Beads, Beer and Photos, Tomcats blog: December 2014

Monday, 29 December 2014

Jack Frost visited

Went to Llanelli for a day - well actually for two so far 28th and 29th, Jack Frost had visited and while the birds were nice on the first day as it was midday or later when we were there on 28th,

This fox was taking it easy and warming himself, we spotted him and he spotted us - managed to get a shot before he left

A few Mallards took exception to my presence and took exit via stage right, but I managed to get a line on one

A loud creaking sound on a repeating cycle left me looking around and over my head came a Mute Swan low down having just taken off, managed to get a quick shot while it was passing over

The Mandarin Drake was showing off and where he caught the sun the wing 'flags' shone brightly - problem was he was moving along a bit and ducking and bobbing so he managed to get his head out of focus just as I hit the shutter button

I was there for the morning of the 29th so the frosty things were the focus. However there were a few birds about as well, just on the edge of the pond that is alongside the viewing gallery was this - a Water Rail !

A few shots of Jack Frosts work on the habitat

This and the following shot are my favourites of the day

But for my lady - this is the shot I wanted to get - ish - not the best, but they are small and fast moving and stay up in the branches so any shot like this is 'okay'

Sunday, 14 December 2014

December 2014 - so far

One shot from a trip to Lincoln, on the way home the evening sky started to look nice, was a bit of a touch and go to get to anywhere I could park up with a reasonable foregound

Had a trip to St Donats for the Christmas Craft Fair, Yoke and Eleanor were underwhelmed by it, not a lot of craft but a fair amount of mass produced tat by all accounts – I wandered of with my camera, thin pickings really but got this fungi shot

Velvet Shank - Flammulina velutipes

I have been working out of London a couple of days a week recently, finally took the camera in and took a couple of shots from Vauxhall Bridge, the first, looking left from Vauxhall side is Battersea Power Station – defunct and being turned into an apartment block – they are keeping the chimneys but taking down the brick and concrete ones and replacing them with steel frame and clad ones that will look exactly the same – the 2^nd looking right is the London Eye

One Down and Three to Go

We went down to Cornwall to pick up Verity for Christmas and to deliver her birthday present, finally. We decided to call into RHS Rosemoor on the way home, they were having a bit of a Christmas food fair and there was also a statue collection on exhibition around the gardens, a theme in evidence was Alice in Wonderland.

Cheshire cat


The Dodo

Mad Hatter

Had to take a woodland scene as the deciduous autumn colours are a great mix with the ferns and the darkenss of the pines

And where there is woodland - what would it be without Fungi !

Amethyst Deceiver - Laccaria amethystina

Final is a fountain that was in strong evening sun. I liked the way the water was reflecting the light so metered for that but held enought back to get detail in thefountain structure itself, then a little post processing to balance it.

Saturday 13^th we found the day to be bright and clear, cold, but hey its December So we went to Cosmeston to take in the air and take a few photos. The squirrels are getting very fat ready for winter!