Well, 420mm = DA*300mm + 1.4 TC, and it's a refractor too . But I'll grant you, your 420mm is definitely bigger and more impressive than mine!

Steve

Are you sure they've been eaten? Any chance they might have died and sunk to the bottom? If definitely eaten, you need a camera trap to get photographic evidence of the offender. A basic one that's OK for garden use isn't expensive. You might be surprised at what goes on in your garden (and that's after you and Mrs HG have gone inside :wink.

Yes we do. The little egret is now as common as muck in some areas. The great white egret is rare but slowly increasing (magnificent bird, see this thread). Neither are likely visitors to a garden though.

Steve

After acquiring a lifetime's evidence for the truth of Murphy's Law (i.e. if anything can go wrong, it will), my starting point is that something probably will go wrong so just be pleased if it doesn't. So even when some kit doesn't work, the bug or bird moves just as the shutter button is pressed, the battery dies at a crucial moment, a fine day turns wet and miserable or I've been incredibly stupid, I'm always content and at peace with myself and the world. Well, perhaps not always...

Steve

Of course. If the window is dirty they can see it and turn away. That ghostly pigeon is a tribute to the former cleanliness of your window!

Steve

Amazing to think that they are all descended from dinosaurs. I wonder what it would look like if a T. Rex collided with a window...

Steve

Close but no cigar .

I've had a few of these on house windows over the years - always pigeons. Apparently, the mark is a powder produced by the breakdown of 'powder down' feathers. Most birds have a gland that produces preen oil, which is spread by preening and keeps feathers in good condition. Some birds, including pigeons, don't have that gland but do have the powder which has much the same beneficial effects. Which explains why I've never seen the ghostly outline of a sparrow on a window in spite of numerous strikes when a new generation hasn't yet learned that trying to fly into a room just results in a headache.

Steve

Plenty of bokeh bubbles but I can't see any soap bubbles...

Steve

They don't show the photo that really matters - soap bubbles with bubble bokeh .

I wonder what a focus stack with bubble bokeh would be like...

Steve

There's an old saying "The best is the enemy of the good" (seems to have come from Voltaire). If that XP-970 looks good enough for you, go for it. The 'best' is always elusive, reviewers always have to say something even if there's nothing to say and what one person thinks is a negative might be totally irrelevant for you. I read that the XP-55 was loud, it made me wonder whether it would be a problem given where it had to be in the house, it turned out to be quieter than my previous printer. That's good enough for me (and Mrs L :wink even if it's not the best that some reviewer has encountered.

Steve

Not at all bad - I'd be pleased to have managed to get them!

Can you lighten the kingfisher a bit without losing that lovely light through the wing?

Steve