I haven’t got many pictures today as I have spent a couple of hours in raptures over a raptor. I hoped it was a peregrine when I first saw it a couple of days ago as it was very pale underneath, almost white. I then saw it it being mobbed by crows this morning and missed it as it flew above my head at mach1. It then caught a woodpigeon just before breakfast and carried it away. That was brilliant for me but not for the pigeon. It hit it from nowhere and leaving a shower of feathers flew off. I think she must have young and as there aren’t any cliffs here I suspect it is a sparrow hawk. I watched as best I could where it went and went out again and found it. What a birder I am. Bloody useless is what I am.
The best shot I have of a wild raptor. I have nothing to compare it with as it’s the only shot I have of one. It would be perfect if it weren’t for the twigs. I’ll keep looking for it and maybe it will pose properly.
Here is a little quiz for the Bank Holiday.
What is this?……………………….Too difficult?
Try this. It’s the same thing lit in my new mini studio by three strobes. This studio is a tupperware box on it’s side in a cardboard box lined with dark green paper. The main light is the 14EX macro and the other two are 480EX at 1/32 duration fired by Pocket Wizard; primary metering was ETTL. It took a while to figure it out but apart from a curves contrast boost this is not tampered with.
I am waiting for the hens to go to bed so I can shut them up for the night. What a responsibility, the barley is still green so I haven’t killed that, Dozer has had his supper and is happyish. I collected nine eggs this morning and have scribbled the date on. There are a couple of naughty hens hiding eggs but I have had my eye on them so will steal them back tonight. It’s all go is this farming malarkey.
Have a great weekend.
HI Adrian My guess is a Tree Fern frond? Have a good weekend.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, it is a bird an 'awk. You are close it is Bracken. We can only see at 3:1 so 1:1 looks big.
DeleteLa paloma no tuvo suerte. Tienes huevos frescos todos los días ;))
ReplyDeleteBuen fin de semana.
Un abrazo.
No tenía el peor día posible. Me gustan los huevos unos pocos días. Pero tengo un montón de ellos.
DeleteThe picture is of a fern frond, I think.
ReplyDeleteI thought of you today, Adrian, as I saw an interesting tit that I hadn't seen before, and a jay, which I haven't seen for years. I tried to look up the tit, but couldn't remember the details of its colouring. Might have been a coal tit.
Frances, yes it's bracken. I see lots of Jays and hear more but have yet to get a good picture. Coal Tits are small and I'm amazed how they survive the winter.
Deleteamazing pictures :)
ReplyDeleteAnia, thank you. Not a patch on yours.
DeleteFarmer A ~ it suits you. That bird looks like a common pigeon to me ~ from what I can see :)
ReplyDeleteCarol, a pigeon............Wash your mouth out.
DeleteI love the raptor, is it a Goshawk?
ReplyDeleteBob, it could be it's big enough and in the right environment. I have seen it this morning but it flies so fast.
Deletethird shot is pretty cool
ReplyDeleteR.Mac, it is just play time. t is also freezing here this morning.
DeleteA few years ago some red kites hung around here - one could stand beneath them and look up at the patterns on the under-side of their wings. Recently I've travelled to Oxford a few times and there are always what seem to be what look like kites above one particular stretch of road. However, they don't seem quite 'right' for red kites. It might be the light or the hight but the patterns aren't noticeable and their wings appear to be narrower, or one might say more elongated, not sure, compared with the kites I remember here. What do you reckon? Do you think they could be a different kind of kite? - You see - I think you are an expert in such things!
ReplyDeleteLucy, were you to consult with the proper birders I know they would confirm that I am a complete Muppet. I didn't know there was more than one Kite but Buzzards plumage varies a lot so maybe the Kites do as well.
DeleteLucy, I'm pretty sure that they were Red Kites (Milvus milvus) that you saw around the Oxford area. They were re introduced into the Chilterns quite a few years ago and are doing extremely well, it's a very common bird to see in the area now...[;o)
DeleteYour visions delight us!
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu,
ComfortSpiral
=^..^=
Thank you Cloudia,
DeleteFalcons are amazing in their flight and catching birds. Do you have merlins? From the size it could be a peregrine. Now for the other stuff? I have no idea what it is.
ReplyDeleteRed, I'll have to get a better picture. The quiz is a fern Bracken to be precise.
DeleteAt this rate you'll be getting a cameo part in The Archers.
ReplyDeleteI hope not John. I can't stand the programme.
DeleteI would agree with you these days. Never used to miss it 40+ years ago but the last time I tried it seemed to have become a countryside Eastenders for radio.
DeleteJohn, I used to hear it as it came on radio4 long wave just before or after the lunch time shipping forecast. It was awful twenty years ago so I dread to think how far it has sunk now.
DeleteMystery picture = top of a fern about to uncoil - but not Fern Britton or Fearne Cotton,
ReplyDeleteYou said you weren't a good birder but in Matlock, Bakewell and Gran Canaria there are several fatherless children whose mothers would disagree.
YP, it is.
DeleteI very much doubt it.
I've been fortunate enough to get quite a few photographs of raptors: perhaps the best have been of the Australasian Harrier which I put on my New Zealand blog. I would guess yours is a Goshawk. It seems incredible that they were almost unknown in the UK until 50 years ago and now they are everywhere.
ReplyDeleteGraham, I'm pretty sure it is a Goshawk. The RSPB say there are between 600 and 900 in the UK so quite rare by number if not by weight.
DeleteLoved the book 'Hawk' - so goshawks have become very interesting to me. But the grind looks like a beautiful painting.
ReplyDeleteJean, I still haven't managed a shot of the hawk. I do see it from time to time.
DeleteOops .. I am sure I typed 'frond'
DeleteI knew what you meant.
Delete