Wildlife Photographs
For a while I have been trying to take pictures of the wildlife that I see either around the garden or on the journey to work. I've had some success with photographing birds, but guess that for every photo that I'm pleased with (this doesn't mean its a good photograph though), I must throw away 50 which are either blurred or show a half framed image of a bird rapidly flying away.
In 2008 Agnes & Myself were fortunate to move to a new house with a much larger garden than our previous one. The new garden attracts a wide variety of bird species. Some of the species we see lots of in the garden are; Gold finches, Robins, House Sparrows, Green Finches, Siskins, Chafinches, Blue Tits, Black birds, Swifts and Pheasants. There's many more but we have yet to identify them from the RSBP book of British & European Birds. On the pond, we have had a breeding pair of Moorhens and the occasional visiting Heron. At dusk we also get Pipistrelle bats swooping after the insects. The surrounding farmland is predominantly grass for cattle grazing or cultivated wach year for barley destined for the local distilleries. This attracts plenty of Sky Larks which can constantly be heard singing high above our heads.
For the last years, the pond has been host to a number of species of Frogs and Toads. Each spring the pond is alive with thousands of tadpoles. In early summer there is a max exodus of tiny frogs from the pond. We also get many different species of Damsel flies around the pond.
I am lucky enough that where I work, although near to Aberdeen Airport, is close to the river Don which provides me with plenty of scope to disappear for 40 minutes or so with the camera during a lunch time. The river is home to many bird species, particularly Grey Herons and various Wagtails. It is also possible to occasionally get lucky and see Otters prowling around the river bank.
A selection of the photographs can be viewed from menu to the left.