January 2025

Maybe it's the Christmas costs, or short days, but January is a quiet month for me, for work. It's a shame, because the workshops I did have, enjoyed some of the best weather conditions I've seen this winter, and very few folk were around to disturb us. Mountain hares in snow that was waist-deep on me. Big fat flakes of snow falling around the woodland where the crested tits live, high tides with long-tailed ducks and eiders, and "purps" sheltering in the harbours.

If you're considering a workshop for next winter, why not consider December or January? I'm looking at discounting the workshop fees for those two months too, as the days are noticeably shorter...

So when I wasn't working, I was out enjoying local areas to see what was around. One area is only a couple of miles away, and has seen a ringtail hen harrier hunting over it. One of my favourite birds, so I had to go look, and there was snow on the fields...

For once, given my history of bad luck with these birds, I saw it immediately on arrival, and had a great fly-by across one of the fields. It wasn't as close as I'd have liked, but the snow reflecting the soft winter light, made for a beautiful sight.

Like the original, the R5 mk2 works seamlessly with the older EF lenses, so locked on to the harrier, and I came away with a lot of images.

I think this is my favourite.