Martyn Pitt

Tony was a kind and gentle person always a pleasure to be with, this came as a great shock yesterday, he was really close with Carol, I know this has really upset her, it was only last Saturday she sang happy birthday to him (on your phone I think Stevie) when we were at Culcheth. He will be sadly missed, especially by his close friends Rest easy Tony Love Martyn & Carol x

That's a sentence you do not see too often ... good to see you again Steve, if was an enjoyable day out indeed.

Demos were given out free of charge to promote the record and get it airplay, in many cases with the 60's stuff there are more demos than issues of many sounds as the record never sold in any quantity. The current vogue is baffling, I certainly wouldn't pay extra money for them, not that I would be buying one in the first place ... apparently I don't need any more records as I have got enough ... I think that's what she said, thinking back it may have been camera lenses she was referring to. .

I must admit I was unaware that there was a huge demand for Sunday - Ain't got no problems I was surprised that a record I had put on tapes and cd's, had tried in vain to get a response to in my sets and was always readily available on either label had become an auction record. I was agreeing with the previous poster in my surprise that the Troy Dodds didn't go for more money, although I concede that may not have been clear in my post.

Would never have thought Sunday was an auction record to be fair, also surprised at the Troy Dodds price.

When dragonflies emerge they climb up a stem and basically fill out and harden off, they are described as teneral. We were on the far shore of the reservoir clearing these dead weeds from the shallows as they were making it impossible to see the waders on the shoreline from the hides. One of the guys was about to pull this weed out when he saw this, a teneral Migrant Hawker, you can see its wing tips are still curled up. As I didn't have my camera with me this was taken with my phone.

That's a bit of a surprise mate ... I would have thought you would have been sat next to Lou 😍

A Brown Hawker perched up for me for a brief moment on Saturday, they are rarely so obliging. If you see a dragonfly with bronzy gold wings in flight it is one of these. This one is a female I think from the paler colour eyes.

Mint only played once 😉

I can set myself some right challenges when out and about with a camera, these Hoverflies were darting in and out of the shafts of sunlight in the woods, so I thought why not. First I had to find one in the viewfinder, then get focus, then find it again, find focus again and eventually get a shot whilst they did their best to avoid getting papped. For the benefit of Smiffy these were shot at 6400 ISO.

The 300 has a close focus of 5 - 6 feet which is great for Butterflies, Dragons and Damselflies and is one sharp lens, plus I can get away with putting it on a lighter tripod, given how hot it was going to be it was a no brainer.

Only took the lighter kit out on Saturday, this was taken with a 300mm f4 lens, ideal for Butterflies and the like about 6 feet from the camera, unfortunately this one was a bit far out from the bank but I was pleased I had managed to get it in focus ... a male Banded Demoiselle

I was with the dancers as well - but not for Joey D, poor disco record not an ounce of soul in it, I think Kenny only played it for a bet ... I asked him if this was the case, he never denied it 😉 .

Pop record, never a soul record in any shape or form ... certainly never played at any soul event I have attended over the last 45+ years, thank goodness.

Sad news indeed, rest peacefully Jon

Tony's Empress Ballroom ... now that was dark, there were corners in there you couldn't see using military grade image intensifiers 😄

Steve I'm sure that you will still be able to call by and stand in the doorway reliving old memories ... 😆 Be a struggle to do the same at Winsford, Bretby & Willington seeing as they knocked the buildings down but I am sure they will leave the Monaco intact. x

Tune, beat and lyrics nail it

Well worth the ten bob I paid for it mate, I had to pay a couple of quid for the Towanda Barnes version 😁

The Ohio Players version on Compass is worth a listen, has a subtle difference to it, and was always cheaper than Towanda Barnes version.

I had forgotten about those two days in 1976 Steve 😉, it would be a boring world if we all liked the same thing.

Saxie Russell is a dancers record Steve 😉, awesome loud and booming, but 1500 quids worth? ... somebody thinks so.

Steve, I had heard that as well, waiting to see what the Z9 brings in the way of technology.

I bought it to use for photographing the grand children, and to take on holidays, mainly because they make using manual focus lenses simple, and I have a few of those. Face and eye detect using the A/F lenses is brilliant. But for wildlife give me an optical viewfinder over a TV screen every time. I was happy how it grabbed focus on the Long Tailed Tits, but will stick to taking out the DSLR for the birding stuff for the near future. I may even grab a cropped sensor body again, unless the next batch of Nikon mirrorless get close to the Sony focus abilities. I like the size of the mirrorless stuff, the number of focus sensors, and the stunning new lenses Nikon are putting out for them. Mine came with a "kit lens" 24-70 f4, razor sharp wide open, ridiculous quality for what it is.

At last ... first time this year out with the 500mm, was trying out a Z6ii mirrorless body, the Long Tailed Tits were attending a brood, but they had this habit of hovering near to the nest site.