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Show us your great photos (2020)


Amsterdam Russ

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Came out of work at the hospital, to find this....brought tears to my eyes.  The emergency planning that is going on is awesome.  I never saw such passion.  Makes me realise, it's not just a job to NHS workers, they're a very special type of person.IMG_20200318_164905429.thumb.jpg.1b5629745ad36556c284801c4060ca07.jpg

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1 hour ago, Amsterdam Russ said:

Just this minute seen a solitary summer visitor - a house martin or a swallow. Unfortunately it was a bit too far away to identify and was flying off into the distance. Will keep my eye out for more. 

Russell.  I'm guessing that it will be a Sand Martin but you never know. Trust all is well and safe my friend 

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1 hour ago, Winsford Soul said:

Russell.  I'm guessing that it will be a Sand Martin but you never know. Trust all is well and safe my friend 

Perhaps a sand martin passing through, although I’ve never seen one in the skies of Aalsmeer - well, our part of it, anyway.

Doing OK here, thanks, although bars, restaurants, etc, have been shut for a week. The same with events. And on taking a short walk to one of our local supermarkets, earlier today, we saw that a good number of shops were shut. There are five cases of the virus in our small borough of about 31,000 people, 3,631 infected nationally, and 136 deaths so far with more certain to come. ☹️

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1 minute ago, Amsterdam Russ said:

Perhaps a sand martin passing through, although I’ve never seen one in the skies of Aalsmeer - well, our part of it, anyway.

Doing OK here, thanks, although bars, restaurants, etc, have been shut for a week. The same with events. And on taking a short walk to one of our local supermarkets, earlier today, we saw that a good number of shops were shut. There are five cases of the virus in our small borough of about 31,000 people, 3,631 infected nationally, and 136 deaths so far with more certain to come. ☹️

Russell. You live opposite a canal and Sand Martins are the most likely visitors especially as they tend to feed just above the water more so than any of the others and i,ve not heard any reports yet of House Martins or Swallows . Tattoo Dave may have seen a few in Southern Spain.

Glad to here all is safe, not that many in Manchester yet but there,s time

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12 minutes ago, Winsford Soul said:

Russell. You live opposite a canal and Sand Martins are the most likely visitors especially as they tend to feed just above the water more so than any of the others and i,ve not heard any reports yet of House Martins or Swallows . Tattoo Dave may have seen a few in Southern Spain.

Glad to here all is safe, not that many in Manchester yet but there,s time

We have water around us (a small channel of water runs along side us and there's a canal out the front), but these don't offer the banks that sand martins need for building their nests. Rather, being man-made channels, they're sided by metal sheets or brick walls. And as said, I've never yet seen a sand martin from the vista offered by front or rear balcony (or indeed the side windows.

According to the information offered by a main birdwatching site here in NL, house martins can be found here from late March. However, as I wasn't able to identify whatever it was that I saw earlier, I can't say what it was beyond being one of the summer migrants. 

We're got fine weather ahead for the next week or so, which will - I hope - mean balcony time. If so, I might get a clear sighting.

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2 minutes ago, Amsterdam Russ said:

We have water around us (a small channel of water runs along side us and there's a canal out the front), but these don't offer the banks that sand martins need for building their nests. Rather, being man-made channels, they're sided by metal sheets or brick walls. And as said, I've never yet seen a sand martin from the vista offered by front or rear balcony (or indeed the side windows.

According to the information offered by a main birdwatching site here in NL, house martins can be found here from late March. However, as I wasn't able to identify whatever it was that I saw earlier, I can't say what it was beyond being one of the summer migrants. 

We're got fine weather ahead for the next week or so, which will - I hope - mean balcony time. If so, I might get a clear sighting.

Russell, I did,nt mean that they would be nesting in the area just passing through and where attracted by the insects that are even this early in the year are starting to emerge, but as you have said House Martins arrive in the NL in late March and its certainly getting towards that. Ive actually seen House Martins in the Republic of Ireland .March 28th i think was the date

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33 minutes ago, Winsford Soul said:

Russell, I did,nt mean that they would be nesting in the area just passing through and where attracted by the insects that are even this early in the year are starting to emerge, but as you have said House Martins arrive in the NL in late March and its certainly getting towards that. Ive actually seen House Martins in the Republic of Ireland .March 28th i think was the date

Passing through - that's what I said. 😉 I've had a look online to see if I can find a Dutch site that records the dates when summer visitors have first been spotted, but can't find anything for this year. Will continue to look to the skies... 

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46 minutes ago, Winsford Soul said:

This picture was taken on my phone via the free app called Sky view. It shows the planet's Saturn and Jupiter in real time and there position in the sky. The red dotted line is the horizon and the SW is the compass direction If your interested in the night sky this app is fantastic 

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Looks a good app that, mate. I have the sky map app but doesn't show the pictures like yours, just as dots with their name

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8 minutes ago, Soulandy said:

Looks a good app that, mate. I have the sky map app but doesn't show the pictures like yours, just as dots with their name

Andy. I had a few different ones over the years but this one is far superior to any other that I have seen. There's also a premium version but not sure of the cost mate .

 

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1 hour ago, Winsford Soul said:

This picture was taken on my phone via the free app called Sky view. It shows the planet's Saturn and Jupiter in real time and there position in the sky. The red dotted line is the horizon and the SW is the compass direction If your interested in the night sky this app is fantastic 

 

 

12 minutes ago, Soulandy said:

Looks a good app that, mate. I have the sky map app but doesn't show the pictures like yours, just as dots with their name

Looks interesting. I use GoSkyWatch on my iPhone and iPad, and on my iMac I use Stellarium, which you can access free online and via a download.

