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Macro

Summer Catchup

Think it’s probably time I posted some more images! As always it’s been a very busy year. Working on multiple sights across Wales, bird surveys, raptor surveys, ontop of Dusk Bat surveys, so my Nightjar time this year has been limited. Currently trying to fight thru some health issues also, looking forward to getting some results back from the Doctors after bloods this week. I’ve been using the R5 extensively and recently swapped out my Canon 400 DO ii with the 300 2.8 ii, as despite the fact that the DO was a superb lens, it was missing contrast and most importantly, had some weird ‘bokeh’ which rendered the foreground and background pretty distracting in certain scenarios. It’s a shame, as the lens was super sharp and I will miss it. Once I got the 300 back I was instantly reminded about the contrast and the smooth bokeh. It put me right back to being inspired again, as there’s nothing worse than putting in all the effort, and not getting the results you envisioned. The 300 also has a very ‘collectable’ image, especially wide open, where the colours are some what muted and there is a slight vignette. You see this is some of my images below, like the Nightjar shots and the Fern. They appear dark, some would say even under exposed but this is something I couldn’t even do with the 400 as it didn’t have as good dynamic range. Odd to even use that phrase in a lens but it’s true, each lense renders shadows and highlights differently and with this 300 2.8 you get the best available to modern day optics. Talking about Optics, I’m going to write a review soon on the new Swarovski NL Pure 10x42’s in comparison to my older Gen 1 EL’s. Will explain all in the next post! For now, here’s a collection of my favourite images of the summer, mostly with the macro lens in the Garden! As i’ve been far too busy for proper photography shoots this year. One thing I hope you’ll notice is how vibrant the colours are from the R5, which overall I’m finding has a much more accurate white balance straight out of the camera than the R6 did, which always seemed to be on the warm side.

Birthday Blog

Today I plan on doing absolutely nothing for my Birthday. It’s the weekend, the weather isn’t the best and last night I took a Piriteze tablet, which has knocked me out for the day lol. I got bit by three mosquitoes whilst recording nocturnal waders at Goldcliff Lagoons the other day which has left me itchy all over. Even though piritize usually helps with this sort of itchiness, I have a bad history with piritize, so I don’t take them often. They do make me extremely drowsy and I learned this the hard way as I ended up in A&E a few years ago after taking too many!. They completely knocked me out, like a very strong sleeping tablet. Jodie literally had to peel me off the floor, it was quite worrying at the time. I laugh now, but truth is, it was very stupid of me to not take the correct dosage, so please always read the box before taking any new form tablet. They might be small but they pack a punch!

Anyway, quick update on Nightjar’s. I have three pairs that have successfully fledged two chicks so far and the 4th has just started their second clutch having failed their first. I think they’ve only laid one egg like last year but I refuse to flush her off the nest to find out, like so many nest finders and photographers do.
I’m going to take this opportunity to educate people about Nightjar photos they might be seeing online. IF you see a female Nightjar on a stick with her eyes wide open, or wings in an awkward position, it’s because she has been flushed off the nest. I’m seeing plenty of photos online from irresponsible photographers who don’t know what they’re doing and are looking for that ‘perfect photo’ with the birds eyes open. If you do your job property as a wildlife photographer, which is to NOT to disturb them, their eyes should remain shut or slightly open, called ‘slit eye’. This shows that the bird is trusting in their own camouflage and stil believe they have not been spotted. If their eyes are wide open, you have got too close and the bird fears for it’s life. These birds should only have their eyes fully wide open at night and it makes me sick that there are people out there who are willing to disturb females off the nest just to get that one shot. Absolute idiots! I could easily name names, but I hope that they’ll read this blog and know that they aren’t fooling everyone. There will always be people out there that know the truth behind the photo.

