Really? I thought I knew what the real definition of sport was until I read an article that recently appeared in one of the major online newspapers. Apparently, annually, we release 55 million pheasants and red legged partridges and 2.6 million mallards into the countryside so that they can be shot for sport! This volume released into the UK each year now represents more than the total biomass of all UK native birds.  When I read this the meaning of the word sport suddenly went all fuzzy. It was like I was staring at the real definition in the dictionary through somebody else’s reading glasses. Some words were out of focus, some overlapped each other and the rest made no sense to me at all. It then made me angry. Not because I had, for a brief moment, lost the ability to read but because of the absolute horror of what I'd just read. Sport? Just think about that for a moment while you look at these pictures.  Aside from the effects on the flora, fauna and wildlife in the habitats they are released into, this year there is a much more serious potential threat from the senseless release of these birds into the countryside. Avian flu or highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) to give it is full name. These poor creatures are bred in captivity abroad, imported and then held in pens while they mature before release. Pheasants in the UK have previously tested positive for HPAI – first in Lincolnshire in 2018 and a further 13 times since, on three premises with commercial breeding game for release. The RSPB is calling for the total cancellation of the shooting season in 2022 to try and limit the catastrophic spread of bird flu that has already devastated seabird populations around the UK’s coast this year, leaving hundreds of thousands of birds dead since it arrived last winter in the Solway Firth in the north west. (Ref: Harry Cockburn, Environmental Correspondent) I don’t pretend to understand a fraction about the game shooting environment and the industry around it other than I know it has gone on for centuries. It no doubt brings in revenue, supports livelihoods and is a way of life for many people who rely on it. That doesn’t make it right. To me it's just a barbaric slaughter that a group of, let's face it, privileged people call sport. These beautiful birds go from commercial pens into an unfamiliar environment, where they are then terrorised into the air by beaters and dogs and brutally torn apart by a cloud of shotgun pellets. If you know the true definition of the word, it’s definitely not sport and this year more than any other it needs to stop…! Thanks... I really appreciate you dropping in. If you don't already, you can follow my instagram page where I add the odd funny caption if the image lends itself to one, hopefully provoking a smile or two. If you want to comment or get in touch to share bird related images and stories then I'd be delighted to hear from you.
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I admit this step into letting nature take over may well be heavily influenced by my recent obsession with bird photography and the time I have spent walking in the countryside pursuing this wonderful hobby. If that is the case then what a fantastic bonus it is. So much so that I genuinely believe that No Mow May for us will be just become no mow and we will watch the garden go wild through the year. Already we are seeing all sorts of plants growing in the lawn that we never knew were there and the increase in birds, bees, butterflies and hoverflies has been so evident.  To help things along even more we have sewn small areas of wild flowers and these will hopefully over time self seed and spread the nectar rich love further and they are just starting to germinate.  Never one to do things half heartedly, the wildlife garden mission has completely taken over. Alongside wildflowers and long grass, log piles have been introduced. A bee and insect house quickly followed and a small pond created in an old whisky barrel. I have even recycled my old walking boots and kept them from the landfill site.
All this cosy, feelgood, wildlife friendly activity, apart from being good for the soul, has in less than a month been an absolute revelation. In particular, and one reason this post is so relevant to A Bird in the Lens, is the increase we have seen in bird visitors to the garden. Ground feeders like the blackbirds, starlings and dunnocks have been grubbing around in the long grass. We have had more blue tits, great tits and robins than ever before. I saw a jackdaw this morning which is a first for us here and I have been waiting two years to see a sparrow in the garden, believe it or not. Over the last few weeks we have had two regularly visiting. It's been a joy to see how such a few small changes can make such a huge difference, in such a short time. I have spent more time aiming my camera lens into the garden than ever before which has interrupted my day job pretty much on an hourly basis. I mean come on, it's impossible to ignore baby starlings being fed by the parents in the apple tree. Better than a zoom meeting any day... 'the internet connection's not great in the garden office, sorry can I call you back?'
