JamesT

I like how this has worked out. "Zen and the art of railway driving".

and construction cranes.

seen from HInksey heights.

Thanks Rye

20 hours ago, Ryewolf said:

Cool, I've never seen one

As I said, first time for me. I just spotted something dark and long in the grass by the path. At first I assumed it would be a grass snake, but on closer inspection recognized it as a slow worm.

Not perhaps the greatest shots, but the first time I've ever seen one.

7 hours ago, Lez325 said:

Not a usual choice for macro,  but hey why not give it a go I thought- shot yesterday morning along the river Tone from around 15ft 

But one that often works. I've had much more success shooting insects with the big Sigma than with more typical macro lenses.

Well spotted! Not seen one that well for many years, though I heard one booming for the first time last weekend.

12 minutes ago, Clicker said:

Did you hear it first  before capturing it with your camera?

Yes.

I was at one of the screens overlooking the reedbeds and heard it behind me.

I think I've heard more cuckoos this year than I've seen swallows.

Alien & armoured, but not evil.

A miscellany from today's trip to Otmoor

Sedge warbler in full song

Are they all yours?

Cuckoo

And the (not so) common crane

2 hours ago, Phil said:

Our host is not particularly fast (budget package to keep the finances down), which is why you may occasionally see this, but your error is a new one on me.

I'll keep an eye on this topic for updates.

My immediate thought about @MattGrey's error would be that he caught the servers in the process of an upgrade.

Has anyone else received the newsletter?

On 18/04/2022 at 01:10, Ryewolf said:

interesting that you can get so close to the engines.

Given the layout, I don't think it would be possible to run the place if they had to keep everybody back. Obviously they do keep people off the demonstration lines.

There's only one engine moving at a time in the shed and turntable areas, so they just have a flag man clearing the track ahead of it.

Thanks everyone.

I'm not sure when they normally appear round here. In fact I think I've only seen various blues and azures in the garden before.

On 16/04/2022 at 22:58, Clicker said:

That  is what one could call "Teeming with Life " James. Looks like   a very safe nursery  for them !

Till they start eating each other.

Compared with last year, they seem to be 2-3 weeks earlier and several times more numerous.

A few more of Pendennis Castle:

The King and the Castle

Passing the mail drop

On the demonstration line.

And so to bed:

All taken with the Bronica ETRS. The colour one on Rollei CN200, the B/W on Shanghai GP3 in 220 format.

A female large red.

Today's shot of the tadpoles.

I think it's a glossy ibis

https://www.flickr.com/groups/birdguide/pool/tags/Plegadis falcinellus

Thanks Polly, that spot is usually good for a image. I like to think of it as my Tenaya Creek.

2 hours ago, CMunzel said:

Does the Bronica ETRS have an inbulit light meter?

Oh and I agree with Monomania preferring the 1st image.

Thanks Cheryl & Monomania

It doesn't have a built-in meter, but there is a TTL metering prism, which I was using as a viewfinder as it's easier than a waist-level finder for moving targets and when I need to shoot over fences or heads. My copy, at least, is a bit intermittent so I was using occasional readings with an external meter + sunny-16.

The bend in the Letcombe Brook.

Late March this time, but from the same roll as the wierd statue.

Some very atmospheric images there, with the sunlight through the smoke and steam.

Taken back in January, but only developed a week or so back.

It's pretty much as much in the middle of nowhere as it looks. On a footpath running south from the Ridgeway. There is an inscription  at the bottom, but it's faint, cursive and was over-illuminated.

I agree, a fine portrait.

32 minutes ago, Ryewolf said:

That's a really nice portrait shot Cheryl and such unusual colour eyes.

I was a little thrown there, turns out that the Australian Raven is a different species. The northern hemisphere Raven has black eyes but the Australian has blue-grey.

50 minutes ago, Paul said:

Still nothing frogworthy here, even the first frog has disappeared.

The little things you have are globular springtails - not easy to ID without scrutiny and being so small in the frame even harder, but I reckon they could be Sminthurus maculatus

Thanks Paul.

Hope your frogs do come back and use the pond (they can be pretty elusive so they may be hiding just by).