Imagenic

Why they call it Bee Borage

Self-explanatory, really …

Young terns (and the cute baby animal syndrome)

Why do humans love baby animals? Why do we find them so cute – even sometimes, species that we regard as pests, dangerous or otherwise…

Hammer Time

Male yellowhammer. spotted on Wednesday evening near Shell Bay caravan site, singing very loudly …

The long and winding pier #2

So, now some pictures of the Blocks, to illustrate how varied they can appear, both from the prime spot at the top of the harbour…

The long and winding pier #1 – watching the photographers …

The St Monans harbour breakwater that juts out into the North Sea is, as far as I know, unique. Maybe it’s because it was built…

Taking a closer look (1)

Modern cameras are pretty amazing. My Lumix FZ72 (not the most expensive of cameras) can take hand-held telephoto shots at 24x magnification thanks to its…

Blackbirds are not all black

That’s just the adult males. Females are speckled and brown, and juveniles are reddish brown. This young blackbird, which has been hanging around the West…

The other auk

I’ve previously posted photos of the three commonest auks in our waters – puffins, razorbills and guillemots. There is another – the black guillemot. This…

Tern, Tern, Tern

Terns are so agile and elegant in the air, twisting and turning (pun inevitable but I’m not proud of it). The best photos are probably…

St Monans harbour

A 360° view from the bottom of the West End slipway (click on the photo to expand and scroll) (taken while watching the eider ducks…

Eiders in the harbour

Eider ducks and ducklings in St Monans harbour this afternoon …

Pareidolia

What do you see in this photo? If it reminds you of a face, then that is an example of facial pareidolia. Pareidolia is the…

Home making house martins

The house martins mostly just use mud. Theirs are the nests that you see under the eaves and in the upper corners of windows. Swallows…

Swallows in the mud

The swallows (and house martins) are back, and they are busy. Nest building for both has a ready source of raw material in the harbour.…

snails on trees

They always seem to be climbing up, but I suppose they could be coming down backwards … (tip: if you click on any image, you…

The noisy whitethroat …

I’ve seen this bird a few times recently. I’m not sure if it has become more common, or whether I am noticing them more –…

Flyleaf

No, not a blank page at the beginning or end of a book. This is a fly on a leaf. And this fly is overleaf ……

Sparrows with attitude

You probably think they are cute. But when you take a closer look, they can be mean and ornery lookin’ critters …

The Butterfly Effect

A new variety of butterfly joined my photograph collection at the weekend. Despite my lack of previous acquaintance with it, the Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) is now fairly common…

Do androids dream of electric sheep?

Another panoramic view … Grangemouth at night has always reminded me of Blade Runner. What do you think?

Three Bridges

Image

Three photos, taken in less than a second

These three photos were taken in burst mode – several frames per second, 1/400 second exposures – remember that split-second speed when you look at…

You looking at me?

“Who’s a pretty boy, then?” and probably countless other possible captions for this photo … This blue tit was fascinated by the dog’s bowl, and…

St Monans covered in snow – a panorama

This is an experimental post. I’m trying out ways to display panoramic views. Click on the image below for a zoomed-in, scrollable view (use the arrow…

Newtonmore garden

There’s a place in Newtonmore where visitors are spoilt, and that includes the feathered ones being treated to lashings of nuts, fat balls and seeds. This weekend,…