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Sunrise Storm

Glad I'm not over there.

Star Turn

The time: Mid afternoon. The place: Aruba, Caribbean Sea. The star: This Brown Pelican.
Whilst swimming in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Aruba (as you do!) I was unable to avoid a pair of Brown Pelicans low flying over the sea and occasionally diving in for their next meal. Having got out and dried off, I returned with the camera for a couple of shots. Managed to catch this beauty as he caught sight of his next catch. Hope you like.

Birds of The Caribbean

The following pictures were taken on my recent holiday in The Caribbean.
This first example is a Magnificent Frigatebird. These were plentiful, throughout the area of the US Virgin Islands. These birds are famous for inflating the red throat pouch during courtship displays.

This Peregrine Falcon joined us mid-ocean for a couple of days. Beautiful bird and unexpected so far from land.

Stopping off for a quick nap on the ships rigging, this La Sagra's Flycather.

This Little Blue Heron. Taken at St Croix, USVI.

Lastly, back at Miami, this was one of a number of Turkey Vultures, circling the dock area.

Goldfinch Smackdown

Oi! Get off my feed tray.

I said. Get, off, my, feedtray!

Go on. Get out of it.

Hop it. Last chance fly boy.

What are you looking at!

Ok, they're not a great distance away. But I'm really enjoying how my new 70-300mm Zuiko Olympus Digital  lens is allowing me to get just that little bit closer to the action. Hope you enjoyed this short series.

Abbottsbury Kestrel

Saw this beauty in the distance on a coast walk between West Bay, Bridport and Abbottsbury in Dorset. The closer I got the further away she flew. Then, just as I neared the end of my walk, she flew right over, stopped and posed for me. I couldn't have asked for more. As she flew off after a few minutes, and with a huge smile on my face, I thanked her for the great photo opportunity. Made my day.

Bowdown Wood Nature Reserve

Ain't nature purdy? Lovely gnarled up tree at Bowdown Wood. Other interesting stuff included this fungus;

And these Fungii;

For the full story, check out my blog at http://bobcoulson.typepad.com/

Canada Geese at Dogmersfield Park

Spent a lovely Sunday morning walk along the Basingstoke Canal and through The Dogmersfield Park Estate to Tundry Pond. Perfect timing for the arrival of three seperate squadrons of Canada Geese flying in.

 A wonderful experience which made the walk a memorable experience. The Canal was quiet and tranquil, spoilt only by the odd cyclist, jogger or stalking photographer.

Altogether, a beautiful morning. Looking forward to more trips along The Basingstoke Canal.

Summer colours

I know! I know! It's another Starling. Perhaps I should start the Starling Appreciation Society. I think that acromyn is taken? Couldn't resist posting this gorgeous bird. The thing I like most about Starlings is the fantastic range of colours they display and they move through adolescence. This great iridescent example graced my bird feeder the other day. Lurvely.

Tower Bridge

I never tire of this shot. The first time I've ever actually visited Tower Bridge in London. As we came away, late afternoon, I turned to look back and saw this beautiful sight. The low sun was shining through and sitting perfectly on the bridge. This has been my desktop for months now and I have no plans to change it.

Bird on a wire

I may have mentioned before. I need a better lens. I have professional aspirations and amateur equipment. I am always looking for the close up shot which is usually too far away. When this Sparrow showed up on a recent walk along the Dorset coastline, I quickly grabbed the camera. As usual I had the wrong lens fitted as I had just been taking landscape shots. I fumbled around whilst remaining calm and quiet, managing to fit the zoom without disturbing the cheeky chap. As I focused the image, the sun broke through and made the shot. Lovely jubbly, happy days. I like to get at least one memorable photo whilst on a walk. This will do.

Pitlochry by night

These shots were taken in 2006 shortly after I got my DSLR. They show the Pitlochry Dam and lake in Perth and Kinross. The beautiful stillness of the water reflecting the stunning sky caught my attention. The Dam itself is bathed in yellow lighting which gives a dramatic look to the structure as you approach from downstream. A truly excellent place to visit. Provision was built into the dam, for trout to travel upstream and a camera and infra-red monitor was installed so that visitors could see the trout as they pass through the special underwater tubes on their journey up river.

