i have another picture on the BBC Your Scotland picture gallery

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8201290.stm

this is my third time in this section and they also added another of my shots onto a Forth Bridges gallery in the Edinburgh section.

L

glad i'm not the only one who loves this lens. it's my most used lens, i've even started using it with extension tubes for those shy creatures that don't like a lens in their face.

have fun with the new toy.

Hi Peter

the purple heron is brown, just to confuse you! quite distinctive from a regular grey one. i got a glimpse of it on saturday and it likes to hide in the reeds and blend in. you'd have probably been trampled by birders if you were anywhere near the purple one.

i must head to Frensham and see this magical cottage.

i've very slow on the uptake. i didn't get my k100d until it was being phased out. it was my first dslr and i love it. last week i got a k200d as it was reduced in PC World and was the last one.

i did think about a K10 or 20, but i'm lazy and couldn't be bothered with all the extra bits and bobs. most of the time i shoot in AV and i have a stack of aa recahreable batteries, so a cheap(er) k200 made sense.

i'm happy bumbling about with my 'cheap' camera.

i love the texture of the reeds in the foreground. it almost looks as if the cottage is being swallowed by the vegetation. lovely shot

did you see the purple heron when you were there? there was one (possibly the same one) at barnes wetland centre on saturday and it caused quite a commotion with the birders.

hiya

you could try a local branch of PC World. i got one from there last week... it was the last one in the store though.

good luck

L

what a beauty. i was snapping lizards on sunday - took a lot of sitting still to get them to trust me, they do watch you all the time, but it's nice when they let you close. i even had some baby ones scampering about unsre whether to be afraid or curious.

anyway.... lovely shot, looks like you have a good model there, i'd love to have a lizard close at hand for portraits.

excellent work, congratulations.

that's the territorial aggression move... the male will flare out the feathers and put its head and neck back and move in a series of fast bursts towards the 'intruder' swan (or goose). you'll often see the parent do this to the cygnets at the end of winter to clear the area for the next breeding season.

if that move doesn't work the male with then 'fly' at the other bird, running across the water and flapping as if to take-off. if the other bird doesn't fly off it will be attacked and bitten. i've seen fights last hours - interrupted by time-outs to preen.

saying all that, they are very gentle birds and i've never had a problem with them - apart from causing exposure problems with photographs!

another vote for eneloops.