January 28, 2014

Boring Weather...

It has been bad weather almost a week now and I really have not had any desire to go out and shoot. But I've gone on walks down to the Rivelin valley where the kingfisher is, I've seen it a couple of times but since it rains so much water becomes muddy and it seems that the kingfisher do not like it so it disappears from the site.
I hope it comes back.
But here are some pictures of the cautious pheasant, they visited my feeding place in the woods before Christmas.


Have a nice day!
                                                                 
Male

Female



January 23, 2014

Edale, Kinder scout plateau

During the weekend we had a friend visiting from Sweden, so instead of stalking a kingfisher the priority was to spend some time together.
Not many pictures were taken, except during a hike on the Kinder plateau which has the Peak district's highest peak at 636m. We started from Edale and it is from here the 429km long Pennine Way starts that follow the mountain range all the way from there to Kirk Yetholm in Scotland.
We hiked an amazing short route of about 9km, but at least we did something :) Up on the moorland we passed a section that is filled with rock formations called 'Wool Packs' which I have blogged about earlier. They do start your imagination, and this time we found one that looks a bit like a elephant with its trunk and a another one like an old mans face :) The plan was that we would go all the way to Kinder downfall which is the Peak District highest waterfall at its 30m but we changed our mind due the wind and that the mist was covering the area, so we took a short cut back via Jakobs ladder.

See you All soon!
                                                                          

The elephant

Wool packs

The old mans face

Wool packs

Jakob's ladder

Hope valley

January 16, 2014

The colorful Kingfisher

As mentioned in the previous post, I have been trying to get a good close-up of a kingfisher down in the Rivelin Valley. They are a bit easier to see during the winter months, not sure why, so I have for the past few years focused on them during this period of year. Like this time, I have stalked that poor bird to take a photo for the past two weeks but it didn't really want to land close to me. Its only 15cm, so you need it close, even when I use the 550mm! 
So couple of days ago I went down to the valley rather early one morning and was hiding in front of one of its favourite landing twigs just 5m away which should make it more that just a dot on a pic. The tripod was up, as the camouflage and the wait began.
After an hour my feet and butt got numb, even though I was sitting on a rather comfortable pad. After another half an hours the kingfisher chose to show itself, but only by fishing on the completely opposite side to where I was.
Just for a moment it landed on a twig close to me, of course on one which I didn't have the focus on, and I thought that was the chance I had that day. It got scared off by me moving around underneath the camouflage.
As any dedicated (read insane) photographer I waited for another four hours while loosing all the feeling in my legs, and then It was suddenly back and sat on the perfect spot that I had focus on!
Yes it takes a lot of patience to take good pictures of wildlife, and I'm not sure everybody is actually aware of that, but it is definitely worth it.

I was out today to the same place, wanting to take a picture of it fishing. Unfortunately it came by the pond only to show itself, stayed for around a minute before leaving to never came back.
No, I didn't stay and wait for it for four hours :))

Until next time, have a great week!
                                                                  

 

January 13, 2014

A Hike at Ladybower


Last week was spent trying to figure out where the kingfisher would land so I could get some close-up pictures. As you can see, in the lack of a blog about it, I failed. The area its in is rather full of twigs and bushes, which makes it a bit complicated. Anyhow, the hunt continues.
Until then, you'll have to put up with some pictures from Ladybower where we were on Saturday.  A path that we have taken before, a 14km loop that starts by taking you along the reservoir, then turns right up the hills towards the dark peaks and back along the ridge.
Earlier that morning it had been snowing, and as its rather high up here, the snow was still on the ground. After a while the sun came out too and it almost became warmer. Actually only if you were hiding behind larger rocks, as the wind itself was cooling down to probably around -5 :)
Despite the weather earlier in the day, there were a lot of people walking around. Some better and some worse dressed. Actually saw few with just SHORT on!! Should not be so surprised as its rather normal here in England to underdress for the weather.
Until next time, hope you enjoy the pictures.
                                                                           





January 6, 2014

Beaver tracks in Tyresta National Park

Happy New Year All!
I'm back from Christmas holidays, and it's time to get started with photography and blogging again.
While in Sweden I only went out on a photo-sessions once in Tyresta NP as the weather was extremely dull almost every day. It's surprised me how heavy the clouds are there compared to here in UK.
In Tyresta, just to get out and get some light, I followed a so called 'barnvagnslingan' which might translate to 'pram loop' :) that is around 5km long. In the beginning you follow a stream which after a while turns into a lake. A few years ago while living in Stockholm, you could see traces of beavers there, but they now had built proper dams along the stream and almost roads through the forest. Along the path I met couple of other walkers and they were as me pleased to see all this activity. Sadly didn't see a beaver as they nocturnal, and I couldn't be that bothered to wait :)
Another time when out fishing (no trout caught) I was kept company by a Weasel. It was incredibly curious, running back and forward checking me out just 1.5m from me. The sad thing is that I didn't have the camera with me!

This is just a easy start to the New Blogger Year which I hope will be filled with a lot of new photo-adventures. If you have any suggestions on what we should see/do here in UK, let me know.
Until next time!