In other news, we had a few days of sunny spells which has brought me back into bug hunting mode, which has finally lead me to find my first pink morph grasshopper! I think it’s a Field Grasshopper but without its usual colour features it’s actually quite hard to tell without it singing. In the same patch was a few Mottled Grasshoppers too and I seem to be finding Roesel’s Bush-crickets wherever I go now! With hundreds singing on the Gwent Levels, Llandegfedd, Pontypool Park, The Race Meadows, Green Meadow, Cefn Ila, and most unusually at an upland site near my Nightjars too. I’ve seen more long-winged Roesel’s this year than any year previous, so I believe this year is one of those exceptional years where conditions were so perfect, almost perfect enough for plague levels of dispersal. This does happen from time to time with locust species across the planet, but I don’t believe it’s anything to worry about here.

Here’s a slomo version of this very loud iconic, electric sound. In slowing the recording down you also bring the pitch down, which means everyone can enjoy the sound of this cricket as some may not be able to hear them as they’re so high pitched and we all lose the top range eventually. I’m losing it slightly in my right ear and I’m sure it’l catch up with me eventually but till then, I’m making the most of it.

Another loud but high-pitched grasshopper is that of a Long-winged Conehead, which is a personal favourite as slowing it down reveals this incredible pattern, otherwise inaudible at full speed.

I’ve done a lot more sound recording this month than photography, making the most of what’s left of summer weather. During surveys I’ve put out unmanned drop rigs, just to maximise productivity whilst at these beautiful locations on the Gwent Levels. I’ve really come to love the place even more after these surveys. Every tide sounds different, as the weather totally changes how the water hits the shoreline. Sometimes it bubbles up thru the mudflats, and others it crashes in like waves on a sandy beach. Here’s two examples below, both high tide in the exact same spot, sounding totally different both times.

I also took a trip to the Canyon, where I found plenty of butterflies, including a Humming-bird Hawkmoth feeding on bramble flowers on the cliff-face. I went there to record the sound of the small waterfalls, but I think I was a little too close now, listening back it can sound a little ‘tinny’ and that’s because the waterfall hits many rocks on the way down, so it’s just a collection of very small sounds, so I would have been better off further away, to capture the sound of the entire waterfall as a whole, instead of just one section of it. Lesson learned. It’s the equivalent of photographing a beautiful landscape with a macro lens.

Goldcliff Lagoons

Goldcliff Lagoons is a classic example of brilliant conservation. The management plan here, to keep the site in pristine condition for breeding waders, is almost perfect, keeping the grass short with cattle, and the water levels just right so that it’s not too deep, and not too dry, leaving just enough shoreline to keep many wading species content but also enough deep water to keep a constant ecology of aquatic invertebrates that provide a constant food source throughout all four seasons. That in conjunction with a high electric fence around the perimeter to keep ground predators out. As a result it’s become a safe haven for many declining bird species such as Avocet, Little Ringed Plover and Lapwing. Post-breeding we start to see the arrival of winter migrants and amongst the hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, were plenty of Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin, Knot, Redshank, Whimbrel, Curlew, Lapwing, and some fresh arrivals in the form of a single Bar-tailed Godwit, Greenshank, Sanderling, Green Sandpiper, Whinchat, Yellow Wagtail, and the infamous Glossy Ibis that’s been present for a few years now: So long that’s it’s been named ‘flossy’.

I timed my visit straight after a survey, as it was high tide and still fairly early with my survey finishing at 6:50am. It’s nice when you have high tide line up with the early morning sun, as theres usually more birds present and they’re all lit up by the morning sun, with all the platform and hides on the east side of the lagoons. I didn’t get much time to myself as it’s a popular location for birders, but here’s a few short recordings from the Snipe Platform, of Black-tailed Godwits feeding and a single Oystercatcher performing like it was spring again.

Beings I didn’t get much time alone, I planned a late trip at the next available high tide, which was at 10:30pm. Being dark by then, you couldn’t really see that much but I did see / hear large numbers of Curlew and Whimbrel arriving just after sunset and plenty of arriving waders making sound, but unfortunately the wind levels were too high for sound recording with a parabolic dish, so I’ll have to try again.

This late visit was the reason why I got bit by Mosquitoes 3 times, as there was a HUGE swarm over the lake. So large that you could hear the swarm over the top of the wind and thousands of waders!

