Happy New Year to one and all. Let's hope 2021 sees some sort of return to normal as the weeks and months roll on

Running annually since 2013, this is the 9th photography thread. Thanks to everyone who has participated and made this such a popular and long-running thread. I'm sure we can look forward to lots of great contributions.

Given the restrictions we've been facing for so long now, getting out and about hasn't always been easy or even possible. But, with a bit of good fortune hopefully we'll get opportunities to revisit new and familiar places with greater ease. Certainly I've hardly been beyond my immediate environment during much of last year, so I'm opening this thread with a couple of favourite photos from some years back.

Both were taken in Elie on the Fife coast in Scotland.

 

Happy snapping, everyone!

It's not a photo competition I've heard of before, but the winners in the Comedy Wildlife Photography Award have just been announced.

Quote

The annual awards were founded in 2015 by photographers Paul Joyson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, who wanted to show the lighter side of animal photography. The pair also hoped that using humour would mean people felt more compelled to look after wildlife.

“We were overwhelmed with the number and quality of entries we received this year, with well over 7,000 photos submitted from every corner of the globe,” says Paul Joynson-Hicks.

One of the finalists submitted this photo:

Title: Draw me like one of your French bears. © Wenona Suydam/Comedywildlifephoto.com

Story and images here:

https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/09/02/draw-me-like-one-of-your-french-bears-these-funny-animal-photos-have-a-serious-message

...and here's a link to a gallery containing images from previous finalists:

https://www.comedywildlifephoto.com/gallery/finalists/

 

 

The latest "funny" from Baxter, who recently tried the stood up driving position.

Ed

 

3 hours ago, Amsterdam Russ said:

It's not a photo competition I've heard of before, but the winners in the Comedy Wildlife Photography Award have just been announced.

One of the finalists submitted this photo:

Title: Draw me like one of your French bears. © Wenona Suydam/Comedywildlifephoto.com

Story and images here:

https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/09/02/draw-me-like-one-of-your-french-bears-these-funny-animal-photos-have-a-serious-message

...and here's a link to a gallery containing images from previous finalists:

https://www.comedywildlifephoto.com/gallery/finalists/

 

 

Russell.  It's been going a few years now. Remember a Seal that looked like it was smiling winning it one year 

40 minutes ago, Winsford Soul said:

Russell.  It's been going a few years now. Remember a Seal that looked like it was smiling winning it one year 

As mentioned, it's been going since 2015, but still sure I'd not heard of it before. But then the memory is not what it was.  

Few from up on the moors above Crowden near Buxton ( this is actually the 2nd day of the pennine way when starting from Buxton )  this morning in the haze before the sun burnt it off.  

It was 12 months ago today that I was up there watching the Bearded Vulture,  Hoping to see some of the local breeding Ring Ouzel before they migrate to sunnier climes but it wasn't to be, still plenty of Rowan berries on the trees so hopefully the Ouzel are still up on the tops yet and haven't started their migration which seems quite possible due to the numbers of berries.  Hopefully will go back next week 

 

 

Edited September 6, 20213 yr by Winsford Soul

I’d like to introduce “Betty” the latest addition to our family.

On 01/09/2021 at 14:29, Winsford Soul said:

A few from the gloom of Pennington flash this morning. The hides have finally opened after nearly 18 months

Nuthatch.

Willow Tit. Now one of Britain's fastest declining birds and is Red listed as endangered, but Wigan and the surrounding area is the last stronghold in the North of England

Greenfinch with two fledglings

Willow Warbler.

Tufted Duck Juvenile i think

 

 

Superb Steve, really like the finches 

Our first crop of balcony-grown chillies. Habanero on the left and cayenne on the right. 
 