One of the many theories regarding the decline in bird populations here in the UK, put forward by organisations qualified to publish them, is the relentless cutting of grass verges and green spaces by councils leading to a dramatic reduction in insects, the major food source for birds. So we can help address this even in a tiny way by attracting insects into our gardens and leaving our grass to grow long is not only a great way to start but so simple too. If you haven't tried it, I urge you to give it a go. You will be amazed at how quickly wildlife in all forms appears and thrives and how you can so easily create your own little nature reserve. In this crazy world we all seem to be stumbling along in at the moment, that has to be a good thing. It certainly is for me. Thanks... I really appreciate you dropping in. If you don't already, you can follow my instagram page where I add the odd funny caption if the image lends itself to one, hopefully provoking a smile or two. If you want to comment or get in touch to share bird related images and stories then I'd be delighted to hear from you.
IG - @a.bird.in.the.lens E: [email protected] In my intro post I talked about some of the places that I am lucky enough to live near and mentioned that all of them deserve more page space to really appreciate why they are special places for me. In this post I am going to take you on a walk that I do from my front door at least once a week. A walk that even if I see the same things, I never tire of. It is my go-to walk when I need a break from the office and one that always lifts my mood, soothes my mind and allows me to switch off completely. I’m going to break it into two parts because that is how I sometimes walk it, depending on my time and the weather, and also because there are two quite different environments within the walk which both merit attention. It is also a walk that makes me appreciate that you don’t always have to go to a specific nature reserve or high profile location to see a wonderful variety of wildlife. There is often so much literally on your doorstep if you just get out there and explore. When I first got the bird photography bug I was taking hundreds of pictures of the sea birds on the beach and trying to learn the craft almost exclusively there. As the bug bit deeper and began to take over I started to seek out different locations and realised that each one presented different challenges. I went from herons to wrens and, as with their sizes, the difference in trying to photograph them is like night and day.
Sea birds on the beach and on the water present their own set of difficulties but the small birds are so hard to grab focus on and even harder to isolate from the complicated backgrounds that hedgerows, trees and foliage create. It was a whole new learning experience and it is on this walk where I have spent more time than anywhere else trying to master the techniques you need to take an acceptable image of a small bird. Suffice to say it is still a work in progress. It is a simple walk. From my front door, a short distance through the residential area brings me to a path that leads to agricultural fields. The path is flanked by a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. An ordinary looking path but one that I quickly discovered is just full of life.
The end of the path opens out to fields that are full of wheat in the summer and ploughed furrows in the autumn and winter. Those changes of the landscape through the year sees different birds coming and going and it has been an absolute joy to record such a variety of birds on this small stretch of countryside. I’ve learnt so much, just here on this path and over these fields.
