Fly Agaric

This time of year the Fungi are out. This year seems to be particularly rich in Fungi as i discovered last week on a walk with the family in a local woodland. I dont claim to know the first thing about fungi, infact my cousin who is half my age knew more and practically gave me a lesson on the topic. But this particular one was very eye catching so i felt i had to get a shot.

f/4.5

1/250

ISO - 1000

34mm

Red Deer Stag

Another shot from my trip to Richmond park in London. This shot is one of only two that i was actually happy with by the end of the day and proof that you don't put your camera away until you are in the car. My first memory card had filled up. As we were near the car i thought about putting the camera away then my dad started taking photos of a small group of stags being kept company by the Jackdaws you can see in the back ground. So instead i put in my spare card and took three or four shots, and i am glad i did :).

f/7.1

1/500

ISO-1000

500mm

Busy Bee's !

My girlfriend and her family keep bee's in order to generate their own honey. I didn't realise the amount of upkeep required if i'm honest, the hives are regularly being maintained. Yesterday i was invited to join them as they needed to find the queen before winter, sadly we didn't find her but it was a memorable experience and i was at least able to get an interesting photo :).

f/6.3

1/320

ISO-2500

300mm

Finally ! A kingfisher !

Having spotted the kingfisher on a few early morning outings i was aware that one was around. So yesterday afternoon as i was rather excitedly trying (and failing) to get a good photograph of the notoriously hard to spot Snipe, i heard their unmistakable call. So, i positioned myself where i could see several posts (possible perches for fishing) and waited. After about an hour i saw a flash of blue, and was able to see this little guy for about 30 seconds. Then he was gone. I would say is worth it, i have never seen such intense colour on any animal.

f/8

1/2000

ISO - 800

500mm

Small roar !

I found this earlier, a photo of a Scottish wild cat taken on a photography day at the British wildlife center in surrey. An amazing place and amazing day, i would love to go back there again and i would recommend it to anyone who is thinking of going :).

f/8

1/320

ISO - 2500

70mm

Guess the bird reveal !!!!!!

Today is tuesday, so as promised here is the photo of the mystery bird. A jay ! Some people did guess correctly so well done if you did :).

f/8

1/1600

ISO - 1600

370mm

Shield bug

The shield bug is something i don't know too much about, all i know is i see them around every now and again, they seem to be very strong for their size and their defensive  mechanism is to release a scent which can be a nightmare to get rid of. Although for some reason i have a soft spot for these odd little things so when my mum called me in to see what was crawling on her laptop the other day i had to take the chance to photograph it when releasing it :).

f/7.1

1/640

ISO - 500

214mm

Starling

Having dislocated my knee again recently i have been photographing a lot of wildlife in my garden. This is another example of garden wildlife. I was able to set up my camera in a prime position and wait in comfort which was a nice change :D. 

f/8

1/1600

ISO - 2000

500mm

Curlew

When i got my first Digital SLR and new very little about photography i went down to my local nature reserve and by chance photographed a bizarre bird flying past (quite badly photographed). A couple of years on and i realise that that sighting was very lucky and for it to be the first bird i ever photographed was even more so. So it was nice the other day to get a photograph of this rare and impressive bird, the Curlew.

f/6.3

1/1000

ISO - 640

500mm

British wildlife center - Stoat

One of my favorite British species is the Stoat. They are small, very energetic and can be very clever. They also hunt rabbits which must be at least twice their size. So i was very chuffed to see one for the first time and get a chance to photograph it :).

f/5.6

1/320

ISO-3200

300mm

Nature Bloggers

I have just been added to nature bloggers. Follow the link to add yours or follow them on twitter.

@UKNHB

 http://uknhb.blogspot.com 

Dunlin

I took this photograph of a Dunlin on the flat sands of East head spit. I was out geocachig with the family when i spotted some movement along the waterline, i immediately ran over to check it out. After realising it was a group of Dunlin's i decided to take a few quick snaps, in the meantime the rest of my family got bored waiting and carried on with the geocaching. I stayed as long as i could until the looming dark clouds on the horizon forced me to pack up and head for the car with haste. By the time we all found each other again we were all slightly regretting taking the risk of the forecast rain that day.