Failure is the Key to Success

While we were on holiday at Center Parcs, we bought a bird feeder at the Nature Centre and then added a pole to put it on. They are made by CJ Wildbird Foods, and were very reasonably priced. After we got home we were looking at their website and found that they only charge £2 delivery for orders under £50 and free for orders over. We wanted to add a base to support the pole and also got a variety pack of the peanut cake tubes and a squirrel resistant peanut feeder. I had them delivered to work and they arrived on Thursday; I’m glad I did as the box was enormous, it only just fitted in the car.

Continue reading » Birds galore

Tags:bird feeder

Yesterday we went to London Zoo; we were going to visit a couple of weeks ago when I was on holiday, but I went down with a streaming cold, so we put it off. The weather forecast for yesterday had been looking good all week, so we got up fairly early.

The kids were excited, they hadn’t been on a train before and there was the zoo as well. We travelled from Hemel Hempstead station rather than Luton, it’s a smaller station and made the London change easier. We had previously bought a Family and Friends Railcard which gives discounts on family rail fares. It would have made a bigger saving if we had been travelling during the week as originally planned, but still saved us some money. We only had to wait about 5 minutes on the platform for the train and were able to get seats as the train wasn’t full at all. After about 35 minutes we arrived at Euston and (after a toilet break for the kids at 30p a visit,) changed onto the Northern Line underground for one stop to Camden Town. I had printed out the zoo’s directions for getting to them, but didn’t need them as it was signposted from outside the station. It took about 15 minutes to walk from the station to the zoo and then we were there. After presenting our Friends of ZSL passes we were in. Time to take my obvious camera bag out of my plain backpack.

Continue reading » Our visit to London Zoo

Tags:Gorilla Kingdom,London Zoo

We got up and packed this morning. I collected the car from the car park. I’m glad we weren’t up and about on Friday when people were leaving, its mad out there! There is a 10 mph speed limit and cars are supposed to give way to cycles and pedestrians - unfortunately this is reality, its a wonder there hasn’t been an accident.

After squeezing a quart into a pint pot, (well that what loading the car felt like,) I took the car back to the car park and rode back to the villa. We locked up and took the keys back to the Information Centre. I handed the keys back in at about 3 minutes to 10am, 3 minutes to spare, no problem. As I was heading back to the bikes there were still cars coming on-site, I think they would be pushing it to vacate their accommodation by 10am.

Continue reading » Sherwood Forest Center Parcs 2008 pt 8

Tags:Center Parcs,Major Oak,Sherwood Forest

It was a dry day this morning and I was in the bird feeding hide down the road before 7am. There was a fair variety, but nothing new. I had commented to Jo a couple of days ago that some of the greater spotted woodpeckers had different markings on the head; one of the woodpeckers I saw this morning had a red top of its head. It may be than this is the opposite sex to the ones we saw earlier or maybe an immature bird. I was in the hide for just over an hour and then concluded it was time to head back for a coffee; it might be a nice bright morning, but it was still chilly.

Continue reading » Sherwood Forest Center Parcs 2008 pt 7

Tags:Center Parcs,Falconry,Forestors' Inn,Sherwood Forest

We went into the guest services this morning and reported the heating problem. Then we crossed the road to Jardin Des Sports, where the kids had their pre-booked activity later today. Again, like most of the other facilities here, it was noticably smaller than its counterpart at Elveden. The kids went and played outside in one of the children’s play areas before went went across to the adventure golf where we played 9 holes.

We had lunch at the Pancake House. We had a table outside as it was looking nice, but part of the way through I thought we were going to have to change table as it looked as if it was imminently going to start raining.

Continue reading » Sherwood Forest Center Parcs 2008 pt 3

Tags:Center Parcs,Huckleberry's,Sherwood Forest

The obvious choice here would be my Nikon D80, which I’ve had for 7 months now. Don’t get me wrong, I love this camera; it has given me photography back. I’ve probably taken more photos this year, than I have taken in total previously. OK, there have been a high percentage that have been discarded, but that’s the appeal of digital.

Actually, my two most useful pieces of equipment are older than that. I’m talking about my monopod and my camera case. Before I went digital, I was using a 60-300 lens with doubler most of the time. It was a heavy piece of glass and the monopod allowed me the stability without the hassle of a tripod. It is only a cheap Velbon monopod, but it suits me fine. The collapsed length is about 22″ (56cm) including head and it extends to about 66″ (167cm), this is perfect for me as I’m 6′ 1″, much shorter and I’d be bending over to use it. The head has a quick release fitting, so the plate lives on the camera and can be attached in seconds.

Continue reading » My most useful photographic equipment

Tags:lowepro,monopod,nikon d80,toploader 75AW,Velbon