Once I had discovered that the trees along the path were bubbling with bird life, my first mission was to try and actually get an in focus picture of a small bird. I quickly discovered just how hard this was. Unlike on the beach, where I could get unobstructed views of the sea birds and could also get reasonably close to them, the challenges here became immediately apparent. Small birds just don't stop fidgeting, flitting from branch to branch, constantly moving their heads as they look for food or check for danger. They appear and disappear amongst the leaves and branches and then flee as soon as they get the slightest glimpse of anything alien to them, i.e. me. I had a lot to learn. I had to learn to move more slowly, to be patient, to stand, to wait, to watch. I had to learn about timing, different focus techniques, the challenges of light or lack of it in foliage, about shadows thrown by branches and leaves. I had to learn about the time of day the birds are most active, how the weather conditions affect how active they are. I had to learn what birds I would see through the seasons as this small stretch of countryside changed either naturally or by a human intervention. If all that wasn't enough, I had to learn what really makes a good small bird photo and then actually take one. As I said, a lot to learn and I'm not even a fraction of the way there yet but it's totally addictive, absorbing, hugely challenging and when you get it right, utterly rewarding. What makes it even more rewarding is watching nature's kitchen provide a varied menu of food and resources through the seasons for the birds and their young. Take a look at a little of this year's menu from the 'my favourite walk' restaurant. Spring - the starter
Spring is a busy time with the birds finding a mate, building nests and feeding young. Fortunately, as the countryside literally springs into life, there is plenty of bedding to be found for nest building and a never ending supply of insects to feed the family on. Summer - the main course
During summer, young birds are leaving the nests but still need feeding. Plants and crops provide seeds, while for some the juicy, soft flesh of snails or caterpillars makes a nutritious meal. Autumn - dessert
Autumn dishes up a forest fruits dessert (and even dried fruit for those that like it) on hawthorn, elder, rowan and blackberry and the birds gorge themselves, stocking up with winter on its way. A stress buster So not a bad restaurant I think you'll agree and all of this I found along this short walk in the countryside. I have had so much fun not just learning about how to get a good photo of the birds but also from just standing and observing their activity as the seasons changed. It's been enlightening and if anyone reading this is trying to find a way to de-stress, I can't think of a better way. I've seen such a variety of birds here and could have included literally hundreds of pictures in this post but you would never have got to the end of it, so I will continue to keep adding them to the galleries on the website and hope you will keep dropping in from time to time to see them. However, I have added a list at the end so do read on if you want to know. So this is the first part of my walk and sometimes, if I can only blag an hour or so off work before someone notices, I will go no further than to the of edge the field, but that's OK because there is always something to see. (I work for myself so it's usually my customers that will be emailing or texting 'Steve. where are you?' My wife, bless her, knows where I will be if I don't answer the phone). To be honest I could quite happily spend a whole morning just here (hmm have done, maybe more than once) and of course it is not just birds that frequent the place. I have also had the pleasure of watching a family of foxes that have a den on the edge of a field that is used for grazing horses.  To be continued ... If I have more time then I will carry on. The path winds around the edge of the agricultural field, past a reed bound natural pond and down to a stream called Ferring Rife, that meanders down to the sea. (The word 'rife' is a Sussex dialect word that means stream). We will carry on down the path in a future post. If you enjoyed the walk so far then look out for it, lots of fun with egrets and herons and also birds that I don't see on the first part of the walk.  List of birds I have seen (so far) on this part of the walk
Thanks I really appreciate you dropping in. If you don't already, you can follow my instagram page where I add the odd funny caption if the image lends itself to one, hopefully provoking a smile or two. If you want to comment or get in touch to share bird related images and stories then I'd be delighted to hear from you.
IG - @a.bird.in.the.lens E: [email protected] A special moment I have mentioned and continue to mention that for me, bird photography is all about moments. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t bothered about the quality of the image and that every time I pressed the shutter button I didn’t want that image to be stunning, for the composition to sit perfectly and for it to be bang on in focus. Of course I do. That is why I continue to try and improve, to learn new techniques and follow and watch photographers that I can learn things from. This in itself is a part of the journey and one that I will talk more about in future blogs. If I look back to when I started, which to be honest isn’t that far (May 2020), I can already see how much my bird photography has improved. Some of these improvements have been subtle but to my eye and hopefully others too, some have been drastic. To demonstrate that will take a blog on its own and I will maybe write that next. The theme of this post is the special moments that the journey so far has gifted me, one in particular. Arundel In my previous blog I wrote about location and the places that were local to me, the town of Arundel being one of them. As well as being a beautiful old market town, Arundel sits on the banks of the River