For Sale Viking 50mm Spotting Scope

Hi all,

I am selling my Viking 50mm scope with 10-35x for £90 + p+p but open to offers . Its in good condition optically perfect; comes with table tripod (which also can be used to rest the scope against your chest) and padded carrying case. Perfect for getting kids interested in wildlife (it certainly got me hooked!).

Any offers please contact me at scwills@tiscali.co.uk

Happy New Year

Drake American Wigeon Hybrid at Stithians Reservoir

Braved the snowy conditions today, to have a look at the bittern at Stithians. The bird showed well at times which allowed for a few record shots through the scope. However when the bird wasn't on view I was scanning the reservoir and stumbled across a hybrid American x Eurasian Wigeon. By the looks of it, its the same bird that was seen last year and the year before on the Lizard. Though not a true American Wigeon, its probably even rarer because the two species have to meet. still its probably my best find to date.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Greg.

Art Coursework

I just got back my GCSE art coursework back from the moderators and thought it my be of some interest. Over the past 2 years we had to complete 3 modules the first was Identity so we had to relate stuff to ourselves (hence the self portrait of me playing my guitar), the second was metamorphosis (which explains the picture of Liam Gallagher turning into a cheetah... yeah I don't know either!) and the third and final was a choice between lots of different topics such as jewellery, masks light and dark and so on..........

I kept trying to look for an excuse to draw birds, so after seeing a documentary on Birds of Paradise and the tribes people of Papua New Guinea I thought I would link that to the jewellery topic. My art teacher didn't really understand the idea but then she did think Papua New Guinea was in Africa! But the I did get a couple months painting birds in between lessons of further Chemistry, Physics and Maths which was good.

The red bird with the green tail is a King Bird of Paradise and there is also some studies of a Peregrine Falcon.

If your wondering why there are Birds on the Tribesman's head its because I thought it would be more fun painting birds rather than just the feathers in the final 10 hour exam and trust me it starts to get a bit boring and depressing after the first 2 hours because your being held there against your will and your no longer doing it for fun, which and the end of the day is what its all about. The big yellow and brown birds are Lesser Birds of Paradise.

Anyway hope you like them.

King of the River

I mentioned in an earlier post that i was going to photograph kingfishers properly at some point this year, and with the help of Dave Scott (a very talented painter and photographer links below) I've finally been able to. Its also the first proper chance I've had at using my new Canon 1d Mark iii. Anyway I hope you like them.

http://www.dascottartist.com/

http://www.dascottimages.com/

GCSE Art Coursework

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of posts its been a bit hectic at the moment with exams and coursework. I hope everyone had a good Easter although it was ages ago. I had very eventful two weeks or so meeting Simon King and just bought a new camera but haven't had a chance to use it yet. Anyway I thought I might upload some of my art coursework for a change.

I expect I will see you all out and about,

Greg.

Top Goshawk

Middle Gyr Falcon

Bottom Snow Leopard

My Best Animals so Far....

I haven't posted any thing for a while so I thought that I would post some of best animals that I have seen so far, however that doesn't mean best pictures as most of these are record shots and are terrible! There are many other things that I've seen but have no pictorial evidence for but at least I know I've seen them, such as Hoopoe, Gyr Falcon, Short-eared Owl, Little Crake, Waxwing and much more that I can't remember!

There is also those occasions when you get a unique experience that you didn't expect to happen. Two winters ago (or something like that) there was a Minke Whale that was swimming only 10 metres or so of shore from Swanpool and the day of the 2007 Rugby world cup final me and a couple mates had a day trip to the Ilse of Scilly and saw big rarities like Blackpoll warbler and on the way home on the Scillonian we were accompanied by 60+ Common Dolphin! It would have been even better if England had won!

But as always there are a few that you miss and you kick yourself for not seeing them like the Alder Flycatcher and Red-Flanked Bluetail. Anyway back to some photographs sorry for the long post but I don't expect to upload anything for a while as exams start soon and I'm absolutely dreading it!

Might see you all out and about sometime,

Greg.

Snow Stops Play

Like everywhere Falmouth has received its fair share of snow and as a result there was no way out this morning. However also like the rest of the county there are hundreds of Thrushes flying around, mostly Redwing along with the odd Song Thrush and Feildfare. The Feildfare is now bird 99 on my local list of birds seen in walking distance from my house. Birding in Falmouth can be quite productive at times. This time last year I saw my first and so far only Waxing eating berries when walking back from school. Other birds that I've seen in Falmouth over the years also include Surf Scoter, Laughing Gull, Black Guillemot, Red Kite, Iceland Gull, Black Redstart and Merlin. Today wasn't that good but there was still 10+ med gull on Swanpool and lots of Blackcap in the garden. Feildfare were seen and heard throughout the day and around 50 Redwing feeding next door before being chased off by the local male Sparrowhawk.

Purple Portfolio

I like the colours in the image above and the lighting. All these images were taken in my last photography session of the Christmas holidays on Monday at Penzance. My favourite shots are the portrait (above) and the the first action shot (below).

These are very hit and miss action shots, but the 400d did alright but a nice new 7d would be even better! However its bit out my price range. The 400d's 3fps is just not quick enough for most action shots. When a birds flying it always photographs its wings in the same position or a wing obscuring the rest of the bird, so you really need 6fps+ to capture different posses.

A large selection of portrait shots of purple sandpipers in different lighting and different ranges. These birds winter every year at Jubilee Pool and show very well on the rocks at high tide. At low tide the birds disperse and feed at different beaches around Penzance.