A thundery afternoon gives me an opportunity to deal with the large backlog (as usual) of photos kindly sent in for the Photo Gallery. We have the usual mix of the commoner (but still worthy) species, rarities and distinct odd-balls. For example, Cathy Cochrane’s picture of a Whitethroat demonstrates something I’ve learnt is what serious photographers call Bokeh (every day is a school day here at Ayrshire Birding). Bruce Kerr managed to get a flight picture of the Great Egret that popped up in Loch Doon. Dave Grant got a nice picture of the Pied Flycatcher that set up home in Glen Afton.
I’m always on the hunt for photos to illustrate our Ayrshire Species List. Dave was very close with a picture of a female Blackbird but sadly we already have one (just one!) from a decade ago. It just shows that beautiful commoner species are often overlooked. Angus was sneaky and submitted a picture of Egyptian Geese that isn’t even on the official list (I had to make an Editorial decision and add it so he could get the glory: I put it down as an Escape – I’m sure the Great&Good will put me right).
The above is just an amuse–bouche of the goodies that were sent in: please go to the Photo Gallery to see all the other great pictures.
My thanks go to Cathy Cochrane, Dave Grant, Angus Hogg, and Bruce Kerr for their contributions.