Arun and is surrounded by beautiful countryside. A little way out of the town there is a wetland nature reserve and lake divided by a small country lane. The short journey there takes you over a bridge which spans a small tributary that runs into the River Arun. On one side of this little bridge there is a mill pond and it is here that one of those chance, rarely repeated moments, presented itself. More often than not, my visits to Arundel through the summer months have been very early mornings. Aside from wanting the place to myself so I can bask in the tranquility, the light as the sun comes up lends itself beautifully to waterside bird photography. On these visits I seem to have adopted a very similar routine in the way I walk the area. Always, I walk around the lake first to watch the various waterfowl waking up to take breakfast. I might catch a glimpse of a woodpecker or two in the trees that surround it and there is always a great variety of woodland birds to be seen, not only in the trees but in the bramble patches and damp areas of ferns that thrive on the banks bordering both sides of the pathway. Marsh tits, wrens, willow warblers, great tits, blackcaps, all waking up to feed on the insects that are highlighted in the sun’s rays as it rises.  Next it is round to the mill pond which is enclosed by a flint wall and camouflaged by the various trees and shrubs that surround it. A small waterfall feeds into it and the river that it becomes disappears from view as it bends around under the bridge and continues down towards the River Arun. Once I have had my fill of the millpond I then walk the path that runs alongside this small tributary and work my way down the beautiful river Arun, both of which I will highlight in a future blog. So that is a typical morning visit to Arundel, let’s get on with the story.  I always approach the millpond on tiptoe because it was here that I first saw and photographed a kingfisher. On a few occasions prior to that I had scared it off, being too clumsy in my enthusiasm to get there, so now I literally inch my way and peer around the overhanging foliage that tumbles over the corner of the old flint wall. This particular morning, I peered round and instead of spotting a kingfisher I disturbed a grey heron that was standing in the middle of the pond and it immediately took off and flew down the river towards the bridge. So I did what I always do, I sat for a while in a little spot hidden by the greenery and breathed in the ambience of this idyllic little pond, enjoying as I’m sure everyone does, the calming sound of running water. Having taken some pictures of the stunning little grey wagtails that bob around between the rocks and the plants I decide to continue on my normal jaunt down the river path. To do that I have to cross the road and join the path by the bridge which I always do without crossing the bridge itself. I never deviate from this route but for some reason this morning I did. For the first time I went onto the bridge with the thought in my head that the heron might still be close by and looking back towards the mill pond, there he was. Standing in the middle of the river, looking very focused and alert. He didn’t spot me so, leaning on the stones of the bridge I took a few shots. The light wasn’t too bad, a bit dark as the sun was only just getting high enough in the sky to break through the trees and touch this part of the river.  He started to move and walk back down to the mill pond, working his way to the edge of the river where overhanging foliage was throwing shade across the water.  I was very aware at this point that he was hunting, lower now in stance, he was totally focused on a point in the water, so I followed him in my camera viewfinder, finger hovering on the shutter button. And then it happened, like an explosion. He struck with such speed and his head disappeared under the water, emerging seconds later from the spray the sudden attack had thrown up with what looked like a good size fish in his grasp. I was shooting this, very aware that he was in the shade and the images weren’t going to be great but hey, I was watching it close up through my telephoto lens so who cares, it was just epic to watch.   Then it got better. The sun was now shooting beams of light through the trees creating little patches of bright on the water. The heron stood upright and began to walk back to the centre of the river with what I could now see was very definitely a trout speared by his beak. What a catch, what an amazing thing to witness.  I wasn’t even aware there were trout in the pond and I have to be honest, even in the euphoria of witnessing such a wildlife wonder, I did feel a tad sorry for the fish. He was still alive, struggling to escape from the beak that had speared him with such devastating accuracy. As he did I found myself willing the heron to move into one of the patches of sunlight so that I could get a better shot. Usually wildlife has a habit of doing exactly the opposite to what you want but this time, incredibly, the heron obliged and I was able to keep shooting, the motordrive working overtime.   He continued walking, the trout losing its strength, resigning itself to its fate.  I must have fired off a hundred shots but by doing so I was able to capture those moments all the way through to him manoeuvring the fish so that he could swallow it down whole.   I’m still not quite sure how he unspeared it and repositioned it without dropping it but the whole operation was obviously very well practised and so slick.   It was all over within a minute and he looked so pleased with himself when it was. I stood there on the bridge, hands slightly shaky as I was so excited by what I had seen, hoping above hope that I had got a shot worthy of the moment. It was a moment that will always be etched in my memory.  The images as you can see certainly aren’t the best, they are carrying a bit too much noise, the ISO higher than you really want but to worry about that would be a shame. It really was all about an unforgettable moment...