Whilst I’m on the Nocturnal, here’s a recent heterodyne recording of a Pipistrelle Bat from a Bat Survey. Heterodyne is a process that transposes the ultrasonic frequencies produced by the Bat, down to an audible pitch that we can relate to. It’s still not the best way to appreciate the complexity and tonality of these Bat sounds but it’s the quickest way to ID Bats in the field, with use of a Bat Detector.

Nocmig

Autumn migration is finally here and I’m really starting to get some decent numbers of waders coming over my house in Sebastopol. I’m lucky here as I’m not too far away from the canal, which the birds are clearly using to navigate during the night on their migration.

There was one night that was particularly good, as we had short rain showers and low cloud, which wasn’t enough to stop waders from migrating, but was enough to bring them lower to the ground and therefor easier to pic up by the microphone. This resulted in a movement of 9 Dunlin, 7 Oystercatcher, 1 (possible 2) Redshank, 2 Moorhen and 1 Common Sandpiper. Here’s a few recordings showing mixed flocks also, which proves that these birds are often moving together. Since this day I’ve had some days with nothing at all, and the odd Oystercatcher, with a few Common Sandpiper. Autumn hasn’t even started yet so it should be an interesting season to come! Who knows what will end up over the house .

Rainy Days

Finally some rain! The land scarred and charred by fires will be thankful as hopefully this rain will prevent further spread. I’ve had a wakeup call with these fires. We need serious change in the way we educate our children. Upon returning to my car after monitoring the Nightjar broods, I was approached by a young lad who couldn’t have been no older than 10. He thought I had a gun, so was interested to learn what I was doing. I obviously showed him my camera, told him I was photographing wildlife. He said ‘what wildlife’ and then continued to say that they weren’t allowed up the mountain anymore because they were caught lighting fires and shooting wildlife! He told me this with pride on his face! like it was a huge achievement to shoot defenceless animals for fun. Whilst I’m glad to hear they’re not allowed up the mountain anymore, it makes me realise how naive we are to the brutal destructive nature of some children. I still get people who get offended when I say children are the cause of many of these fires, because who would want to blame an innocent. Of course, they are innocent as I don’t believe for one second that they are aware of the destruction they are causing, and I don’t blame them at all, I blame the system they’re brought up in. Many of which suffer because they’re brought up in hostile environments which lead them to find ways of expressing anger and frustration. I wish I could have spent more time with the kid to bring him around to see the affects of what he’s doing but he had that look in his eye, he really did look like a lost cause already which is so sad. Of course it’s not just children causing fires as it could be anybody, it could even be a total accident, throwing a fag end into dry bracken or heather is all it could take to take a whole mountain out. Please be more careful, if you don’t know how to light a safe camp fire, please learn from somebody who does and please do so far away from prone habitat like heathland, clear-fells or condensed woodland where even an ash catching the wind could cause havoc.

Ranting over, I took this moment to bring myself back to the basics, to focus on the little things that got me inspired as a child. Whether that’s the patterns found in ferns and flowers, that magical golden ratio, literally the blue-prints of the earth and things we take for granted day-to-day, like the beauty of rain and how it sits on leaves for a moment like a scene from the amazon rainforest itself. There’s beauty in everything and you don’t need to focus on rare and wonderful things to see it. I’m guilty for this myself but I don’t want people thinking this is the reason why I’m photographing Nightjar. It’s fare more than that for me, they’re literally my favourite bird, because I relate to them on so many different levels.

Why I love Nightjar. It’s not just about the physical challenge of finding these elusive birds, or the fact that they look awesome. There’s a deep deep connection with every bird I find, (or don’t find). It’s because I see a lot of myself in these birds. They prefer their own company, they spend most of the day on their own watching the world go by and they succeed off the back of destruction and chaos as their chosen habitat is forever changing and they have to learn how to adapt. There’s a mystery surrounding the species which will forever encapsulate me. On the left is a female from my original burnt site. She’s about to lay her first clutch any day now. On the right is a new male from a completely different location and his female has already laid and he’s chosen to watch over her from a nearby tree. The tree roost is a good idea when it’s raining as it gives them that extra bit of colour they need to stay dry enough that their feathers don’t wet out and prevent them from exploiting the dry periods so they’re able to hunt for nocturnal moths.

