Capturing the moment

Brancaster Harbour 2,
originally uploaded by martinrstone.

It was one of those moments you could have waited days for.
We had just had a heavy squall. It stopped and the sun peaked out for a moment. It was still. The light was fantastic, clear, bright yet soft.
The tide was coming in. The sailing boats were being gently lifted from their afternoon rest and looking at their reflections in the still waters. The wading birds were moving nearer up the mud bank feverishly poking into the mud.
The clouds were in uncertain mood, some still angry some bright and fluffy.
And I was there to capture it!

Hare Harvest Supper

Harvest Supper,
originally uploaded by martinrs.

We’re on holiday in North Norfolk, a place known for its hares. We have been here several days and not seen one despite stopping at nearly every big, recently harvested field.

Then when we were doing a mundane, none wildlife spotting thing – we went shopping – we saw it dash across the lane in front of us.

That afternoon we went back on foot with telescope, binos and camera at the ready, not expecting to find a thing. But there, bold as brass nibbling at the new shoots was our hare.

Sparrowhawk pops in for breakfast

Sparrowhawk,
originally uploaded by martinrs.

It was deathly quiet in the garden as I was preparing breakfast on Saturday morning. I looked round the garden to see what was up and there sitting pretty on a garden fence post was this relaxed male sparrowhawk. I wonder what he had for breakfast.

It is always a struggle to balance feeding the birds in the garden and enjoying their visits and exposing them to the danger of the local Sparrowhawk. But then he is rather handsome!

Great Spotted Woodpecker & young

Great Spotted Woodpecker & young,
originally uploaded by martinrs.

I have had a great time this spring taking photos of the many fledglings in our garden. This photo shows a female great spotted woodpecker feeding peanuts to her hungry you one.

I recently bought a Nikon D60 DSLR as my first Digital SLR. This photo was taken with 55-200mm zoom lens.

I bought the DSLR to attach to my telescope to do some digiscoping but have yet to find a suitable adaptor for my Opticron telescope