As ever, thanks for dropping in. I hope you enjoyed sharing this moment with me. Feel free to leave a comment or to get in touch. IG - @a.bird.in.the.lens E: [email protected] My bird worldEvery photograph on my instagram page or in the galleries on the website have been taken locally. Having embarked on this journey of discovery at the start of Covid this to some extent was inevitable but to be honest it’s where I am happiest. In this post I thought I would talk a little bit about what local actually is for me. I am aware how lucky I am to live where I do, particularly in respect of my obsession with bird photography. In a small village called East Preston in West Sussex, I am a ten minute walk from the beach, a ten minute cycle to the South Downs National Park and close to a number of coastal and inland RSPB reserves. The town of Arundel is also nearby. Sitting on the River Arun, this beautiful old market town has a stunning wetland centre, lake, river of course and is one of my favourite places for early morning bird photography. If all that wasn’t enough, when I need a break from the office desk for an hour (usually ends up as 2) I have a small local river reached by a short walk across fields, that offers continual interest. I work from home (yes I do have to find some time to work, it’s a massive inconvenience) and I try to visit any one of these locations throughout the week, usually early morning. When I do I am always blessed by a continual display from a huge variety of birds. Each location provides something different, sometimes something surprising. The local river  I love bird photography so much because you never quite know what you will see even when you have got to know a place. For example, the local river. To get there, a short walk across fields brings its own distractions, skylarks, pied wagtails, the occasional buzzard. A ten minute walk always takes thirty but then the river is reached. I have probably walked along that river path more than any other. It's my go to place when I need a break, to clear my head and get some fresh air. There are birds that I know I will see every time I go there, such as willow warblers, reed warblers, whitethroats, blackcaps, goldfinches, the list goes on.  Trees line the edge of the river, a mix of deciduous and evergreen and I know every time I will see herons and egrets roosting in one of the large conifer trees. As many as four herons and double figures of egrets have been seen in these trees, all hanging out together. It always makes me smile.  A little bridge spans the river and at a certain time of day I know I will always find an egret fishing underneath it, stirring up the mud with one foot and then spearing anything tasty that appears as a result. These things I am now so familiar with and even spend time showing other people out walking, many who seem to be totally oblivious to the wildlife around them. I can’t tell you how many times I have been standing taking a photograph of the roosting herons only for someone to stop and say ‘what are you taking a picture of then, anything interesting?’ Hmm, I reply, just the three herons and four egrets up in that tree. So these things I know I will see but so many times this one location will throw up a surprising first and it’s totally addictive. All the locations I mention here have that air of familiarity but also carry an element of surprise. The beach  The beach always harbours a great selection of birds that changes through the seasons and I am only just beginning to learn what I will see there at certain times of the year.  It is never short of activity, with egrets and heron's feeding in the rock pools at low tide. Always plenty of gulls and crows and I can never get bored of watching and photographing them. I have taken sequence shots of both opening shellfish by repeatedly flying up high and dropping them onto the rocks below until the tasty meal inside is revealed. Fascinating to watch, challenging to capture. The seasons bring in different birds that over winter here such as turnstones and sanderlings, that then disappear again in the summer. It’s a constant rotation of visitors and a constant joy. The South Downs A ten minute cycle on my mountain bike takes me off road, through woodland and up on to the South Downs. The woodland trail takes in part of the Monarch’s Way, the famous escape route used by King Charles II after his defeat by Cromwell in the Civil Wars in 1651. It has a wonderful variety of birds and wildlife.  From there I can get right up onto the downs and the South Downs Way. It is genuinely beautiful downland countryside, graced by the presence of buzzards, red kites and kestrels, with the occasional hare trying to avoid their steely glare.  