Talking about Nocturnal, this is a good time of year to listen out for Owl chicks as they’re quite vocal, constantly begging for food and reminding the parents where they are as they semi-fledge and learn to strengthen their wings, hopping from branch to branch. Took me a while to spot him/her but I was spotted pretty quickly.

Tawny Owlet

I’ll leave you with something simple again. Another subject that grows around the golden ratio, ferns literally beam light from the shadows as if they give off their own source of light: Even on a dark dingy day like today.

Scaley-male Fern

Weird and Wonderful

Photo

Breeding season is by far the busiest time of year for me. I wish my body could just run on nothing so that I could spend every second I could outdoors, but with nothing booked in today and a nice red ‘binocular strap’ sunburn on the back of my neck, I spend the day indoors to catch up on invoicing and general admin work. This also gives me the time to write this blog and catch you up on the weird and wonderful things I’ve been seeing on my surveys or in my garden. Caterpillars can be quite challenging to ID and I’ve photographed a few lately that remain un-identified. Usually the moths are the hardest as there are quite a few that are very similar looking, and there’s just so many of them!. I found my first Western Bee-fly which is a nationally scarce Bee-fly that appears to be quite numerous this year. I found another case of ‘Zombie Fungus’ which is a very strange phenomenon where a fly picks up spores on its skin, that burrow into their body to develop and once developed enough, will induce a chemical that takes over the flies brain! The fly then is possessed by the fungus, that causes it to climb a tall plant (called summiting), from which it is then forced to secrete a glue like substance from its mouth. Only then will the fungus kill the fly by locking up all its joints and limbs, so the wings point to the sky and their legs lock onto the stem. It’s at this stage that the fungus can use all of the flies nutrients, growing out from the body and releasing spores into the air, ready for the cycle to start all over again. It’s literally the thing of nightmares! The Bagworm Moth Larvae was also a good reminder of natures architectural genius, as the larvae uses sticks or reeds of a certain quality to build a safe home that’s completely unappealing to any predator looking to eat them. Some of the shapes they build, truly are incredible. Take a look here for some examples on google.

It’s been a whole year since I found my first roosting Nightjar. It was a special moment after many years of research, as yomping around breeding habitat with no experience is just out of the question. If you think you can just rock up and expect to find one roosting in the day, you’ll go home very disappointed. There’s a reason why these birds are so successful. If you flush one in an attempt to find one, you WILL NOT see them again, as they won’t roost there again. Everybody I’ve met who study Nightjar, do so because they have the utmost enthusiasm and passion for the species and it’s safe to say, I’m in it for life. On that note, below is that very first Nightjar I found in may 2019, which happened to be a female who favoured tree stumps. The females are taking a while to come back this year, but it was even more special that my first Nightjar of 2020 was that exact same female, using her favourite tree stumps again. The more you learn about these birds, the more you realise that they are just individuals, with their individual preferences in life, just like us.

As she had just turned up the night before, she’s already being pestered by the local Males and this isn’t the same Male she paired up with last year, but he was roosting 2 meters away from her, just so he knows where she is once it gets dark enough, so they can continue ‘business’. I hope they have a good year this year, for some reason many females are yet to return, so the Males are a bit lost at present.

Male Nightjar

Sound

Back to sound! (Here’s where most people bow out). Recording mammals can be quite difficult as they’re not always vocal. I’ve had numerous encounters with Weasels for instance and till today I’ve never heard one before! I presume it has a nest somewhere. I couldn’t even see the blighter but this sound was unmistakable.

The same night I had an encounter with two Tawny Owls, that were making all sorts of weird sounds, but recorded here at the typical Kivvik sounds. You may even have one near you? With this hot weather, now’s a good time to listen in bed with the window wide open.

I’ve also added another birdsong to my video list. The Chaffinch is Britain’s most common finch, but till now I’ve not really appreciated it enough. I’m sure their success has everything todo with that powerful bill, which is very versatile in what it can achieve. Their song might be repetitive but listen with a good pair of headphones and the tone is just stunning. It has a well-rounded tone but with really crisp articulation. That and it’s very loud!

