Chick's Eye View

Tasty! I must be a Willow Warbler, then.

Ermine Moth

One of the visitors to Ann's moth trap yesterday. ISO 100, 1/6th sec @ f/16 on a tripod.

That Tutor Again!

I know, it's the fifth pic of this aircraft on my blog, but isn't the evening light subtle and artistic.

New Angle

The Avro 504 was out of its hangar for the airshow and parked in the car park! I tried a different view of it.

Blue Moon

This was taken on 17th May using a 560mm lens. It was still light, so I reduced the exposure until the sky turned a darker blue. The side-lighting accentuates the detail. 1/640th second on a tripod.

Formation Flying

The Bristol F2b (front) and the SE5a (behind) flying at Old Warden.

Red Sox

At last an artistic photo. Notice the differential focus, the little red patch and the lead-in from lower left to upper right. Notice too, how, if you must take off the brown brogues at Old Warden, it helps to have striking footwear.

Just one more of Sadie

Three of my favourite females in one photo - Ann, Sadie and Ruby.

Pete's New Car

We went to Wimbledon to collect Pete's vintage Mercedes 380 SLC. It was a hot day and Pete wondered whether this connector was supposed to be attached to the auxiliary fan for the huge V8 engine. By using the M25 instead of the South and North Circular roads we got a regular airflow through the radiator and the old lady made it to Cambridge.

Sadie wakes up

Sadie now has a blog of her own (created by her dad) so she won't be keeping birds and aeroplanes off my pages much longer!

Sadie

Sadie Joanna was born on 18th May. Here she is in her grandmother's arms only 24 hours later.

The Right Sort of Aeroplane

The Hawker Tomtit. Its turning circle is much tighter than that of a Sabre and the engine is in the right place. And what if the visibility from the cockpit is rather restricted, surely no decent adversary would shoot at you without due warning.

Off to America quite soon

Thank goodness! Not really our sort of gentleman's aerial carriage here at Old Warden. No challenge to the photographer, either, having no propeller to blur. So long, F86A Sabre.

That dashing chap again!

Moustache not even twitching, our intrepid pilot makes a low pass in the Sopwith Triplane at Old Warden.

The Wright Stuff

The wind dropped enough yesterday evening at Old Warden to allow the replica Bristol Boxkite to take to the air. It was flown by a dashing chap with a black moustache, and he had enough of the Right Stuff to take his hand off the yard-long stick to wave at the spectators.

More lessons

Another photo of the Avro Tutor at Old Warden.

Red Kite (2)

Unlike the Welsh kites, the Watlington kites don't have luggage tags on their wings to spoil the shape.

Black Kite

Shuttleworth's Lysander against a dramatic sky. Perhaps one day I'll take an artistic photo.

Ode to a ...

...Nightingale. The autofocus threw a fit when asked to pinpoint this bird in the shrubbery. but image stabilisation helped make manual focus easier. This is my first ever confirmed sighting of this species.

That Biggles moment.

The Shuttleworth Collection's Hawker Tomtit getting airborne at Old Warden into a 20 knot wind, keeping its ground speed slow for a 1/160th second pan.

Looking Good!

After searching bushes at Paxton Pits for Little Brown Jobs, I saw this proud pheasant patrolling the patch around his partner on the nest. He wandered into an artistic area of vegetation ....

Avro Tutor

This is the colourful still-life from 22nd March alive in its element. 300mm lens, 1/160th f/11

Hobby

This neat little falcon was entrancing birdwatchers at RSPB Fowlmere today with its aerobatics while catching insects on the wing. 400mm - 1/5000th f/5.6