Starling Silhouette

Have I mentioned that Starlings are my favourite garden birds? I believe that the art of taking a good photograph lies firstly in the ability to be able to spot the photograph oportunity. Something different, out of the ordinary. This juvenile Starling decided that the ball finial top of next-doors bird table was an ideal place to sit and soak up some sunshine. I decided that it was an ideal opportunity for a great picture. It's normal to see birds perched on objects for short periods of time before they fly off just as you focus your lens. Less common I find to have the opportunity to catch them so comfortable with their surroundings that they feel happy to squat down and ignore you. Seperated by a garden fence I was only about ten feet away for this shot. Juvenile Starlings are beautiful birds with their muti-layered brown plumage, but the silhouette made it stand out.

Patience is the key

Firstly, please forgive the focus. Like many people, we were lucky to have a couple of Sparrow nests in the eves of our roof. It was difficult to avoid the constant chirping of the male standing guard and marshalling the female back and forth collecting food for the chicks. I sat and watched the too and fro from the nest for a while taking the odd snapshot of the female in flight. All of a sudden there was a mighty ruckass. The male had obviously caused upset and the female was quick to let him know who was in charge around the chicks.

Hello my S'tarling

Starlings have to be my favourite garden birds here in the UK. Their young give new meaning to the term juvenile. I'm often alerted to their presence in the garden by the loud squabbles of the young birds as they jostle for position on the feeder or bird bath. With patience and the right lighting conditions, this shot was taken. I'm pretty sure it was probably taken through the panes of our double-glazing. I love the variety with young starlings and the beautiful irridescence of the adult birds. Long may they choose to visit my garden, I can't get enough of them.

Sunset on an era

A word about my father. My current camera, my first DSLR, was a combined present from my wife and mother, on my birthday following the unexpected death of my father in 2006. It was much more than I would have expected as a birthday present. In my mothers words, "Your father would have wanted you to have it." My father was a proud self-assured man who grew up in North London. He wasn't a high flyer. He was a grafter. He worked hard all his life in labour intensive jobs to provide for his family. He was never out of work and proudly boasted having three different jobs in one day on one occasion in his youth. Writing this reminds me how much I miss him. I take great pleasure from photography and while it was never a hobby for my father, I spoke of getting a decent camera before he died and I know from my mum that he wanted to see me pursue this interest. When I'm taking pictures, I am reminded of my father and this makes me happy. I dedicate this image to John 1931-2006. Husband, father, greatly missed, fondly remembered. My dad.

Bee that as it may

This shot was also taken in my back garden and follows on from the last in the respect that I was still experimenting with the new camera. I have a reasonable income, as does 'the wife' but I find it difficult to justify large expence on my hobbies, and I tend to try to find the compromise when it comes to laying out cash on new equipment. Satisfied with the camera (who wouldn't be, it is after all my very first DSLR) I wanted to get in closer to the action. I resorted to ebay and those wonderful chinese who seem to be able to sell quite adequate stuff for not a lot of cash. I purchased a set of Macro lenses and ventured into the garden to see what was camera worthy. The above bee duly obliged. A few minor tweeks and here is the result. Don't even think of asking me what kind of bee this is or what kind of flower he's busy collecting from. As for the flower, the wife will know. I have no interest in plants. As long as the garden looks colourful I'm a happy bunny.

It's fair to say that most of my photographs are either critter or landscape oriented. I find as I'm getting older I appreciate the world around me a lot more than I used to. I've started walking a lot and the camera always comes with me. If only I could go back 20 years and tell my younger self that I would turn out to be a twitcher and rambler!! I think my face would have made the best picture ever :-)

The first post

Welcome to my new blog. This site has been produced so that I may share with you some of my best photographs. Firstly, let me say that I do not in any way profess to be some kind of professional photographer. I like to think I can take a good shot, but you will be the judge of that. I am restricted by the equipment available to me so please bear this in mind when reviewing my work. Currently I have an Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera with the standard two lens package. This consists of an Olympus Digital 14-45mm lens and the Olympus Digital 40-150mm lens. Frustrated with the zoom capabilities but restricted by finances I have recently purchased an OM zoom lens and suitable adapter but you gets what you pay for and the results are mediocre. Anyhow I hope you enjoy what I think are some quite good photographs given the restrictions I have described.

The above shot is one of the first taken with my Olympus in my back garden. This Hummingbird Hawk Moth caught my eye sipping nectar from a Buddleia. To say the least, I was very pleased with my new camera.