Nocmig

Not much to report on the nocturnal migration recordings but I did get a wave of flycatcher like calls that I need to ID. They must be Spotted Flycatchers this time of year but I don’t think the recordings are detailed enough to rule out Pied Flycatcher.

And finally, something to laugh about. I had lots of messages last night, congratulating me on getting one of my images onto the Springwatch program lol. Which was news to me, as I can’t ever remember being asked for permission to use any of my images, so I was a little angry at first.. but then I found out it was Iolo Williams that presented it, so I’ll let him off beings he’s Welsh, and of course, I remembered I added the picture to Springwatches Flickr group, which does state they’re allowed to use any images added to the group for the program, so long as they credit the photographer, which they did. It’s a shame now though everybody thinks there’s a bird called Gavin Vella!! Could have been a worse bird though lets be fair :)

Screenshot 2020-05-29 at 19.33.28.png

Here’s the original image for you to enjoy :) Taken under license in 2019.

Free for all comes at a cost.

Just when I think things are on the up, I get reminded just 8 days into Llandegfedd being back open to public, just how much the site is set on a downwards spiral.. I really hope new management turn things around as the current free-for-all setup is coming at the cost of our environment. I arrived to see Dog’s running around off lead on the island , a site that used to have breeding Lapwing. A fisherman set up very considerately right in front of Bert Hammar Hide, Poo Bags are thrown everywhere, Dog poo everywhere and plenty of litter. Welsh Water has done a lot of work this winter repairing the hides, with new roofs and bin additions, but I’m starting to think that all this encourages is for people to use the hides as picnic areas and not for their intended purpose. Just 8 days in and the bin is overflowing in Green Pool Hide and as a result, bottles, cans and wrappers surround the hide. Green Pool never saw litter prior to the installation of these bins, so I think they need to go. I was also very disappointed to see four silver birches cut down. These birches were planted as part of past conservation efforts and were reaching a good age, but it was deemed a necessary loss as it enabled DCWW to cut the grass with the tractor to save time. Three Boats were fishing right in Green Pool inlet and as a result, flushed what little Teal are left on site. There’s no policing of the site what so ever, which is exactly why these things go totally unnoticed by the rangers. This is what it’s like now, in wet and windy conditions, so you can imagine how bad it gets on sunny weekends during the summer.

Moving onto more positive things, I spent some time with the Macro lens, and I have a ‘thing’ where if I photograph something, I need to find out what it is, which is why I pick and choose what I photograph as it can often lead to a headache, as not all species are identifiable without use of a microscope. I just need to get some decent books. If it wasn’t for this website - https://www.naturespot.org.uk/ - I wouldn’t manage at all at the moment. I bought a Moss book but turns out it’s Arable Garden Mosses only, so not much good for me.
Any recommendations, please let me know! I want to grow my book collection.

Colourful Tenerife

First blog of the year, Happy New Year! It’s been very busy over Christmas but nothing a week away with Jodie in Tenerife couldn’t fix. This is only my second time on a plane and my second time to Tenerife. I’ve not had many chances to travel like this growing up but I have enjoyed Tenerife, as, despite the much hotter climate and vastly different habitats, I couldn’t help but notice many similarities. The list of birds wasn’t large, but I added a few extras from my last trip, in the form of Barbary Partridges, Sardinian Warbler, Blackcap, Blackbird, Great Tit, African Blue Tit, Common Sandpiper, Little Egret, Monks Parakeet, Canary Chiffchaff, African Collared Dove, Canary, and plenty of Kestrels. It wasn’t a birding trip, I actually only brought my Macro Lens with me for portability. All the photo’s below were taken with a 100mm lens, which presented its challenges, especially with the Red Rock Crabs which were hot on their toes the minute your head pops over the rocks. Most of the Reptiles are endemic, such as the Tenerife Lizard, of which there are two subspecies between the north and south. These are the northern variety. Anyway, I’ll leave you with these photographs, I’ll interject a few more in later blogs but I didn’t take that many.

