Foggy trees.

Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire, England in the late 1970s. The trees are growing in a field belonging to a nursery and were ready to be transplanted to customers. As a photography student my summer job was working in the fields belonging to the nursery so I was familiar with what was growing where.

On a foggy autumn day I went for a walk around the fields looking for shots. The original was a colour slide but it was monochromatic so when I copied the slide I did a monochrome conversion. The bright section at the top of the frame means that the sun was quite high when the shot was taken.

Foggy trees.

Feeding Whooper Swan.

One from the archives taken in Lancashire, England in the mid 1990s.

I was at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Martin Mere reserve. There was a few Whooper Swans (Cygnus cygnus) close to one of the hides in the morning. With the nice light on the birds I spent some time shooting as wide a variety of images as possible.

I like the way the light is catching the drops of water on the birds head and neck as it feeds.

Portrait of a feeding Whooper Swan.

 

Squares.

This week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge is Squares. I had a few ideas for the challenge but this ended up an obvious choice with squares of wire mesh holding peanuts for the birds.

This is a male Eurasian Siskin (Spinus spinus) feeding on peanuts in a garden in Cheshire, England. Although a year round resident in the U.K. it is more commonly seen in the winter when it comes to bird feeders.

This is the way most people see Siskins which probably explains why a magazine editor used this photo over others shots of the species in natural settings that I had submitted.

Eurasian Siskin on peanuts.

Week 45. Trapped.

There wasn’t many photos to pick from for week 45. I didn’t have much time to get out with a camera due to a variety of issues.

I managed to get for a walk on Saturday afternoon after the snow had stopped. I wasn’t many yards into the walk when I spotted a leaf trapped in the snow that was trapped in Pine needles. I couldn’t tell if the leaf had been caught in the Pine needles before the snow settled or if it was caught in the snow.

I tried a few different compositions and initially used a different version in this post before changing it for this one.

Trapped in Pine needles.

Being watched at sunset.

One from the archives taken in Lancashire, England in the 1990s. I spent most of the day at Martin Mere Wetland Centre, a Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust nature reserve. There’s a selection of wooden hides (blinds) overlooking various areas of the reserve.

I made sure that I was in the most suitable hide as the sun was setting with the intention of shooting silhouettes of the wildfowl on the water. This male Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) appears to be staring at the lens although I suspect that it is a coincidence as the birds generally ignored the hides. I like the way the last light is catching the grey portion of the birds bill.

Being watched at sunset.