Day 141 - Snake Eyes

I can see in your eye

If you listen carefully to the video interview from yesterday's blog post, you can hear Anna conversing with a delivery man about a parcel he had for us.

After some negotiation, Anna persuades him that a signature is not really necessary, and in all probability, if someone were to illegibly scribble something in the signature box, nobody would be any the wiser...wink, wink!

System successfully subverted, I then resumed my mission safe in the knowledge that our new camera had arrived!

However, it was late yesterday evening before we got a chance to unpack it, so today was our first opportunity to start to get to know it a little better.

I have to say, it's been a successful first day, and consequently this is going to be a photo-heavy post.

First up is this gorgeous juvenile grass snake, which we found dozing under a reptile mat at our local wildlife reserve. 

snake in the grass

He's the first snake I've seen for a few years.  He's very small, for a grass snake, about as thick as a finger.   We did disturb him a little, but he didn't rush off immediately, and was generous enough to allow me a few shots. 

Beautiful creature!

Experimenting with the telephoto zoom lens in the garden, Anna caught this lovely shot of one of our local robins.

takeaway for the kids

He's nesting in the hedgerow, although I haven't spotted exactly where.  But you can clearly see the insects he's caught to feed to his young.

Speaking of insects, I got this really lucky shot of a Hoverfly in flight.

fly by shooting

This was fully point and shoot, I wasn't even looking through the viewfinder!   She was buzzing about on the lawn, and I just put the camera a few inches away, with a low f-stop and crossed fingers, and clicked away, letting the auto-focus do its thing.

Of course, all this excitement wasn't going to go unnoticed.   We spotted this buzzard sitting motionless on the breeze, high in the sky over yonder.   Even on full zoom, he was a long way away, but this crop from the photo shows a surprising amount of detail.  

got my eye on you

It's the best buzzard shot I've ever managed, if nothing else!

Closer to home, Maisie found it all curious and intriguing.   She was attacked by a local feral cat last night, and we were concerned that she might just hide under the bed for a few days.  

But you know what they say about cats and curiosity...

what's going on?

Any which way I look at it, it's been a super-successful day with the new camera, and I hope to continue to find new and interesting perspectives to bring to my blog.

I'm also pleased to have such a lovely new set of animals to add to the collection.   One day soon I'm going to have to do a summary...if nothing else, I need to start compiling a list of anything I've missed!


Finally, a quick update on the 50@50 Challenge aftermath.  

When I had to nip down to the loo at 7am this morning (yep, our bathroom is downstairs), I really struggled.  My feet, ankles, shins and calves were so stiff and painful, the best you could say is that I hobbled down the stairs. 

After stretching them out a bit before getting up a couple of hours later, they weren't so bad.   I figure it's a good sign though - firstly, it clearly was quite a challenging proposition, and secondly, I must have been climbing with my legs, like you're supposed to.

I meant to say yesterday, when I have some free time (in a couple of weeks), I'm planning on putting a little video together, outlining the story of my 50@50 day. 

Of course, I'll post it on here for you good people.  

I bet you can't wait, eh?!

;-)