Nothing to do with birding at all

I quite like that photo.

I actually went birding

I actually went out birding this morning to Beddington. Saw a Buzzard and a few hirundines. Most interesting thing was a Crested Duck (an escaped collectors bird but a South American montane species) and conversations with Kevin (McManiac) about how he whiled away the days of the late 1970's engaged in Palace football hooliganism. Also interesting were comments made by another birder, policeman, also called Kevin (Kojak- he is bald) about how he spent the 1990's locking people like ex-hooligan (now reformed) Kevin up. So good to see, birding bringing people together.

Down, down, down

Oil distillery workers on strike, teachers about to strike, property stock loosing value, inflation going up, chinese stock market crashed, banks rolling, pound devaluing, oil prices soaring, wheat prices exploded and rice prices going through the roof. Mmmmmmm.

I have discovered Photoshop!

Went on a photography course a few weeks ago to try and improve my DSLR skills. Off to Arizona soon so hopefully will come in handy with getting some passerine shots. Well, I am supposed to be shooting in manual program (controlling my aperture and shutter), shooting in raw, concentrating on my histograms, supposed to be using a mac instead of a pc, concentrating on post production using photoshop (like a modern day dark room) and ensuring that post production is subtle and effective. Well, I have given up on nearly everything and gone back to my old ways- jpegs, pcs, ignoring histograms and shooting in auto- I would miss the photo if I bothered with all that. However I do like photoshop, although I am not sure whether the above photo would be classified as subtle and effective. Can you see the subtle changes?

Southbank birding

Went to see the Rodchenko exhibition at the Hayward on the South bank with Laura yesterday. It inspired me to try some pretentious photography.

Here are two photos which attempt to explore 'the complex, but at the same time simple, relationships between humans and birds'. One is of an adult Greylag Goose feeding along the polluted tide line of the Thames with a good time girl (skagged up to her gills) and her 'pimpish' boyfriend walking past. The other is of a 6ft King Penguin chasing an Asian girl down the road in the rain.

This blog has very little to do with birding?

Lee has pointed out to me that this blog has very little to do with birding.

Well here is a photo of my dad in his pants just to prove him right.

Power cuts

Been in two power cuts recently and read about a major power cut in the london underground last week. I don't recall a power cut in my area since I was a kid. Reminds me of being in Africa.

Just finished reading the papers-the economic crisis is deepening- mabe one trillion dollar losses in the financial system- so far. House prices in Britain, officially on the slide. That is not going to be good for business. Been talking to some garden design/landscaper friends about teaming up to diversify a bit- might be a good idea. My favourite business analyists are talking about next year (2009) being the one to worry about. At the moment there is still a lot of momentum in the economy which will keep us going a bit- after that- who knows. So seems like a good idea to take some precautions now- diveristfying at work will be interesting and fun so not all bad.

Not much happening

Spring is unfolding gradually- saw my first Swallow of the year yesterday.

Up loaded a few new photos onto my gallery section on my website including this one of Sam birding from the back of camel which I found from my photos from India,

Off to Arizona in a few weeks to catch up with Sam there.