Store Updates

11 Days into the new year and I've come a long way already! Below is a sneak peak at my new store. I've had to design all these Mockups myself because I'm cheap and don't want to pay someone else to do something I'm capable of doing myself... I've not been taught how to use Photoshop but with a little help from Youtube, I'm getting the hang of it. 

Below is just some of the items I'll be selling. If there is anything else you'd like added to this list, I'll try make it happen! Still need to finalise all the financial side of things yet, also having issues with Paypal but I'm sure i'll get there soon. 

Waxwing & Urban Backgrounds

I mentioned in my last blog about the flocks of Waxwing making their way west into Wales, but I didn't have a picture to show you what they looked like! Partly because, I'd never seen them before! So I made the effort this morning to catch up with a flock in Cardiff, in such a random place.. KFC on Newport Road. The grey sky today didn't help with the photography but I was very happy to see / hear them for the first time. In my usual setting, there is greenery all around me, so framing the shots to get a nice background is usually fairly easy for me, but today, surrounded by cars, buses, people and man made objects next to a KFC, there wasn't much to work with. 
I did try my best though...I'll let you decide if you like it or not.

Waxwing, Grey Building Background

Redwing KFC Sign Background

Waxwing Blue Sign Background

Store Improvements

You may have noticed (probably not) but I've removed the store from the menu bar. Nobody  ever visited that page because for quite sometime, the only product in there was a used teleconverter that I've never used... This is all about to change however, and in the not so distant future (once Paypal sort themselves out) I'll have lots of merchandise for you to purchase. I'm in the process of creating my own small business and with it, partnering up with some of my local printers. If you like Mugs, Pillows, Canvas', Aluminium Prints, Keychains, Clocks ect, they'l all be available soon! I'm so excited to see how this goes and move forward. 

On the wildlife front, everyone seems to be going mad, with Waxing sightings popping up everywhere in South Wales. I personally haven't had any time to get see them yet but hopefully will find some time this weekend so I can show you what all the fuss is about. Waxwing' are winter migrants to this country and only ever come down this far when the Berry crop in Scandinavia runs out or isn't enough to sustain them through the winter. They arrive mostly down the East coast and have been sighted in England / Scotland in the last couple months but finally, they've started to turn up in Wales which is a huge treat, as they really are stunning little Birds, very exotic looking. 

For now, you'll have to enjoy these two photos from work. 

Winter Robin using car to warm up. 

Winter moon over Brecon

New Year Goals

As 2016 comes to a close, it's time to reflect, learn and move forward. Personally, despite many of my friends, family and loved ones having a tough year, I can't grumble about anything. With a new Job (albeit temporary) and more future opportunities growing every day, I'm going into 2017 very positive. If I were to have any resolutions, it would be to print / sell more of my photographs, so as of January, I'll be committing to an online web-based store selling both calendars and photography prints in various forms (canvas and aluminium prints). My prices aren't going to cheap to start off with as I will need to print them commercially but hopefully with more experience, they will become more affordable and therefor more profitable. It will however be easy so long as you're used to using Paypal for your online orders. 

To reflect on 2016, here are some of my favourite photographs. I know it's been slow since September, that's simply due to lack of time in the day. Hopefully that will change once Spring 2017 arrives and we gain more light in the evenings. I'll try my best and I'm sure you will give 2017 your best also. Happy New Year to all of my friends, family and followers, I hope it brings you Joy. 

 

Frosty Morning!

Averaging around 0ºc this morning and the birds were really showing a difference in behaviour. On the way to my feeding station I watched a poor Jackdaw getting malled by another Jackdaw and a few Magpies. Birds only really have one thing worth fighting for in the Winter and that's food. Same sort of behaviour at the feeding station also with Blue Tits fighting, rolling on the floor like Dogs! 

Another good morning though and todays surprise visitors came with attitude. Both Great Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch were jealously competing for the peanuts before I ran out. 

Had lunch at the visitors centre @ Llandegfedd afterwards and the cold weather had brought in a lot more wildfowl that usual. Red / Fieldfare numbers were quite high too, especially at the north end. The annual Peregrine Falcon's are still using the Osprey Pole as a look out along the mud flats. 

Christmas Break

Hope you're all having a lovely Christmas! I certainly am, all things considering. (I won't go there).  Today, I visited my winter feeding station which is still going really well despite having spent very little time there. The species list is growing with new visitors every day. Today I had my first Nuthatch which took longer than I thought it would.. I've been having some surprise visitors too which I'm not going to reveal until I get a decent picture of them. Fingers crossed on that one!. For now, I'm still enjoying getting photographs of the beautiful common Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits that are regulars all throughout the day. Here are some photos from today. 

Work Goals

Geez! I'm absolutely shattered, the last couple weeks have been flat out in the lead up till Christmas with two assessments back to back. First, my B+E Trailer test which I was chuffed to pass and also I had my Chainsaw / Crosscutting assessment today, after a weeks crash course in Mid-Wales (Rhayadar) last week, which I also passed!. Fabulous part of Wales mind you! Red Kites everywhere, also saw a lot of Crossbill while felling with a Great Grey Shrike deep in the woodland too. Both physically and mentally draining however so ready for a 'relax' this Christmas. Doubt that'l happen but who knows! 

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If you're following my flicker page  you'll see that I have been uploading a few pictures this month. I've started a winter feeding station at a remote location with a pop up hide set up, in the hope to get some of the more common species. I've noticed that wildlife photographers tend to neglect the common species of bird because either they find them boring or don't find them a challenge to photograph. I for one know how difficult it can be to get decent, natural images of these species so I'm going to try this winter to get some in the bag that I'm happy with. Here are a few so far. 

Work, Weather and Health

People seemed to like my blog post about the Red Grouse & the BBNP last week so I thought I'd show you the final stages of the heather restoration progress. The picture below shows the next stage of filtration, in the basket you'll see the brash that we don't want and in front of the wood is the finer seed that will then need to be fully dried before being bagged and stored for future restoration. 

Today however we were building a bridge over a fanatic waterfall in.... any guesses where?... I only had my phone but tried my best to get a slow shutter photo without a tripod.  

I'll post up some more picture of the bridge once its finished tomorrow. We did run into a few problems, including a broken drill so we'll have to re-visit in the morning. 

Something to look forward to, I'll be starting a new winter feeding station like last year, but in a different location. I have a few birds in mind that I'd like to photograph but to be honest, I'll be happy enough to just get a Blue Tit in the lens. 

Road Trip

A hunt for Red Squirrels saw an early start of 3am this morning to get to North Wales for sun rise. The day didn't quite go to plan with a number of challenges, number 1 of which was Dog Walkers. I returned to the same woodland that brought me success last year but this time, on a weekend instead of a week day, which turned out to be a big mistake. Either way, the scenery in North Wales was spectacular and well worth the travel. In our time there we were entertained by the bubbling sounds of Curlew overhead, the whistling echoes of Wigeon and the scratching bark of  Nuthatches frantically stealing all the nuts we brought with us. 

Goldcrest

Finally got out with the camera for an hour today, visited Llandegfedd with the intension of photographing some Redwing / Fieldfare and all I really got in the camera was this obliging Goldcrest. Bird numbers are really low at Llandegfedd... Water level is the lowest I've ever seen with old buildings showing at the waters edge! This has made it near impossible to get close to the water and it has drawn all the waterfowl to the middle which are then being flushed off by the water sports activity which are for some reason still going on. I had the impression that the water sports (sailing) were meant to stay on the south side of the lake but they were not sticking to those boundaries today with one venturing near the Osprey Pole at the north end. Rant over, I hope you like the photo.