Bird’s of prey are my particular favourite and the South Downs never fails to deliver more than just a glimpse of these majestic birds. Arundel Apart from being a stunning old market town with its mediaeval castle, Arundel is surrounded by beautiful countryside and sits on the banks of the river Arun that snakes its way through the county of West Sussex. With its wetland nature reserve and lake, early morning visits are becoming more frequent for me and this was where I finally got my first kingfisher shot. I also had an amazing ten minutes watching a heron catch and devour a trout, one of those unforgettable moments that I will document in a later blog. It’s a place bursting with wildlife and I am looking forward to seeing more of it as it changes through the seasons. RSPB nature reserves (the not so familiar)  A relatively new discovery for me and along with my wife we have now joined as RSPB members. Our first visit was to Pagham Harbour Nature reserve no more than thirty minutes up the road, an internationally important wetland site for wildlife and one of the few undeveloped stretches of the Sussex coast. Stunning is the only word I can use, a place that instantly seduces you with its beauty, serenity and overwhelming abundance of wildlife. Nature in harmony. We have been a few times now but no amount of times will be enough.
There are inland reserves close by too, such as Pulborough Brooks, yet to be visited but eagerly awaited. So there you have it, a small flavour of my bird world. A world I am so lucky to have on my doorstep. I will chat about all of these locations individually in future posts as each deserves much more page space than I can give them here. Thanks for dropping in. If you want chat about your local spots, it would be great to hear from you. Just leave a comment. A Bird In The LensI've loved photography from the moment I bought my very first SLR film camera, too many years ago to mention here without giving my age away. It was a Fujica STX-1 as I recall, bought with money saved from my first job and it got me hooked. I quickly moved on to a camera that genuinely taught me about the craft and one that still to this day is my favourite camera that I've ever bought. The Nikon FM2. Completely manual, it taught me so much about the relationship between apertures, shutter speeds and film speeds and to begin with the lessons were costly.  Roll Film These were the days of loading a roll of film into the camera. You could buy rolls of 24 or 36 exposures films, the former being the most popular choice for me because of cost. When I started taking pictures I had to learn quickly because of course, unlike with today's digital cameras, you had no idea what your pictures would look like until they had been processed. This involved sending your roll of film off to a processing lab and waiting anything between 1-3 weeks for them to send you back a packet of prints (and a strip of negatives you could use for reprints) Inevitably as a complete novice I had no real idea of what I was doing and would happily click away at anything and everything I thought looked vaguely interesting, expecting every shot to be a masterpiece. I would then wait for my award winning photos to arrive only to receive a packet of 24 over exposed or underexposed blurry prints many of which were difficult to even make out what the original subject was. The learning curve was expensive but gradually I went from maybe getting one out of 24 that were worthy of being described as a photo, to two, three and then eventually being disappointed if I got more than 5 or 6 bad ones. This wasn't something I learned overnight because even when I really began to understand about exposure and how to make adjustments for shooting subjects with bright backgrounds or in low light, or fast moving etc, I still had to learn about composition and what really makes a good image great. Being still just a keen amateur, I'm not sure even after all these years I have ever really cracked that part. I guess that is what always separates the amateur from the professional and why you can always tell one from the other. I do now know a great picture when I see one but as we all tend to be over critical of our own work (and I am very definitely in that gang) I wouldn't presume to label any of my images as great, but maybe it's not my place to do that or even worry about. Much more than just about the picture Over the years of learning and the enjoyment of just being behind a camera, I have found subject areas that have held my attention for longer than others, such as landscape photography. I got particularly passionate about the sky at sunset and sunrise and anytime I saw a moody one with interesting cloud formations. Holiday photography escalated from the daft family shots in the pool to wandering around the locality early morning to try and capture the essence of where we were staying. It is during these moments when I began to realise that photography was about much more than just the picture itself. It was about the moment and the experience. Of course the goal is really always an image you can be proud of, one that not only captures that moment but takes the person looking at it there too. It doesn't have to be a technical masterpiece but it hopefully tells a story or triggers an emotion.  