This is nothing to do with the ludicrous attempts by the Prime Minister to vilify yet another of our wildlife species (in this case a red listed bird), but some shots of herring gulls chasing each other on the wing. The photos were taken at Rottingdean today, just along from here. At no time did I feel I was in any danger 😉
Rottingdean Beach at low tide
Herring gulls engage in aerial combat
Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.
We spent some time down in Rottingdean today which gave me another chance to try my hand at photographing flowers. We visited the Rudyard Kipling gardens. Kipling lived in Rottingdean for many years, and the local preservation society now maintains his (extensive) garden. Beautiful they may be, but I still struggle to get decent shots of flowers!
Flower in Kipling’s Garden, Rottingdean
Flower spike in Kipling’s Garden, Rottingdean
Those are the only one I’m posting from there, but I did get some flowers in among the moorhens at the village pond.
Lily pads at Rottingdean Pond
Juvenile moorhen and lily pad at Rottingdean pond
Back home, the badgers are still around, and I got some good shots late last night. Here’s one to be going on with.
Badger scoffing peanuts
Camera note: all Rottingdean photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF70-300mm 4.5-5.6 DO IS lens. I used the EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM for the badger.
Alongside my usual stuff I’m on a mission to take photos of flowers. It’s part of the latest FotoMission over on FotoBuzz and it’s stretching my creativity somewhat. I’m taking lots of pictures, but nothing that really stands out. These are a couple from today to show what I mean. The composition on the first is ok (or would be if I cropped out the flower head on the far right), but it doesn’t leap out at me. I quite like the second one, but more for the insects than the flower. I need to try something else.
White butterfly on yellow flower
Hoverflies on wild plant
This next one is a little more ‘arty’, but still doesn’t quite capture what I’m after.
Gravestone and wild flower
I do have an idea about what I’ll post, but I’m keeping that under wraps for now. In the meantime here’s my last FotoMission submission, the theme for this one being ‘action’. It’s a slow-shutter shot of a juvenile herring gull, and a photo I was really delighted to get.
Herring gull taken at 1/15s, f/29, 100 ISO
Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens.
