Waning...

And so we come to the last blog of 2016 - (although the review of December will be in January...); it has been an interesting year with some eventful happenings (falling in a river for a start) and one that has seen subtle changes in my photography - mostly technical. I have remained true to my goal of recording Britain's wildlife, especially concentrating on the common place - trying to draw people's attention to the things they can easily see, everyday. In addition I have also been inspired to document the changing seasons in Fenland - that area of low lying land south and west of the Wash here in the UK. Now, most of it is arable farmland; intensively managed and flat. Historically it was wetland - a myriad of pools, reed and sedge beds and scattered pockets of willow and alder carr woodland.  I am fortunate to live less than a mile from some old Fenland habitats so this will continue to be my main subject - the landscape and it's wildlife...

Weather plays a big part in a natural history photographer's day to day existence - I reserve the right to complain about the weather whenever I feel it necessary. With this in mind we had a poor month weather-wise here with many days of dank, dreary skies and poor light. The end of the month did however give us a run of glory with hoar frosts and beautiful blue skies... The near-by washland flooded for the first time in mid November, which lead to an influx of migratory swans and wildfowl. It is a delight to drive past this every morning on the school run...

As always I have been updating Facebook - my page here... ; Flickr - link here... and should you wish, you can buy my images from Picfair or from Dreamstime.

Like I said, the weather hasn't been special for most of the month... but here are a few images for you to start with...

As you can see the light isn't too good, but hey, that's the way it looked! Moody...

Even in frost ragwort continues to flower...

One sharp frost gave me the light in the early morning to capture some late season images from the garden...


The frosty day also gave me an opportunity for some brightly lit landscapes around the village - just tucked away from the main drag we have some rising ground with mature trees...

A local church created this amazing display for Armistice Day...

Now you will see this landscape throughout the year; just round the corner from my house is this delightful tree sitting perfectly in the landscape. I am looking to record this view during the year to see how the seasons affect the view...so this I suppose is a classic autumnal view with the leaves turning against an unsettled sky... (look out for it later)...

The "Super moon" gave me this early morning shot in mid month, and below is the first decent sunrise of the autumn...

However, the few days of frost at the end of the month was the real gem... some great light over the flooded Fenland...

Lone Turkey oak in arable farmland...

Grey heron, feeding on a flooded track - incidentally this is my favourite walk...now the haunt of water birds...

Puddle-ice...

Common reed in winter light

Back-lit teasel...

Flooded fence-line...

Sunset

Mature willow...

Could be the Taiga...

I am always drawn to lone trees...

A few bird images from late in the month...a subject I don't shoot that often, but one I hope to capture more of during this coming winter. The creation of a feeding station and hide in my garden will hopefully help here!

Peregrine falcon...

Kestrel

Robin

Blackbird eating a hawthorn berry

Pheasant in frost

Great crested grebe in winter plumage.

My final image of this blog is a landscape... remember the one from earlier with the large tree? Well here it is again, in a frost...

And that about wraps it up for November... hope you like the blog.

Have a great Christmas and a happy holiday to you all out there; let's try and make 2017 a better year for everyone...

Love and peace...

TTFN

Dance!!!

As I sit in my office on this Saturday morning a cold northerly wind is howling down the street and I start to wonder just what the past year has given us... I have spent most of it doing up our house - painting etc...and with that more or less done I can start to look forward to the new year (photography projects need to be planned in advance).  I'm not wishing my time away, but with natural history being my primary subject I must start to see what I shall aim for in 2017... time will tell if I'm successful.

Meanwhile, October was an up and down month with some decent images and a thoroughly enjoyable photo session with a local dancer (more of that later).

The month started with a trip up to Hunstanton - weather was very unseasonal (warm and sunny), I managed to get some pictures of Quinn as well as some seascapes...

I have started using polarizing filters for nearly all my images - it does really help the clarity and the colours of the images - see what you think.

A few days after this trip and we were off up to Scarborough and York... visiting friends and family but of course I managed to get out and about with the Nikon...

And of course the onset of autumn brings the mists and dew...

...The fen just down the road yields some great opportunities to use early morning light...

One image I particularly liked...

I really liked the light for this one... but on closer inspection, I saw a different image hidden within...

They give different impressions of the scene...but they both work...

So mid month I decided to get a grip on my Flickr account - as my old one was irretrievable I decided to create a new one - link is here... Please feel free to visit here often and to "follow" me should you so wish. Of course you can also buy any of my images from either here or here.

Wildlife highlight of the month was the discovery of a vulnerable plant species just down the road from my house... namely large-flowered hemp-nettle (Galeopsis speciosa) - it favours arable land and in particular potato fields. I hadn't seen it since 1994 and was delighted to stumble across a small population:

And so to the last shoot of the month... and the most enjoyable. I set up a shoot in a dance studio with a local Pilates/dance teacher - not my usual subject matter but I do have a long term aim...to amalgamate this type of photography with my landscapes. This shoot was a chance to see if we could work together.  I think the results speak for themselves really. We both enjoyed working together and hope to continue to do so. Thank you Stephanie you are a delight to photograph...

October came to an end and it appears to be getting colder... frost anyone? snow? who knows but I hope you all have a good November.

Our cousins across the pond have a momentous decision to make on Tuesday next - after 8 years of grace and charm they have to make a change. To me it is an easy decision but the polls would indicate something different and one pretty scary. I hope you make the right choice guys... I really do...

Peace and love to you all wherever you maybe in this wide world...

TTFN...