Male Kingfisher. Pennington Flash

 

While camping at the weekend this little fella was on the ground sheet. How it survived under us and all the stuff in the tent i dont know. I think its a young Crested Newt

This one's for Mal. I don't land every fish. There was about 15 metres of elastic ( 16 hollow ) out when I lost that particular one.  Actually landed 41 carp today upto about 10lb,  it was rather hot sat in the sun all day with no shade. , still 30'C at 5.30pm when I was driving home from Chester 

PS. At the end of the video clip you can see another carp down to the right hand side waiting to be caught . In the last video clip I managed to catch a Carp about 4lb

Swim ended up like a jacuzzi,  had to stop feeding so they would settle down 

 

Edited September 9, 20213 yr by Winsford Soul

Few pictures of two different male Marsh Harrier at Leighton Moss RSPB reserve

 

Edited September 9, 20213 yr by Winsford Soul

This flower as come into mum's garden any idea's on its name ?

42 minutes ago, Kev John said:

This flower as come into mum's garden any idea's on its name ?

A toad lily. I only know because I did a reverse image search on Google. 😉

Info here: https://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/perennial/toad-lily/

 

49 minutes ago, Kev John said:

This flower as come into mum's garden any idea's on its name ?

Ethel ???

44 minutes ago, Jez Jones said:

Ethel ???

Thanks Jez. The Mrs loves plants like that and we have a very shady spot under a few trees that it will be going in . Just got to go and get some now🤣

3 hours ago, Winsford Soul said:

Few pictures of two different male Marsh Harrier at Leighton Moss RSPB reserve

 

Steve , what beauty , think. Pic two is

outstanding , thank you 

1 hour ago, Jez Jones said:

Ethel ???

It’s a cracker , lovely picture 👍 

48 minutes ago, Neil Austin said:

Steve , what beauty , think. Pic two is

outstanding , thank you 

It’s a cracker , lovely picture 👍 

Thanks Neil ☺ 🙏 

Balcony view this evening, dark and moody, perhaps foreshadowing the end of summer - although I hope we’ve got some more to go yet.

A few from this morning at Pennington Flash

Nuthatch with sunflower seed

Blackbird skulking about

Pair of Chiffchaff 

Lapwing trying to hide

Starling fledglings playing king of the Castle

On 09/09/2021 at 16:33, Kev John said:

This flower as come into mum's garden any idea's on its name ?

It's a Japanese Toad Lily Kev, Tricyrtus formosanum, it's a hardy perennial, and relatively scarce.

My head in a better place today that it has been recently, so went for a decent walk from Caldbeck, up over Brownrigg fell for the most amazing views across the Solway, then back down and into the magical Howk gorge that you'd simply never guess was there if you didn't know. Unfortunately because the Howk's so thick with trees you can't photograph the deepest shafts in the rocks where the river goes.

Dx

Only managed to se a few decent birds yesterday  and the Snipe where too far away for pictures so here,s a few of a Wheater to give you a picture from a few different angles

 

Found this lurking at the bottom of the garden 

Just got back from 11 days in the Lakes superb weather,this day we were up on Rannerdale Knot over looking Crummock water,my Son and his partner posing and then went and had a swim in the lake as it was red hot and on to pub for a pint of Wainrights .Whats's not to like

Just treated myself to this yacht , never sailed before but went out with the owner who showed me the ropes ( no pun intended) and I’m quietly confident I’ll master it . 

Taken in Borrowdale.

Edited September 21, 20213 yr by Pat Bleasdale

I always browse on this post but never post (until now), as some of you may know I'm a pretty keen photographer and almost went to Art School for fine art photography (but that's another story) - I was in Glasgow with the wife for our anniversary at the weekend and we ended up in in bar (definitely nothing unusual about that if you know us) and the light was fantastic in our little booth so took some portraits of Lynne 

Last nights full moon on a cloudy Manchester night, slightly different but atmospheric 

 

Just the two from Pennington Flash this morning

Long Tailed Tit

Little Grebe, this picture took me ages to get right with the lighting as it was on the water, near impossible to photograph , luckily for me it stayed around for about 30 minutes so i had numerous attempts with various settings until i settled for this particular one

 

Male and Female Gadwall. The females beak is almost tortoiseshell like

 

Edited September 22, 20213 yr by Winsford Soul

On 18/01/2021 at 18:57, Winsford Soul said:

Male Marsh Harrier. There,s more and more of these majestic and still very Rare ( 450 UK breeding pairs ) birds of prey deciding to spend the winter here in the UK instead of flying down to sub- Sahara Africa .

