Closer to the Arctic Circle

In recent days East Anglia appears a little closer to the Arctic Circle

With snowstorms and daytime temperatures around the minus 4 degrees celsius this has provided some different photo opportunities

These few scenes I took yesterday on a brisk walk around the parkland areas

However, life is not so good for the wildlife and birds in particular

This below is one of the views I took of a snowstorm moving across in front of the late afternoon sun

Below is the last shot I took before I and my pocket point and shoot camera froze and seized up.{:)

Small is Beautiful

Continuing with my theme of small is beautiful 

(regarding small subjects in large frames)

I have posted these images which I took at RSPB Sandy this week

I suppose it could be considered a reproduction of what you may see with the naked eye

Chaffinch (male)

Chaffinch (female)

Blue Tit (possibly female)

Siskin (male x 2)

Blue Tit (possibly female)

Blue Tit (possibly male)

Great Tit (female)

A small Coal Tit (with a big seed)

Great Tits in conference

Dark Shapes in the Sky

"Into the Sun"

A pair of Canada Geese below happen to pass over my position and I managed to catch them with the sun behind

"Hunter in the Sky"

This below was a fluke event

I had a 70-200mm lens attached to the camera. More in hope than anticipation I took a shot of this Common Buzzard that was soaring quite high in the sky. Oddly enough the light was quite reasonable at the time, but the sunlight must have just entered the end of the lens hood when I took the shot.

Birds in the Mist (2)

The second of a two part series of images about Birds in the Mist

This Heron was quite content with me being around taking photographs

Unfortunately someone then walked along the other side of the river bank and disturbed him

This Blue Tit below was moving about these tall dry plants

This was about the only time he was in the open

I was located under a mix of tall trees and high bushes. I could hear Redwings in the distance coming my way. They didn't materialise, but this (first winter) male Blackbird did put in an appearance

What I thought moving about in low bushes was a Wren 

It eventually revealed itself to be a Robin

I watched this Blue Tit feeding away at something around this stalk for a while

This was one of only two clear shots I took

Reflections in water are always interesting and worth taking

A male Wigeon (unusually) was quite close to the waters edge 

The poor visibility didn't make it any better for the photograph though

Two views along part of the water's edge of the largest lake in the parkland

By mid day the mist became considerably worse and it was time to leave

Birds in the Mist (1)

Dull, dank and dreary were three words that immediately came to mind as I stepped out of the car for a long walk around the Parkland

What an earth did I expect to see, what was I doing here, I was asking myself

Firstly, I replaced the 100-400mm lens with a 17-40 lens on the camera in the hope that I may see a few misty scenes that I could take to salvage the trip out 

Then off I went

This Mute Swan in the distance that was catching a little light from somewhere looked interesting so I reattached the long lens

Then birds started to appear on a nearby hedge

They were common ones, but I needed to shoot something 

Even so the result didn't look much on the back screen of the camera

On returning home later and having loaded them onto my Mac 

I was much happier with the final outcome 

The theme "Birds in the Mist" became apparent as a title

"Birds on a dull day" may have been more appropriate, but it wasn't quite so evocative

Sometimes a small subject if colourful, with a larger dull background, can look OK

You do need to click and enlarge to get the best effect

Male Chaffinch

Male Greenfinch

Robin

Male Great Tit

This male Blackbird was scratching around like an old Hen looking for worms and wasn't at all bothered by my presence a few feet away

A typical view below away from the lakes

In the summertime this is a great spot for dragonflies particularly Brown Hawkers

A passing Greylag disappeared into the fog

The Low Afternoon Sun

At this time of year the Parkland looks quite different in the low afternoon sun

Most of these images were taken around the edge of the medium sized lake (of the three in existence)

This is an interesting time of day for scene photography

If you can choose a day with clear blue sky and have previous knowledge of the sunset direction, you can position yourself accordingly and look for a good backdrop

As for sunrise, Umm! whats that??