Dragon's Continued

I know insects aren’t everybody’s cup of tea, but the way I see it, I have all winter to concentrate on Birds and Mammals and these guys aren’t going to be around for much longer. I was reminded how short this period was during my pursuit to increase the dragonfly species count at The Canyon this year. I’ve noticed that there weren’t any Chasers or Skimmers present when there is usually several buzzing around the lake on a hot sunny day like today. I was reminded on Twitter though, that the season for these types of Dragonfly have already passed and most of the adults have reproduced and have since perished during August. It’s such a short life for a Dragonfly and they all have slightly different peak emergence times throughout the year, which makes a lot of sense from a survival perspective, as this way, they aren’t competing for the same food supplies. Black Darters emerge rather late in the year in comparison to other Darter species, so thankfully there are lots around. 10+ Males are 3 females were spotted in the last two days, which is more than I’ve ever seen at the canyon.

Black Darter Pair - Left Male | Right Female

I’ve known of a couple sites in Ebbw Vale for a while now that holds a rarer hawker species called a Brown Hawker. I’ve been meaning to make a visit myself and was given an extra push after a tweet from Lee Gregory who reported 2 Brown Hawkers at Waun-y-Pound ponds. As the weather was good and I had a meeting in Ebbw Vale, I went straight over there and connected with 2 Brown Hawkers almost instantly upon arriving at the middle pond. I didn’t realise they were so big! I watched one catch a mating pair of Common Darters and it actually ate them both! What a monster! I couldn’t get a great pic but the one I did get shows just how camouflaged they are and also the habitat they chose to roost in which is primarily heather patches.

Brown Hawker

Brown Hawker

Here’s a Southern Hawker, Painted Lady Butterfly and some more of a very obliging male Black Darter.

Marsh Fritillaries

It’s been on my ‘todo list’ for a few years now to make the effort and see the beautiful Marsh Fritillary butterflies at one of our last known breeding sites in Aberbargoed. I believe most of the site is a former colliery, a habitat formed from the scars of industry, but this scar has healed, even when it was thought to never heal again. It’s actually proving to be a ‘win’ in conservation terms, as the coal spoil itself has created a variety of micro habitats because of the way the spoil handles water. Some water gets trapped creating marshy habitats, some completely runs off creating dry patches. This water management has resulted in such a variety of plants occupying the same habitat, which is proving to be just what our insects need, as with most insects, they need a variety of plants to complete their life cycle.

This is why our modern farm practises aren’t good for biodiversity. Fields are drained to turn into dry grassland, replace with poo and chemicals which pollute our waterways. Ground nesting birds still move in, lay their eggs, and then the farmer will cut the grass, killing all that once lived there, Reptiles, Amphibians, Mammals, all dead or injured, which then attracts the predators, foxes, birds of prey, crows and gulls, of which are then blamed for feeding on still-birth lambs, and until quite recently, persecuted for it, because NRW allowed for licensed shooting of these animals who are just cleaning up after our mess.

Specialist species like the Marsh Fritillary don’t stand a chance in modern Britain. We’re so caught up in that ‘human race’ thing called life, that we forget we’re ruining it for our future generations. The exploitation needs to stop. We need more protection for nature. There are good farmers out there doing all they can to minimise their impacts on nature but it’s doing to take more than just the good will of the minority. Wildlife Trusts, Butterfly Conservation, RSPB, they are all doing their part to try and balance the equation but it’s not enough. If our government doesn’t act now, species like this will be lost forever.

Sorry rant over, also included in the photos were some very fast Dingy Skipper Butterflies, a Drinker Moth Caterpillar, some microscopic Gorse Shieldbug Eggs and a scenic shot of an emerging Fox Glove in a field of blossom. All these shots were taken with my Canon 100mm macro which is proving to be good investment. It’s nice to roam around with a small lens for a change. Lugging the telephoto and tripod around can be a bit much all the time.

Gwent Uplands

Another unbelievable sunny day today, perfect for Reptiles and it would seem Butterflies too with Brimstone, Peacock, Red-Admiral, Large White and Small Tortoiseshell all on the wing. I spent most of my time today in search for an Adder but still can’t find one. I think I need to change the method, try and approach it a little differently. Either that, or focus on a new sight instead, maybe somewhere that’s a little less vast.