Its a massive privilege to see these birds and even more so to actually manage a photograph  

 

 

Was two over River Ribble . Thought were Buzzards as local said , due too V shaped tail . However these were quite clearly a pair bonding . Swooping and gliding . Forgot my phone . Failed to capture image . 

Recent trip to Slaidburn  .

The back garden with a real strange array of twighlight colours..

Ed

Had some spare wall stones, and £100 in Heather's and other cheap plants.

My attempt at a rockery....a bit of colour at the back door.

Baxter was helping.

Ed

 

Out for few Pints in Clitheroe nice Bar . Keys think it is . 12 Bands on by all accounts  . Mod Weekend 

On 08/09/2021 at 20:05, Winsford Soul said:

 

This one's for Mal. I don't land every fish. There was about 15 metres of elastic ( 16 hollow ) out when I lost that particular one.  Actually landed 41 carp today upto about 10lb,  it was rather hot sat in the sun all day with no shade. , still 30'C at 5.30pm when I was driving home from Chester 

PS. At the end of the video clip you can see another carp down to the right hand side waiting to be caught . In the last video clip I managed to catch a Carp about 4lb

Swim ended up like a jacuzzi,  had to stop feeding so they would settle down 

 

 

GET IN!!!     totally missed these 🙂 ever so sorry mate...   so these are with a pole right? or is that your whipping rod?

so folks understand, these match fishermen are mental, a 10lb carp can actually do fair bit of fighting, sometimes when they see the net they go crazy, so the match guys are using effectively a rubber band, that's it... no reel with mono line, no clutch nada, other than them pulling on a band which is connected to a carp that does not want to be caught,...  hats off!!    and 41 carp!!   most I get in my runs water is generally 12 or so..

our local water in Chepstow, they have all put on weight this year, so fish I caught at 18lb are up to 22lb, quite a difference. I was told, but haven't seen the evidence, that 'Stumpy' who is the carp in this lake has been caught after last showing two years ago, he's a mirror carp at 28lb now, and evil with it, has a scar down his left side, to be honest I thought he had been stolen as you can get on a good ticket with a named carp to add to a lake, if you get my meaning... pure theft but guys do it all the time.

Mal

 

 

Edited September 27, 20213 yr by Mal C

Had 3 at 19lb Last week, 16lb and a load of small ones.. bit of an ugly common, he's a greedy one for sure, also nice pic plus a fisherman I met who had been there a long while for a bite...

 

Edited September 27, 20213 yr by Mal C

3 minutes ago, Mal C said:

GET IN!!!     totally missed these 🙂 ever so sorry mate...   so these are with a pole right? or is that your whipping rod?

so folks understand, these match fishermen are mental, a 10lb carp can actually do fair bit of fighting, sometimes when they see the net they go crazy, so the match guys are using effectively a rubber band, that's it... no reel with mono line, no clutch nada, other than them pulling on a band which is connected to a carp that does not want to be caught,...  hats off!!    and 41 carp!!   most I get in my runs water is generally 12 or so..

our local water in Chepstow, they have all put on weight this year, so fish I caught at 18lb are up to 22lb, quite a difference. I was told, but haven't seen the evidence, that 'Stumpy' who is the carp in this lake has been caught after last showing two years ago, he's a mirror carp at 28lb now, and evil with it, has a scar down his left side, to be honest I thought he had been stolen as you can get on a good ticket with a named carp to add to a lake, if you get my meaning... pure theft but guys do it all the time.

Mal

 

 

All on the pole mate. Which by the way isn't a specialist carp pole it's general all round match pole ,  ( Diawa tournament pro X 16 metre )  I just used a slightly stronger top set with a  reinforced carbon section.  Designed especially for this particular type of fishing . Yeah they do tend to pull back a bit but the pole section I used has a special bit where the elastic comes out of the pole then goes back in . Basically you grab the elastic and pull it tight with your fingers to make the elastic stronger which makes it easier to catch the fish. 

