Wandering thoughts and musings.

I have been busy for the last few months both upgrading this website to a new more flexible hosting solution, and in starting to learn the basics of digital imaging theory. The latter may sound horrendous but is actually fascinating, and has allowed me to start using image editing software with more understanding. Since the beginning of my photographic journey I have used the open source darktable software to manage my images, complete basic cropping, and to append a watermar

Since being bitten by the nature photography bug in May 2023 I think I have only had one week where I did not get "into the field" to take photographs. This changed in January of 2026 which gave us almost a continuous month in steel grey skies, intense rain, and dense fog. I have learned to deal with each of these weather types individually, but not when all three exist at the same time. Eurasian Wigeon on a cold January 3rd 2026 The only exception to this was the third of Ja

As regular readers of this blog will know I have been trying out a lot of new gear over the last six months. The switch from full frame to micro four thirds (MFT) has been a game changer in terms of the extra reach, and in my experience at least, has made negligible difference to my ability to operate in low light. Before I sold my full frame gear to MPB I took it and the MFT kit to a local hide just before dawn. A quick unscientific comparison between the two suggested tha

After my flurry of purchases in August when switching from full frame to micro four thirds I have been learning the vagaries of my new equipment. Despite buying three excellent OM M.Zuiko lenses (the 12-40mm F2.8, the 40-150mm F2.8, and the 100-400 F5.0-F6.3) I soon noticed that it was the 100-400 staying welded to my camera. As with the Canon R6 Mk2 and Sigma 150-600 contemporary lens, I was too nervous of missing "wildlife opportunities" to risk experimenting with the other

In a very exciting period I have been lucky enough to switch to the micro four thirds system in the form of an OM1 Mk 2 with 3 lenses, acquire a 15" Mac book Air 2025 for image editing, splash out on a DJI Action 5 Pro camera with DJI mini mic's, and evaluate various photo editing software before settling on my original choice of the open source Darktable. Needless to say I also had to sell my Canon R6 Mk2 and full frame lenses to help pay for all this extravagance, getting

After 18 months of using a full-frame Canon r6 Mk2, usually coupled with a Sigma 150-600 Contemporary lens, I decided it is time for a change. The OM1 Mk2 (top) compared to the Canon R6 Mk2 Until I saw a YouTube video by Waterfall Joe I had not realised that the OM series of camera's were weather sealed to a certified standard. Given the obvious savings in size, weight, and the outstanding image stabilisation system, it was an easy choice to make the change. A juvenile blac

After a very dry but not very sunny spring in North Yorkshire, and several weeks of a dry and dusty summer, it is not surprising that the local wildlife has not been feeling particularly energetic of late. However a couple of days of thundery downpours has certainly changed that for the better. A windswept grey heron just after a down pour One of my regular sunrise visits to the High Batts Nature Reserve luckily coincided with a few hours break in the very welcome rain las

For my first two years as a photographer I had my hands full simply learning to keep the subject in frame, in focus, and if extremely lucky in a good range of colour. With all that in mind it was an simple decision to ignore the issue of "digital development" and shoot in jpeg. A moorhen shot in RAW with basic noise reduction in Darktable. With a Ph. D. in Physics and experience in environmental data management, I have always been IT "literate", working primarily with the Lin

Late May is the anniversary of my take up of digital photography after I discovered the existence of digital mirrorless cameras in May 2023. As a total novice my first year was spent learning the basics of photography and working out what sort of gear worked for me. I started my journey with the Lumix FZ82 bridge camera which I highly recommend for anyone trying our wildlife photography for the first time. Bitten by the bug, and thanks to MPB buying my "old" kit at a good

Spring is finally springing in North Yorkshire with even the sun making an occasional appearance. Happily this means an increased food supply for the local wildlife, even if some of the wildlife fall victim to becoming a meal. Their energy is needed to start build nests and then to start "building" more wildlife 😊 A chaffinch having a breakfast snack. Merganser duck feeding on a fish. I am slightly concerned about the local frog population after this heron breakfasted on two

The biggest first achieved this month is one that I do not want to experience again, namely 16 consecutive days with complete cloud cover. Steel grey skies for that amount of time is obviously not conducive to wildlife photography, but they did push me to scout out some new locations. My first Otter on land My first "perched" Buzzard Visiting the Ben Rhydding Nature Reserve the lack of light caused me to have an ISO of 25600 for my first picture of an otter on land, but qui

Having studied Jan Wegener's excellent Youtube videos on bird flight photography I decided to put a few of his tips into practice. Looking through a zoom lens to find an in-flight bird has always been a problem me, and a priority to solve. The suggestion was to first follow the bird with the lens without using the view finder, then putting the camera to your eye when you think you are on target. It requires practice to get it right, but well worth the effort. Incoming! In t