Sad news - Twice

I received two sad bits of news yesterday.

Firstly, it continues to be very depressing when you hear of stories of raptors dying.  It is doubly so when you hear that they have been killed on shooting estates.  Birdguides are reporting via their Twitter feed, the death of three Golden Eagles - three for God's sake - this is truly appalling.

Why is it that so many wonderful birds, among the rarest in our land are killed by the supposed custodians of nature.   I know the answer to my question and it is unpublishable on here.

Secondly, when I picked up my email yesterday when I got home from work, it was very sad to hear the news of the death of a fellow wildlife photographer, Gordon Howe.  Gordon was a fine wildlife photographer who I had the pleasure of sharing and reviewing images with in an on-line photo circle.  His fine work and considered responses will be sadly missed by me, and the other members of the circle.  My condolences to his family.

Martin

A few random ramblings

Last week I received an interesting private message from a member from the EOS Magazine forum, and also reader of this blog.

He said this to me

" I am assuming from what I have seen on your blog and on various forums that you are the type of person who has a library of photographic and bird books . I am, as they say, downsizing. I have a couple of books that would intrigue you, you might have seen them or even have copies.

They are:

Birds in Action by Eric Hosking and Cyril Newberry. Published in 1949

and

Bird Photography as a Hobby by Eric Hosking and Cyril Newberry. Published in 1961

You are most welcome to have them"


Well I was gob-smacked by this kind offer and I said yes straight away.

I have had a quick look through them and they really are classics of their time. The photography is intriguing and fascinating, and incredible for the technology that was available at the time

I need to do a more thorough review of these books and would like, with the indulgence of Dave, my blog buddy make this our 300th post, as I think a landmark post always deserves an extra special subject.

So a massive thanks to Stan Castle - I never cease to be amazed at the kindness and generosity of people.

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Many of you will have seen me promote the good work of Birdguides. I receive the email alerts of sightings in my area. This is a great time of the year as we get into various migration patterns with all sorts of rarities turning up. It is fascinating to see what is being sighted near you - so if you haven't already, I can recommend signing up to a fairly basic package and finding out what is happening.

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I mentioned here a couple of weeks back that National Moth Night is coming up, as supported by the Butterfly Conservation group. All being well, I will be on a field trip with some other folk from the Smethwick Photo Society Nature Group this weekend, so with a bit of luck I can bring you some moth images - a proper first for me. More work with the 180 macro lens.

Martin

Forums Part 2 plus some bad luck

Just to quickie add to Dave's post from yesterday, I said we would also mention the latest EOS Forum that has just got underway.

Just after we started this blog in January, EOS Forums went off the air as a result of host provider problems, and we kept those fellow EOS readers over here up to speed with events.

We told you about EOS Network, and we told you about Canon Fodder Forums that subsequently were spawned independently.

Well EOS Magazine Forum is now back and live, and certainly getting plenty of new members and contributions, so let's hope it runs reliably in the second incarnation.

On a separate and sad news front, I noted an alert on Birdguides Email Alerts in my local area of a Wryneck that was found in Evesham over the weekend. Now this is a pretty rare bird for most parts of the UK, let alone locally. Sadly, the report was only possible as the bird had been killed by a domestic cat.

We are pleased to have Birdguides as one of our blog followers. If you are not a follower or 'friend' of Wildlifephotographyacrossthewater then just check out the links on the right hand side.

Martin

Views - Some days are just no good

Dave wrote a great post a couple of weeks ago titled Purple Days. Well sometimes you get the reverse of purple days - well at least I did today photographically.

As per Good Friday, or should I say crappy light Friday, the light again today was awful, and you just know that it is not worth getting the camera out of the bag.

I took a trip around some of the locations in the northern part of Warwickshire to Lea Marston trying to find some Black Necked Grebes that were reported on Birdguides. But drew a blank there - saw lots of other great sites - none of them close enough or indeed in the preferred position to photograph. Loads of Warblers - Willow, Blackcap and Reed. Plenty of Great Crested Grebes - even doing the weed dance. Great through the binocs but just not near enough.

So onto the next location, Brandon Marsh - again plenty there - Snipe, Little Ringed Plover, Ringed Plover, Greylag, Barnacle, White Front (lonesome) and Canada Geese. Plenty of wildfowl as well. A couple of Sparrow Hawk. More warblers - as before plus Sedge and Cettis. House and Sand Martins, plus Swallows.

So what with that lot, plus Kestrel, Buzzard and a couple of Sparrowhawk any birder should be pretty happy - and I was too.

But no images!!

I always tell myself philosophically that I go out to watch wildlife and if I get an image then I consider it a bouns. Sometimes I really wonder if I mean that - today was no exception

But...........but there will be better days ahead. I have checked out two great butterfly and wildflower sites, so will look forward to that as the season progresses :-)

Martin

Review - British Butterflies DVD ROM Guide

For our 101st post, I wanted to tell you about a great DVD interactive guide I have just acquired. Published by Birdguides, it features over 60 regular British Species, with over 500 illustrations and 200 professionally filmed video clips. It shows all stages of the cycle of a butterfly with all the relevant information. They great thing with this guide is that it now resides on the Netbook, so I have full field availablility of the information.

With the warmer weather, and the first appearrance in the last couple of weeks of butterflies in my garden, the timing for this is just right.

Update: Some more detailed info here

Martin