Cracking shots! I've often been tempted to go to Donna Nook myself and your pics have convinced me that I should one day - the last three are my favourites - love the way the little fellahs stick their tails in the air.

Mat

I echo the thanks to Mike for the topic and judging, and a big well done to all who submitted such great shots. These fortnightly competitions are really good fun!

Regards

Mat

Thanks Will, I think that is my favourite from the day too - I was truly delighted when I reviewed my pictures on the camera screen and saw how well it had turned out - I love it when that happens

Regards

Mat

Thanks folks

Regards

Mat

Welcome to the forum! Wow - Antarctica! Looking forward to some pictures of ice and snow

Best Regards

Mat

Hello all. It was a fantastic morning yesterday (wish the sam could be said about today - at least where I live) and I managed a couple of hours in the park. Thought I would share some pictures:







I saw this Jackdaw backlit on a stump and converted it to B/W as it reminded me of 'the Omen'... (cue music)




This shoveller was giving me a fantastic glare! gotta love that beak




This pair of Mallards seemed to be 'courting'...




and I caught this Jackdaw in flight largely by chance... love the bokeh background




Hope you like these - any C&C welcomed as usual. All were taken with the DA*300 except the first which was 50-135. Despite the lovely day, the sun was low and I found myself needing ISO800 and a pretty large aperture, but that did make for some lovely blurred backgrounds...

Regards

Mat

Hi Claudio, there's one on ebay at the moment - being sold by a chap in Hong Kong from the look of it.

The ebay page is:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pentax-FA-28-70mm-f-2-8-ED-IF-AL-Lens-70-f2-8-SMC-Star_W0Q...

(apologies - I still need to suss out how to paste links - if you copy and paste the text into your browser address bar it ought to work...)

Hope this helps

Mat

Hi Frank. My favorite of the two is the first - I rather like the combination of colours and the bokeh in the background sets off the sharp foreground (I might crop out a little of the white sky though?). The second shot to my mind does look cold, but also looks a bit like a picture that was a slightly different colour and has faded, and somehow the blurred plant doesn't set off the sharp building in quite the way the first shot worked.

Just my view though - I'm sure others may feel differently

Regards

Mat

I have an Inov8 K-7 battery as a spare (from SRS) and have had no problems with it at all. I was really impressed with how long the K-7 battery lasts and the Inov8 one seems to last for a similarly long time! As usual service from SRS was spot on as well.

Mat

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice - I think I'm going to go for it and hope to get some great pictures...

Regards

Mat