25 April - Muston moths

I ran the moth trap last night and trapped 57 individuals:


38 Hebrew characters (Orthosia gothica), 5 Clouded drabs (Orthosia incerta)


7 Common quakers (Orthosia cerasi)



4 Early greys (Xylocampa areola)


2 Powdered quaker (Orthosia gracilis)


and a single March moth (Alsophila aescularia).

18 April - Spring is here in Filey

Fantastic displays of mainly yellow flowers are everywhere. Tourists have arrived in droves. It must be spring.

Filey daffs
 
Searching a receding tide

18 April - Week to this date in Scarborough

An early morning spent at North Bay in Scarborough, avoiding the rubbish on the beach. It is such a pity that people arrive at our gorgeous coast and cast their filth for others to clean up. Some have abused the council for inadequate cleaning but the miscreants that do not clean up after themselves must surely take the blame.
Anyway there was a flock of ruddy turnstones (Arenaria interpres) starting their moult into breeding plumage collecting by the lifeboat ramps. This shot was for 30 seconds to capture their movement.


Turnstones

Watching the ashy sunrise
This week there were supposed to be stunning sunrises and sunsets due to the ash cloud over the country from the Icelandic volcano. Unfortunately these have not really materialised on the Yorkshire coast due to too much cloud or too little! Above was one of the best as there was just a little cloud.

10 April - Filey sunrise

A spectacular sunrise this morning. I was there on the beach at 0520 ready for twilight and sunrise. I wanted shots of the rocks and the calm sea today using neutral density filters to slow down the shutter speed and allow long exposures.  The moon was just in the right place to assist in the shot below:

 Moon on bay
Converted to B&W in Photoshop.

Burning Brigg
This is an HDR - 3 shots taken as soon after each other as possible 0, +2 and -2 exposure combined in Photomatix Pro to produce an HDR which was subtly adjusted in Adobe Lightroom and then Photoshop to produce the image seen here. (Click on the image to see a larger version)


09 April - more pics from Birmingham

Here are some more shots from Birmingham city centre around The Bullring. I have never been interested in architecture but increasingly I look at buildings differently, looking for patterns and abstracts.

 








Photographer of April - Jonathan Chritchley

Check out this site. Black and white photography at its best. A lot of long exposures and seascapes by this photographer based in France.

07 April - Easter weekend near Birmingham


A visit to Birmingham allowed me a chance to take some architectural shots in the centre, around The Bullring.