Dandelion macro
A close-up macro shot of the puffball head of a Dandelion, complete with its delicate, umbrella-headed seedlings before a gust of wind disrupts their designed uniformity.
*Shot on a Canon 1D Mark III 10mp professional dSLR using a Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX Macro lens with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/5, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/160 seconds*
Greenfinch patience
This male Greenfinch sits patiently on a twig, awaiting his turn at one of my birdfeeders to fill up its crop with Sunflower Hearts for the colourful bird’s growing fledglings back at the nest.
*Shot on a Panasonic Lumix G9 M4/3 mirrorless camera using a Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6 MEGA O.I.S lens with settings at ISO-200, aperture at f/5.6, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/800 seconds*
Post-modern Totem
A pylon stands erect in a field somewhere in Cockerham in Lancaster, UK; its angular steelwork and stretched cables conjure strange geometric shapes for the eye to discover and its grey façade appears impervious to all weather.
And surrounding its concreted stance at set intervals, other pylons run away in endless lines upon lines, their taut wires spooling out across the fields, hills, villages and towns in every direction, for as far as you can see: the perfect representation of a post-modern totem to our electrical God…
*Shot on a Panasonic Lumix G9 M4/3 mirrorless camera using a Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6 MEGA O.I.S lens with settings at ISO-200, aperture at f/6.3, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/250 seconds*
The gateway
Over near Oakenclough in Preston, an old gateway still stands in place: the rusting, spiked gate chained and padlocked in place, the two concrete pillars reveal its age is not too ancient after all and the last remaining paving slabs we can see through the metal bars are uneven and buckled by roots beneath.
What this structure belonged to originally is anyone’s guess, as the building is long gone now, but it shows that Nature is always winning in reclaiming Her own once we stop maintaining ours.
And off in the distance, atop a wooded hill is the beautifully stunning Beacon Fell country park in the Forest of Bowland.
*Shot on a Panasonic Lumix G9 M4/3 mirrorless camera using a Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4 DG Vario-Elmarit Lens with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/8, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/250 seconds*
Hay gathering time
Across the fields over in Dolphinholme in Lancaster, UK the farmers are busying themselves reaping their crops from seeds they’ve sown many months before: a perpetual, seasonal cycle that most of us take for granted and give no thought towards the sheer hard work that puts their produce on shop shelves across Britain for us to spend our monies on…
*Shot on a Canon 70d 20.2mp dSLR using a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 IS L lens with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/6.3, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/640 seconds*
Gull chaos!
A variety of different juvenile Gulls – along with an adult Seagull – swirl above the beach at Morecambe’s Westend area, awaiting a promenade visitor to either feed them their lunch leftovers or to take a chance and divebomb a visitor’s unguarded snack!
*Shot on a Canon 70d 20.2mp dSLR using a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 IS L lens with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/5, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/1250 seconds*
Under the canopy
Tree branches’ shadows crawl and stretch their blackened shapes, consuming all beneath in their dark spread, but the boughs relinquish their hold in an ever-moving fight with Time, as each moment passes in the Earth’s rotation…
*Shot on a Panasonic Lumix G9 M4/3 mirrorless camera using a Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4 DG Vario-Elmarit Lens with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/8, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/100 seconds*
Sunset pine cones
This Pine tree’s needles blaze a deep red, reflecting the dying Sun’s rays as two cones try to offer a light shield of sorts, but to no avail.
*Shot on an Olympus E-M1 Mk1 16mp m4/3 pro mirrorless camera using a Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6 MEGA O.I.S lens with camera settings at ISO-400, aperture at f/4.8, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/800 seconds*
Cuckoo attack!
A furious Meadow Pipit goes in for the attack once again on this European Cuckoo, who had managed to annoy not only the Meadow Pipits but also all the Skylarks and Sand Martins who were nesting on the moorland and nearby stream sandbanks at Over Wyreside in Lancaster, UK.
The Cuckoo was flying in low circles over the moors, with a deliberate motion whilst it looked for unattended nests and as soon as the attacking birds would either tire or withdraw, the Cuckoo would seize its chance to drop into the grasses and reeds for just a split second. Then, the grey-blue barred bird would be airborne once again, to repeat its circling whilst the cacophonous song birds would be harassing it once more, because they know instinctively that the Cuckoo means danger.
This female was looking to lay its egg in their nests and first thing the Cuckoo chick does when it hatches is push out all the other eggs from its new home; the small birds then raise this imposter as their own fledging, completely unaware, regardless of the huge size difference parents and chick present…
*Shot on a Panasonic Lumix G9 M4/3 mirrorless camera using a Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f/4-6.3 DG Vario-Elmar Lens with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/5.6, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/320 seconds*
In silhouette
A Hare is silhouetted against the cerulean-lapis dappled sky in Dolphinholme, UK its blackened head, shoulders and long ears breaking through the grasses, alert to any potential danger or any potential male challenger…
*Shot on a Panasonic Lumix G9 M4/3 mirrorless camera using a Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f/4-6.3 DG Vario-Elmar Lens with settings at ISO-1000, aperture at f/5.2, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/50 seconds*
Stretch the Horizon 