Thursday 28th April - Pensthorpe Wildlife & Gardens

17 of us made it to Pensthorpe on a beautiful Spring morning.  We split up with some starting out at the wader scrape and hides whilst others started in the wader aviary or the conservation area with the Cranes, Flamingos, Ibis and Red Squirrels.  After lunch in the cafe most of us ventured to the areas we hadn't visited in the morning.

Pensthorpe provides an excellent venue for practising your photographic techniques whether you're a novice or more experienced nature photographer - the Bearded Tits proved almost as difficult to photograph in the aviary as they do in the wild!

Some of our images can be seen below:

Bearded Tit by Jack Mitchell

Devoted Dad by Sue Baldwin

Smew by Graham Jackson

Mallard Drake by Caroline Tillett

Greylag Gosling Foraging by Tom Thurston

Jackdaw by Tim Leonard

Red Squirrel by Di Jackson

Crane by Francesca Shearcroft

Moorhen with Chick by Caroline Tillett

Face On by Jack Mitchell

Taking a Break by Tom Thurston

Avocets by Tim Leonard

Long-tailed Tit by Di Jackson

Feeding Time by Francesca Shearcroft

Ruff Displaying by Di Jackson

Skunk Cabbage by Francesca Shearcroft

Coot Chick by Graham Jackson

Egyptian Goslings by Tom Thurston

Mandarin Duck by Tim Leonard

Tough Love by Graham Jackson

Turning the Eggs by Sue Baldwin

Little Egret by Jack Mitchell

Tuesday 26 April - Round 3 Print competition - Close Up and Macro

We had 60 prints for tonight's judge, David Steel, DPAGB, to study, assess and score.  David's concise and constructive comments were much appreciated (perhaps more so than his jokes!).  He only awarded 3 top scores of 20 - well done Pam, Heather and Elaine for creating the best prints of the night.

Thanks to everyone who entered a print, it made an excellent evening.  The images which David held back and then scored 18 or more can be seen below.

ON TAP by Pam Rutty (20/20)

TREE MOSS FOREST by Heather Ryder (20/20)

BOOKWORM by Elaine Stubbings (20/20)

EAGLE OWL by Suzi Senior (19/20)

AN UPHILL CLIMB by Liz Blake (19/20)

FOUR SPOTTED CHASER DRAGONFLY by Robin Orrow (19/20)

POLLEN COVERED BEE by Caroline Tillett (19/20)

SUNFLOWER by Diana Graham (19/20)

THAWING MOSS by Graham Jackson (18/20)

NESTING by Di Daniels (18/20)

RAINDROPS HAVE FALLEN by Francesca Shearcroft (18/20) 

SIX SPOT BURNET MOTH by Di Jackson (18/20)

Tuesday 19 April - Dave Mason, street photography

We had a lively and entertaining meeting last night when Dave Mason presented his 'I shoot people' talk.  It was refreshing to hear Dave encouraging us to take photos for ourselves and not always to please camera club judges.  I know they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but Dave's stories behind his images were well worth hearing!

You can see some of Dave's images on his website http://www.davemasonimages.com/.