As you can see by the above picture, I still have my Nikon FM2. It's in mint condition and I could never sell it as it started this journey for me and taught me so much. One of my sons showed an interest in photography at quite a young age and he also learnt on this camera. He is an adult now and we still share our passion for photography, swapping photos we have taken on a regular basis. I love that.  The moment that started it all off So now I have a new subject area that I am passionate about. In fact it has, as my wife will confirm, become an obsession. It was triggered by 30 minutes or so watching and photographing a kestrel on the fringe of my local beach. The bird wasn't bothered by me standing directly underneath it as it had its eyes firmly fixed on the ground, searching for any sign of something to eat. I obviously didn't fit that criteria so it ignored me, not realising the total thrill I was getting from focusing on it through my lens. Once it had gone to find prey elsewhere, I sat on the beach with the realisation that this was what I wanted to concentrate on. Nothing else I had photographed over the years had given me that feeling of excitement and wonder.
Bird photography has become something that if I haven't been out for a day or two I get twitchy (no pun intended). Something that I absolutely love. And again, it is not so much about getting that award winning 'great' image but much more about just being out there amongst them. It is the experience of spotting them, watching them, seeing a bird you haven't seen before for the first time and then the absolute thrill of trying get a focus on them and capture the image. When I first saw a kingfisher and managed to lock on in my viewfinder, my hands were shaking so much the pictures were very definitely not great but it didn't matter. It is a moment I will never forget and that is the most important thing for me. Appreciating the beauty of nature I also find it has slowed me down when I am out walking and that's a good thing. I now am taking in the environment around me so much more, spending time looking at the trees, hedgerows, waterways, countryside and appreciating the beauty of nature as I search for anything feathered moving within it. Bird photography takes me to some stunningly beautiful places. I am very lucky to live close to the sea and the South Downs National Park so I have a wonderful mix of locations including a number of RSPB nature reserves close by (we have recently joined as members). Early mornings in these places are moments of wonder, of peace, of excitement and I often share those moments with my wife which makes them all the more special. So welcome to my blog. It's my first blog so forgive me if I don't abide by any must dos or don'ts when blogging. Here I will witter away about my time taking bird pics, sharing the experiences and showing you some of the places I go. Hopefully you will enjoy the read and find some inspiration within it too. Gear I may occasionally discuss camera gear too because as much as we all try to deny its importance and its draw, we are all really consumed by it. We love reading about it, dreaming about what we can't afford and always want to know what everyone else is using. The website The website the blog sits on is really just a self indulgent place for me to build a gallery of images that I have taken and particularly like. A place to put them so they don't just sit in a large library on my laptop in no particular order of importance, amongst duplicates and duds. Family and friends can go there too in their own time and by their own choice instead of having them thrust in front of them every time they place a foot through my door. The site really has no other purpose than this. Of course if other people stumble across it and enjoy it then happy days. Thanks If you have made it this far down the page then thanks very much, I really appreciate you dropping in. If you don't already, you can follow my instagram page where I add the odd funny caption if the image lends itself to one, hopefully provoking a smile or two. If you want to comment or get in touch to share bird related images and stories then I'd be delighted to hear from you. IG - @a.bird.in.the.lens E: [email protected] |
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AuthorI live on the South Coast of England, close to the South Downs National Park and am totally obsessed with bird photography. I'm also passionate about bird conservation, addicted to good coffee and am very partial to a little nip of a smoky Islay whisky from time to time. Archives
August 2022
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