A flash of colour...

I spent Friday morning over at our local RSPB reserve watching the kingfishers. There are currently a pair of them over there investigating the available accommodation with great interest, so we are all hopeful that they will breed again. It's a fantastic place just for a walk, with several options depending how far you feel you want to go, and lots of different hides with different species of birds to watch - and from nearly all of them you can occasionally see a brilliant flash of bright blue passing through, yes, the kingfishers like to explore! At the moment though the Kingfisher hide itself is the place to be, and on Friday we were lucky enough to see behaviour like this:





And, possibly my favourite although technically not the greatest I know...



I have a mental note that next time I go I will take the tripod and 1.4x Teleconvertor and see what results I can get using those - on the 300mm F4 that little TC makes quite a difference, and I can still use the autofocus on the camera too, which helps.

Robyn

Hebrides Countdown...

A shot from 2008 for you this time - in fact, I had a feeling I'd posted this before, but can't find it now so perhaps not!

This is the road out to Huisinis on Harris - someone on Flickr describes this as "12 miles of some of the most challenging single-track roads in the UK!" and I can't really disagree. This road is my Mum's worst nightmare - with blind summits, hairpin bends and sheer drops with no warning whatsoever. It also presents the very real prospect of meeting a bus coming round one of the corners as the village at the end is served by a regular service. I'm a pretty confident driver, and coped with this one OK, however, the one and only road I have EVER encountered that I flatly refuse to drive ever again is also on Harris - known as the Golden Road due to the high cost of building it, it is a truly terrifying prospect with far fewer passing places than you usually expect of Hebridean roads.

There is a lot less single-track now than when we first visited back in 2002 - then the main road from Berneray to Eriskay was single track for almost its entire length. Now, they are gradually changing the whole lot to "normal" roads - which whilst more practical (particularly when you find yourself leaving Lochmaddy just as the ferry has come in!) are far less characterful. Here and there the old road remains, as a footpath, or parking place for peat-cutting locals and dog walkers. In places you can even still drive on it although as it's no longer being maintained this won't apply for much longer.

Robyn

Nifty Fifty Project....

A lovely sunny day here today - I've been waiting for one of those as I needed some decent light to do the latest photo for the online photo challenge I'm part of - the theme was "Reflection" and I knew the shot I wanted, getting it has been quite the challenge though. However, this is not the photo I've posted on here....

Once the challenge photo was done I crossed the road to the fantastic St Mary Latton church. I've taken some shots of the church before, but not for a long while, and as I was so close it seemed silly not to go and play! Some more shots will probably appear in due course, but for now, this gargoyle-type creature is one of a pair to be found either side of the main entrance door in the base of the tower.

A quick bit of history - there has been a church of some sort on the site since at least 900AD, and the main part of the current church is known to have been built in 1087 by the Normans. The Square tower was added in the 16th century, replacing the previous round one, but utilising some of the materials from the old one, including some Roman bricks which can still be seen at the base of the tower. From the early 1920's the numbers in the parish declined drastically and the church gradually fell into disuse, until in 1950 a group of people got together with the intention of reopening and restoring the now derelict church, which was re-consecrated in October of that year. It is a fascinating building, both inside and out, and my thanks go to the verger (I presume) who arrived whilst I was happily strolling around the outside and asked if I would like to see the inside as well - I did! He also furnished me with a fascinating booklet from which the above history has largely been taken.

Robyn

Hebrides Countdown.....

This picture illustrates nicely a subject I have touched on before - that of houses getting abandoned as families "upgrade" to the next step on the property ladder. In the foreground just the walls remain of the original blackhouse, whilst beyond that the whitehouse has lost its roof, but a lot of the internal features were still in place. Where these people moved to we have no way of knowing - due to the lack of road access this entire area was dotted with these ruins as people had moved to somewhere more accessible. There is even an old school left to ruins - fascinating stuff.

We've now reached the time of year when thoughts start to turn more and more to our next trip up - lists have started being prepared, new camera memory cards ordered, and a reminder has flashed up on my iPhone this evening that we have to pay the cottage deposit quite soon. Ferry tickets will also need booking - although with only the one operator (Calmac) running ferries to the islands this is the only time in the year I book travel without shopping around for a better price! Our intention is that, as last year, we will travel across from Mallaig on the Scottish mainland to Armadale on Skye on the ferry - slightly more expensive but far more fun than driving all the way around the road - we will after all see Eilean Donan Castle (or Eileen's Doughnut as friends of ours always refer to it!) on the way back, and the ferry ride really feels like we have started the holiday proper even sooner!

Robyn

An Essex Walk...

I've been looking for a photo to post for a few days now. I was hoping, by now, to have another one from our Photo Challenge as mentioned in a previous post, to use, but although we have our theme (Reflection) and I know exactly the shot I want to take for it, so far the light hasn't been right. Well, it's quite a demanding subject is "reflection"! So, today, with a spirit of "I will post a damned photo today.....grrr!" I started browsing through shots on the hard drive, and, tucked away in a folder called "Essex Walk" was the shot above. I'd had a go at processing it once before by the look of it, but obviously it hadn't quite gone to plan as I'd never finished the job. This attempt however I am happy with - a touch of HDR processing via the excellent Photomatix programme seemed to be the obvious choice for a shot with such naturally rich colours.

Robyn

Farewell....

.....To the Harrier Jump Jet. This special plane has today flown it's last operational flights for the British Military forces. It was only a few years ago that this plane was a regular on the air-show circuit, wowing the crowds and making small children cry and dogs bark with the phenomenal roar and downdraft as it went into a hover. It was always forgiven though when it "took a bow" at the end of the display, and its ability to do something (vertical take-off, and that hover) which is usually associated with a helicopter rather than fixed wing aircraft made it extra special.

Robyn

Nifty Fifty Project...

Thought I ought to get back to this again - as I've said before I love using the 50mm lens, it's just getting around to using it that I have an issue with. Then I pick it up, pop it on the front of the camera (works better that way round) and it's as though its never been gathering dust in the bag. I have to start thinking - really thinking - about composing shots and how to get exactly the picture I want. Sometimes I have to re-think the shot I thought I was going to take as it simply doesn't work for the fixed length of the lens - that's a tricky one as my photography head doesn't like admitting that a shot isn't possible.

The shot above was another one taken for the photography challenge I'm doing online with a group of friends. The theme was "Something architectural" and although I guess paving slabs aren't strictly speaking "Architecture" I was wandering round town with my camera and "that" lens, and saw the array of different shapes, sizes and coloured slabs and decided I liked how it looked. The challenges are good fun so far - we're seeing some excellent shots coming from people who had been at great pains to tell us all that they weren't very good at taking pictures - so far the evidence is disproving this! From a personal perspective I'm finding it a real kick-start to thinking about photography again and just plain picking up the camera and using it.

Robyn