Big Garden Birdwatch - 2013

I took part in the Big Garden Bird watch this year again at the weekend and tried to get some photos of the birds that I was trying to count.  It's very difficult trying to count them in any case as they refuse to stay still, but trying to count and take photos at the same time is pretty much impossible!!  Here are a few of my efforts

Goldfinch

Rocky Robin

Sparrow - and I think the 'ghost' is a female chaffinch

Spot the sparrow!

Wood Pigeon

Starling feeding

Starling

Male and female chaffinches

The Work of Jack Frost

Hello folks!!  I've been a bit lax recently in posting anything, so thought I'd better add something today!  A couple or so weeks ago we had some overnight frost so I went out with the camera to see if I could catch anything unusual with my add-on macro lens, and this was the result

There hasn't been much frost since that day, so I haven't been able to try and experiment any more.  I'll just have to wait for Jack Frost coming back!!

Edinburgh Castle

Hello and Happy New Year to anyone reading this!!

Yesterday my mum was having a cataract operation so we spent time doing some sightseeing.  We were originally going to go to the museum but seeing as it was a lovely morning, we decided to visit Edinburgh Castle instead.  It was fairly expensive to buy tickets for the entrance fee, but all the exhibits inside the castle are then free and they are all pretty impressive.  Photographs are allowed in most of the place, but not inside the War Memorial or where the Scottish Crown Jewels are kept.

Here's a selection of some photos that I took:

View of the Castle

On the esplanade

View from castle towards East Lothian

Princes Street - work continues on dismantling the big wheel

We just happened to be at the castle for one-o-clock when the gun is fired to mark the time.  The ball is also raised on the tower at Calton Hill and it falls, also at one-o-clock which lets shipping in the Forth know the exact time of 1 p.m.  I managed to capture those moments although, even though I knew that gun was going to go off with a bang, I still jumped!!

The ball is raised

The gun goes off

As we could see that the cloud was beginning to build up from the west, I took more photos of the stunning views that can be seem from the ramparts of the castle

I have the big wheel in my sights!!

Taking aim ......

...... fire!!

 These photos are in other areas of the castle that we visited after the cloud cover came over and dulled everything down!!

St. Margaret's Chapel

St. Margaret's Chapel

The Great Hall

Mary Queen of Scots' chamber

Prisoner of War accommodation

So, all in all this was a very worthwhile visit as we haven't been up at the castle for around 20 years!!

Festive Edinburgh 2012

It's been a while since I posted anything, so it's high time I started getting something done!!  I finished my Christmas shopping fairly early in December, but unfortunately it was a very grey day, so the photos weren't very bright and it was too windy and cold to have a turn on the Big Wheel.

Snowman and Big Wheel

Festive Mice

Pottery Bikers

Jenners

Santa and Big Wheel

About a week afterwards, I had another trip into town and this time the weather was a little better with a small dusting of snow!  This time I did have a turn on the Big Wheel and took more photos.

Edinburgh Castle

Looking towards Princes Street

Big Wheel and Scott Monument

Edinburgh Castle from Big Wheel

Scott Monument and Big Wheel

The next time we visited Edinburgh was a night to go to a dinner and party night and to get there we took a walk through the gardens and the various markets - with camera in hand, I took more photos!!

Scott Monument and Big Wheel

Jenners and Big Wheel

Helter Skelter

I quite liked the photo of the Scott Monument and the Big Wheel, so I had a play around with it and came up with these:

I quite liked how that second one came out so  have ordered some Christmas cards in that design for next year!!

I've been chosen as a finalist!!

I am so excited to announce that I have been chosen as a finalist in the Nature Photography Awards being organised by the Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick.  Out of the five photos that I submitted, two have been chosen to go on display with the others until 31st January 2013.  Fingers crossed for a prize!!

Aberlady Bay

Spider's web

All finalist photos are now on display at the Scottish Seabird Centre where a public vote is also taking place.  I will be taking the opportunity of visiting at some point to have a look at them all.  There were nearly 500 photos submitted, so I am so pleased to have reached this stage.  Wishing everyone the best of luck.

The Hairy Bikers

The evening of Saturday 10th November had finally arrived - this was the night we had booked to see the Hairy Bikers Large than Live tour in the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh.  We left home fairly early as we had booked a table at the nearby Kismot restaurant for a meal first, so that set us up for the evening.

We arrived at the Queen's Hall and bought a programme and other miscellaneous bits and bobs.  Friends had given us a copy of the most recent cook book by the Hairy Bikers which I had taken with us, and I asked if it could possibly be signed for us.  At first the answer was no, but then the chap seemed to have a change of heart and he said he'd see what he could do and told me to write our names down on a piece of paper to put inside the book and told me to see him again during the interval.

The first half of the show passed quickly as it was very entertaining - not a lot of cooking going on, but these guys are just pure entertainment.  If they ever gave up cooking, they could still do a tour and drawn in the crowds as they are so funny!!

At the interval I duly went to see the chap I had spoken to, and there it was - our book signed by both Si and Dave and personalised with our names - brilliant!! 

We then watched the second half of the show, which passed just as quickly as the first half, even though the show is around two and a half hours long it's so good that you don't notice the time passing!!

Here are some photos that I took during the show: