went off to sulk, leaving the gull to eat his stolen meal.