Nuthatch

finally he decides to come and eat while Im outside with the camera! Hes real sneaky.. seems to know if Im going to take pictures or not!

Nuthatch


Painted Lady.. managed to get a better shot of one this time.

Playing with black and white

Ive converted a few of my shots into black and white.. think they work quite well. Feedback appreciated!

Rose


Bluebells


Dew


Pylon


Kerry

some photoshop jiggery pokery

Ive merged my other photographic blog with this one as everyone seems to follow both! it also makes it easier for me! Hope noone minds that


been playing with some of the more advanced techniques in photoshop to create most processed mood and lighting. All of these pics you've probably seen before, but in their raw form as it were.

Had alot of fun in the digital darkroom yesterday.

Criticism greatly received!!

'To see the train'


'Sleeping in the Catnip'


'Lady's Mantal'


'Clematis'


'Contemplation'


'Tranquillity Bay'

a few more

been playing about a little so thought Id post a few more that Ive found lurking in my RAW folder for today.

Landing Pad


Green fly!


Fuschia


I prefer the lighting on this one


Cricket.. oh hes so greeen

some nice shots of today

Our Japanese Anemone's are in full swing and are bringing in hundreds of hoverflys which is quite stunning.

Here's some shots I took this morning.

Hoverfly


Hoverfly's on Japanese Anemone's


Pink! (Hydrangea)


Japanese Anemone


Lily and Hoverfly


Feeding Station


Clematis and Hoverfly


Painted Lady Butterfly (Thanks to Steve for the correction!)

Bullfinch!

Saw the lovely Bullfinch in our Smoke Bush tree today! lovely to see him back! alot of the birds seem to love the tiny fruits that the tree produces after flowering.. they look very much like sprays of tiny elderberries.

here he is, as good a shot as I could get Im afraid.

Bullfinch!


One of our many adorable baby robins

soft rain

well.. after a maddeningly annoyingly laddy stag do in Gran Canaria I return to the rain soaked England! To be honest I welcomed it after the 32C heat of the Canaries.

Squirrel nutkins has all but destroyed most of the plastic ports on the 10 port feeder we have. Hes chewed them into about 5 separate pieces each! Ive glued them back in for now and ordered a Droll Yankee 6 port Heritage collection metal port job which should be here in a few days!

It looks like the bird numbers are building up again.. Kerry reports seeing the Greenfinches back, both flocks of Goldies with their babies totalling 11 individuals, the nuthatch and baby all being regular visitors.

Today we've seen a few goldies and a few blue tits, but the most common visitor today in this soft rain was the Nuthatch family.. the juvenile seems slightly yellower in the body than the adult who is more cream coloured. Its lovely to see them though, especially so often.. maybe 5 visits just while we were watching.

Ordered a rain guard for the new feeder that will hopefully act as a sort of squirrel baffle as well.. I wont order a Droll Yankee spill tray as a fixed one provides a perfect perch for the pigeons, so Ill put my clear tray under it suspended by a central hook, so that any large birds sitting on it cause it to tip.. it seems to work very well as the smaller birds arent heavy enough to move it.

Oh, I finally had a Terry Pratchett inspiration particle enter my brain and realised that our tree is a Smoke Bush Tree! Seems to bloody obvious now when you look at it in the wet.. all those water droplets on the fluffy flower heads! Anyway, its been driving me mad not being able to think what it is so all is now calm tranquillity in my brain.. other than the usual voices of course.

some shots from today :) some nice rain brought some insects out

This is our amazing black Hollyhock




Horribly out of focus but too unusual to share it


Shield bug!

My naughty cat

Happily, she leaves all the birds alone and just concentrates on mice and shrews.

And yes, she has water down inside, outside.. but she still prefers the birdbath.

Kiska is just too clever for her own good sometimes


No.. no fish in here!