Martyn Pitt

Basically what Dave said, I always found the Canon Ixus range produce pretty good results, and it does not need to be the latest model either, it all depends how much you want to spend. One piece of free advice ... always try and get the sun behind you when taking a photo,with the light coming over your shoulder, the image will be miles better than if it is backlit.

Let's have a Chiffchaff, after all it's only here for the summer

The Dragonflies ancestors in pre-historic times had a wing span of 1 metre .... I would have loved to see one of those

It looks like a female Brown Hawker ... the golden colouring on the wings is a good reference for identification.

Absolutely stunned when we heard the news about Steve, a good friend of ours who will be remembered with great affection. R.I.P Steve Martyn & Carol xxx

A couple of Tawny Owl chicks were at either end of the reserve today, both well out in the open, the first was on a branch sat above the path. The second one is obviously younger than the first, it is about half it's size ... you just want to pick one up and cuddle it ... and see your arm torn to shreds

Heron flying low to avoid radar

Here's one for Steve, ... the Grasshopper Warbler, it has one of the weirdest calls of any bird, the whole bird vibrates whilst it emits a clicking noise similar to the noise a grasshopper makes, great to watch them when they are calling, they really give it their all.

Had a visit from a (we assume) juvenile Osprey, it circled around over the reservoir a few times, and made several plunges into the water for a wash before heading off It was obviously camera shy as it never came as close as I would like ... but they never do

Sad news indeed, graced the 86 Club many a time. Rest in peace John Martyn & Carol

A female Sparrowhawk

Congratulations Steve

You can have an Osprey as well ... we had two fly through this morning ... it is a pretty heavy crop as the bird was a long way away

Here you go Steve .. a Swallow in the rain and gloom of this morning

Caught a pair of Goldcrest displaying yesterday, tiny little bird, always on the move

They will be sheltering from the snow, thinking look at that daft lump stood out in this

A male Sparrowhawk landed on the top of the feeder rail for a nano second, unfortunately for him the smaller birds had seen him coming and all found somewhere to hide. I do love their eyes ... and look at those feet ... menacing

We thought that squirrels were responsible for the damage to this dead tree, turns out we were wrong

We had one at Belvide a couple of years ago, one chap could not find it and asked where it was, I gave him general directions to it's location but he could not find it, so I put it in his scopes field of view ... he still couldn't see it

It is a Bittern Peter ... and pretty difficult to find when they stand still amongst the reeds, quite a scarce bird to get over our way

What a dull grey day, never mind this Teal kindly did a low level fly by

The other camera is close and wide angled, you can tell by the large depth of field where everything is in focus, it could easily have been on a remote and operated by the guy in the shot.

I am not that tall standing up That's tea all over the keyboard again

Duck or Rabbit ... you decide