 

The great thing about Stellarium is that you can view the stars from anywhere on Earth, and travel backwards and forwards in time to see how the night sky looked/looks.

https://stellarium-web.org

 

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40 minutes ago, Veedub said:

Our local country lanes. We're avoiding any Nature reserves as people seem to be flocking to them the weekend.

I got a great pic of the Dunnock 😀.  The male Yellowhammer was  about 80 yards away ,so not the sharpest pic with my little camera,at full zoom, but what a lovely bird if full Spring plumage !  And theres Sarah 😀

 

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Great series of pictures again mate as ever. Love Yellowhammers ,don't see them near me, have to travel but thats not a option at the moment . Glad to see Sarah has recovered from her fall after dancing around at the virtual nighter 😂

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22 minutes ago, Veedub said:

For the first time in a few years, I actually heard the yellowhammer singing "a little bit of bread and no cheeese". i wonder if nature knows whats happening in the world ?  I bet it does , and long before we do ..... 

The last time that I heard them sing was in Pembrokeshire a few years ago after the beast from the east put spring back a few weeks and the males where still singing at the end of May. I have left again when they start singing again for the second brood so I don't normally hear them.

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As you all know with me having to self isolate and I'm taking pictures of the birds that visit my garden i thought would make a list of them. On a daily basis I get . Blue Tit,  Great Tit,  Coal Tit, Long Tailed Tit Goldfinch,  Bullfinch, Chaffinch , Wren. Robin,  Dunnock,  Blackbird. House Sparrow.  Song Thrush,  Wood Pigeon,  Collared Dove. Magpie. Jay. .I also occasionally get Greater spotted woodpecker. Goldcrest Greenfinch, Starling, Mistle Thrush. Sparrowhawk. Nuthatch. Siskin. Redwing. And flying around I get Peregrine Falcon. Buzzard. Raven. Carrion Crow, Jackdaw. Ring necked parakeet. Not a bad list considering that I only live 3 miles away from Manchester city centre city 

Edited by Winsford Soul
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Thats amazing Ste !  show us a pic of your garden sometime ? I'll take a pic of our garden tomorrow. We get lots of birds too. Had a Sparrow hawk chase a long tailed Tit yesterday and land on the bird table 6 feet away from our window , but luckily the tit got away ! 

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It's only a little end terraced house with a small garden about 40ft long going down to a point   triangle shaped with a few tree's. I live about 60 yards from a old demolished school with a bit of a wood, so the birds have to travel a bit but not much. But once they know about a food supply,  they keep coming back , then other birds see them and follow. Just found this picture from a few summer's ago

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Edited by Winsford Soul
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2 hours ago, Winsford Soul said:

As you all know with me having to self isolate and I'm taking pictures of the birds that visit my garden i thought would make a list of them. On a daily basis I get . Blue Tit,  Great Tit,  Coal Tit, Long Tailed Tit Goldfinch,  Bullfinch, Chaffinch , Wren. Robin,  Dunnock,  Blackbird. House Sparrow.  Song Thrush,  Wood Pigeon,  Collared Dove. Magpie. Jay. .I also occasionally get Greater spotted woodpecker. Goldcrest Greenfinch, Starling, Mistle Thrush. Sparrowhawk. Nuthatch. Siskin. Redwing. And flying around I get Peregrine Falcon. Buzzard. Raven. Carrion Crow, Jackdaw. Ring necked parakeet. Not a bad list considering that I only live 3 miles away from Manchester city centre city 

Quite a gathering. We used to have a lot round here but now it's cats, squirrels and pigeons. Squirrels have been nesting for a number of years and it's good watching the little ones but as for most birds it's a no no now. Quite a few years ago we did have about 20 waxwings in the tree for 5 minutes.

6 miles from Manchester 👍

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That looks lovely Ste. You're lucky to have that many birds in your garden .Ours is an inherited garden that was built in the 1970s, screen block walls, etc. , One of the reasons why we bought it as we live in a timewarp lol! all overgrown when we moved in last year and tons of work to do but its a good place for the birds 😃 I will post a pic or two tomorrow .

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10 minutes ago, Veedub said:

That looks lovely Ste. You're lucky to have that many birds in your garden .Ours is an inherited garden that was built in the 1970s, screen block walls, etc. , One of the reasons why we bought it as we live in a timewarp lol! all overgrown when we moved in last year and tons of work to do but its a good place for the birds 😃 I will post a pic or two tomorrow .

Thanks mate. Took a few years to get established,  still not got it right. Looking forward to seeing the pictures 

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Another photography competition - this one the Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2020. Some excellent shots to be seen here, and while also very good, I can't say I'm a huge lover of drone photography. To me that's just a case of launching and flying your craft and taking some aerial pics hoping they'll come out nice. But each to their own.

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Photo credit: TTL/Florian Ladoux.

Link to story: https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-52007548

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36 minutes ago, Amsterdam Russ said:

Another photography competition - this one the Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2020. Some excellent shots to be seen here, and while also very good, I can't say I'm a huge lover of drone photography. To me that's just a case of launching and flying your craft and taking some aerial pics hoping they'll come out nice. But each to their own.

_111396413_a80dd991-4e3c-4335-a84b-d7b60

Photo credit: TTL/Florian Ladoux.

Link to story: https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-52007548

Thanks for sharing Russell 

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8 minutes ago, Veedub said:

As a lot of us will be home for the forseeable future , it's time to get some gardening done ! Its good for the soul . This is ours, all built in the 60s. Crazy paving, rockeries, and screen block walls . It was a complete jungle when we moved in but we're slowly getting on top of it . The birds love the shrubs, and we get thousands of bees in the Conteaster hedge. 

 Show us your gardens folks ! .

 

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Looks very nice Mike.  I would have numerous ponds and water features  if my garden was set up like that.  

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