Blue Tits in the Garden

It looks as thought the Blue Tits are nesting again this year - I was watching them earlier, arriving at the box with feathers, moss and grass. We missed them last year, but the year before I'd got some nice shots of them going to and fro with caterpillars for their young.

That was the first year I'd got my digital SLR (a Pentax *istD), and I wasn't as used to using it then as I am now. This year will hopefully mean better images, with a different fence too!













That year's photos were interesting because some of the caterpillars were identifiable, so we could tell what butterflies we had in the area. One of the shots (not the one here) showed a Purple Hairstreak caterpillar (thanks to Colin Jupp for the I.D.), a butterfly I wasn't familiar with until last summer - they tend to stay around the top of Oak Trees, most noticable in late afternoon/early evening. Got some pics of them, but they were a long way off.











It would also be good to get some of the fledglings after they've left the box, although they always seem to disperse quite rapidly, after leaving the nest first thing in the morning.

Fingers crossed they might loiter a bit this year.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year

I've just finished uploading my entries to the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition - the first time I've entered it. Very easy to do this year, just choose your pics (that's the hardest bit), caption them, upload them to the website and you're done.

I entered 14 images, in various categories, and was surprised how many (8) I took using my macro lens - even ones that weren't of a macro nature. Seems I really like the Sigma 105mm. If I'd had it at the time, two more of the shots would have been taken with it too, but instead I used my Pentax 50mm lens with extension tubes.

So now I waited with baited breath...

Photo Workshops

I run photo workshops throughout the year, currently I have them running at Thorndon Park Visitor Centre and Fingringhoe Wick Visitor Centre from April to September. This year, in addition to the general 'Photography in the Park' ones I've been doing for the last 4 years, I've planned 'Close-up and Macro Nature Photography' workshops at both sites.

For details of these workshops, see my 'Workshops' page!

Dereliction, Moss and More Moss

Spent an interesting couple of hours in the Walled Garden at Bedfords Park, taking shots of moss, the rundown state of the various buildings, greenhouses and general ambience.

The picture on the right is the 'kitchen' - not the most inviting place to cook a meal, but it gives you an idea of the state the garden has been allowed to get in.

Everywhere you look, there's moss. A lot of moss, of many types. Some that prefer growing on tarmac, some on concrete, some on walls (including one that's normally found on damp trees, but here is in the old pineapple bed).

But there's also broken glass everywhere, and this is one 'feature' that needs to be removed as soon as possible. Kneeling down to get shots of lichen was a careful affair, inspecting the ground closely to make sure I wasn't about to spike my knee on a bramble, let alone a shard of glass.

Tim the moss and lichen expert seemed to enjoy himself, bustling around the site, listing the different species he found, a few of which were of particular note, either because of the place they were growing, or their abundance, or the rarity of them.

As far as I'm concerned, many of them look quite spectacular, but I couldn't tell one from another.

I'm simply drawn to the shapes and colour, the patterns formed by the leaves, the drooping fruiting bodies. I must return and investigate some more...

Moss, Lichen and Dereliction

Saturday morning will see me at Bedfords Park, near Romford, where Lois Amos and the Friends of Bedfords Park group have finally been given permission to renovate the Georgian Walled Garden. This is the only major remnant of the old house that used to look out over the Thames basin, and it has been derelict for some years, after the London Borough of Havering, who own the Park, stopped using the garden as a nursery for the borough.

Lois has been and is passionate about the need to renovate and get this feature back to it's former glory. Now that permission from the council has been given, the Friends group can crack on with clearing debris, restoring the greenhouses and cold frames, reinstating beds, etc, but first there is to be a plant survey, to see what's growing there at the moment.

Ten years of nature taking it's course can easily lead to all manner of things sprouting up, and with 12 foot walls, a sheltered climate can produce so rarities and oddities. So along with the usual flowers and grasses, there'll be an expert looking at the variety of mosses and lichens. Not me, but I'll be there to capture this first step in a long journey, which will hopefully only be part way through when the garden is up and running again.

I love shooting mosses - for a start, they don't run away! But better than that, they have all manner of peculiarities to inspect at close range. And with the right lighting, they can look spectacular...

I'll let you know how we get on, and what we find in amongst the broken glass and twisted metal.

Artist's Website - Paul Young

I decided to start this blog after I'd designed the website for a local artist called Paul Young. The website can be seen here: www.MoreThanArt.co.uk.

Paul had wanted to be able to update his site regularly and often, as he paints murals and signage boards and has pictures and information that he wants to show the World as quickly as possible. Looking at the options available, I decided a blog, integrated into his site (just like this one), would be the easiest solution all round.

Paul's blog is here: www.MoreThanArt.co.uk/blog

Drop in and see him, leave a comment or two, and perhaps commission him to paint something amazing on your walls!

Texture and Form

So this is a photo I took at my local park (Hutton Country Park) a few weeks ago. It had been a foggy morning, and the moisture clung to tiny scraps of cobweb like crystals on wire.

These Greater Burdock (thank you Lois!) were by a stream that runs through the park, and I used my Pentax 50-200 at minimum focus distance, with a little fill flash.

The RAW file was converted in Capture One LE, and then desaturation, toning and contrast control were applied in Photoshop.

I really like the golden tone, it suits the subject as it's similar to it's natural colour, but it really helps to bring out the texture and form. I can't wait to print it up as a 10" x 10" - framed in a warm, dark wood, it will look gorgeous.


Here's one of my favourites from that morning, showing the dew clinging to a hornbeam twig. I actually think this isn't on a cobweb, but either some hair or fibres stuck to the twig, but I could be wrong.

This was taken with my Sigma 105mm macro lens, a favourite of mine, again with flash, as it was a bit murky amongst the trees, and a light breeze was plenty to move the subject around.

Off we go on a blogging journey!

Welcome to my first blog post, I'll keep it fairly simple and brief!

As you may have guessed, I'm a nature photographer. I have a special affinity with my local country parks and nature reserves, but I'm not averse to travelling further afield - Wales, Scotland and Cornwall being favourite locations.

I particularly enjoy macro photography, which is where you get really close to your subject, and show it in all it's glory (or gory detail, depending on how you view a Dragonfly). This was mainly fuelled by my switch to digital photography a couple of years ago, and whereas when I was using film I'd be counting the cost of every frame, or at least every roll, now I can experiment much more than ever before.

I used to produce an emailed Newsletter, but this was very infrequent, and I believe I'll be much more regular with this blog. Along with the added bonus of up-to-the-minute news, it should be an all round 'good thing'.

Thanks for stopping by, do come back, subscribe to my feed on the left if you want to be kept up to date with updates!

Dan