I only got the camera out once after spotting what I first thought to be a Cuckoo, but luckily it landed on a post and it turned out to be a beautiful Male Merlin! My first adult Male bird and my first on my local moorland. I’ve only seen Merlin a hand full of times, but they’ve all been distant, hunting on the wing or perched a mile off, so it was nice to get one full frame in the scope in beautiful sunshine. A single Peregrine was hunting low to the moors too, flushing all the Skylarks but no catch this time.

In other news, I may have secured a deal with a new distributer for my photography prints. This company offers much better prices than my current dealer which means I can bring down my sale price to something a little more competitive. It also allows me to sell a lot more stuff, like Pillows, T-Shirts, Mugs, Hats, Beanbags, Prints, Canvas’, phone cases and much more. There is a catch however and I’m not sure whether I’ll get around it but the dealer is based in the US / EU. This wouldn’t be an issue but with Brexit coming up, this option may not work out for me as there’s no telling yet if we’ll continue to have free import charges from the EU to the UK. I very much doubt that will be the case, so this might all be a complete waste of time.

Either way the company offer great free mockups and I’ve updated my canvas’ in my store so you can see the difference. Check it out

Also, if you missed Sundays blog, I’m now offering some design services for new local businesses. Read more about it via my new Design Page

Back to the Basics

I don’t mean to use this blog as some kind of depressing therapeutic journal..but I’m not going to pretend that everything’s great for me right now. Times are tough at the moment and I hope that in writing this down it will not just give me a little relief but it might even be relatable to others, and therefor mutually encouraging.

In October last year I wrote my first blog about my own Mental Health issues. It was a massive leap for me to admit that I’m suffering and to ask my Doctor for help. The first lot of tablets didn’t agree with me so counselling seemed to be my only option. I’m now into my second session, and i’m realising now just how deep this issue goes. I’ll talk in more detail about this once my counselling has finished. Hopefully by then I’ll be in a better place to talk about it.

Social Anxiety has always been a massive barrier, Preventing me from reaching simple daily objectives, and recently preventing me from turning up to a public enquiry to save my local Canyon. It was extremely important to me to help save the Canyon and if it wasn’t for the knowledge that it’s being fought by equally passionate people, I’d feel pretty devastated about missing it. The Canyon is a place that I regularly turn to if I need a place to be alone, surrounded by pure serenity and beautiful scenery / wildlife. I hope that the enquiry is going well and wish everyone the best of luck. I have my fingers crossed that the right decision is made.


I haven’t ventured that far just yet but the woodland opposite my house has some great fungi opportunities with Winter Polypore, Jelly Ear, Scarlet Elf-Cups and with the warm temperatures, a 7-spot Ladybird emerged too. That is due to change for a short period with a slight sprinkling of snow today and plummeting temps. Ice can present some nice macro opportunities though so I’ll keep an eye out for that. I just need to get out of the house more.

On the Job front though, I’m still out of work and struggling to find something that isn’t going to make my health worse. I know many people stuck in Jobs that are quite frankly.. shortening their lives. Everyone has had to do a Job that they aren’t comfortable with or don’t like, but my health problems are no longer going to be pushed aside. Concentrating on my health though is coming at a financial cost so I can only hope that things pick up quickly or that I can find a way of selling my photographs.

Being self employed has never been more appealing to me than now. The value of being able to choose your own working hours, working around health and to not have the social pressure and stress that comes from Bosses & Colleagues.. this seems to be the logical step forward but it’s also the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. My self confidence has been knocked quite a bit, with a damaged wrist from working at Llandegfedd, which took away any chance of me falling back on my music career and also any chance of continuing my career in physical conservation work. Just when I seemed to find something that suited me well, in a production company, the social anxiety came back to haunt me. So I’m here now, stripping everything back to the basics, taking pictures that I enjoy and staying well away from people looking to use me to bump themselves up the ladder. It’s time to get myself there instead. There’s no room for selfish, unappreciative people in my life. Oosh that was a rant and a half. Please don’t feel too depressed after reading all that.. Here’s some pictures to make this look like a positive blog.