Here's the full family... these guys I met take these skeletons everywhere, they go shopping, go dancing, in the car, fishing... even got their own face book group,  Anyhow when I met them they had just booked 7 days at Mathern (Chepstow) as they had booked to stay on a lake in the mountain where there was evidentially no fish!! but they didn't find that out till they got there...

crazy buggars.

3 minutes ago, Winsford Soul said:

All on the pole mate. Which by the way isn't a specialist carp pole it's general all round match pole ,  ( Diawa tournament pro X 16 metre )  I just used a slightly stronger top set with a  reinforced carbon section.  Designed especially for this particular type of fishing . Yeah they do tend to pull back a bit but the pole section I used has a special bit where the elastic comes out of the pole then goes back in . Basically you grab the elastic and pull it tight with your fingers to make the elastic stronger which makes it easier to catch the fish. 

see, madness, all done with an elastic band!! I love it....

Up at amble harbour on my boat Friday evening , 2nd Saturday morning   

From a friend with a long drive showing a great sunset..

Ed

This one not mine . Though thought had to share seeing above picture  . Taken by Seti Institute . Volcanic Eruption meets Sun in Palma .

On 06/09/2021 at 19:22, Wally Francis said:

I’d like to introduce “Betty” the latest addition to our family.

Hey up Wally long time no see . How keeping mate ! 

11 hours ago, Soulfulmerlin said:

Hey up Wally long time no see . How keeping mate ! 

I'm doing well mate, still dj'ing at a few venues, but mainly playing 70's Modern soul now, I've been slowly selling off my old stuff. Hope your keeping well and how's your brother doing not seen him in a long while.

He's OK rarely goes out . I stopped DJn while ago . Just building up my collection again . Across board . Started buying few modern . Forgotten Mecca stuff . Only go Quality Venues now . Culcheth ( Lowton  ) Ukrainian Club Ashton ♥ 👌  . MVPs at Morecambe  . Blackburn Soul Club . Back over your way in week or so . Tell our lad we're asking after him . Be bit quality modern played Saturday at Blackburn  . Jim Booth is a guest . 

Catch up soon Wally lad .

Hutchy x

Jem Booth 

Out on the bike to the local nature reserve yesterday on what was probably the last summery day. Not much in the way of pics, but I did have the thrill of briefly watching a sparrowhawk twisting and turning at great speed in pursuit of a finch. What the outcome was, I don't know.

I also saw a buzzard land on a bush about 20 metres away from me, it's wings outspread and flapping as it tried to find its balance on a branch. That would have made for a great photo - if only the buzzard hadn't spotted me and flew away rapidly before I could even get camera to eye.

And the sight of a family of partridges crossing my path unexpectedly added to the day. Again though, the things were too quick and I only managed to fire off one shot, which, unfortunately, came out blurry. I've posted it anyway.

Beyond that, goldfinches were aplenty. They, though, spot you at 100 yards and flit away almost out of reach of my 300mm lens (hence the pics below are heavily cropped). Still, all in all, a fine way to spend an afternoon.

At last bit we'll quite a lot of Rain ! Has replenished Lake and allowed Fishpass to function  ! Enough to even make waterfall run . Hopefully will suffice for Fish and Eels able to get to lake . Stream has good head of Trout and Eels.  Prior to installing Pass . Fish got no further than old Mill . Woone Lane Nature Reserve Clitheroe  . 

Courtesy of The Guardian...

Quote

Winners of the 2021 Nature Conservancy photo contest – in pictures

UK photographer Anup Shah won the competition with his photograph of a gorilla walking through a cloud of butterflies in the Central African Republic

Source: The Guardian / © Anup Shah/TNC photo contest 2021

Check out all the finalists' photos here:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2021/sep/29/winners-of-the-2021-nature-conservancy-photo-contest-in-pictures

 

My Boy . Becon Fell .