Tanka: Quiet Falls

(For Joe)

a great blue heron wading through a tidal lagoon

quiet falls
where you once stood
a great blue heron
pauses to feed
beside his own reflection

© Xenia Tran

haikuKATHA Issue 16, February 2023

close up of a great blue heron standing beside a seaweed-covered breakwater at low tide

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday and a blessed and peaceful 2023.

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #160

CFFC: Feathers

Wordless Wednesday: Young Herring Gull

close up of a herring gull chick with golden and green leaves in the blurred background
close up of a herring gull chick on the bank of a river

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Wordless Wednesday

CFFC: Birds

Silent Sunday: Swan in a Woodland Pond

close up of a swan with two drops of water falling from its beak
close up of a swan in a woodland pond

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful new week,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Silent Sunday

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #198: Light and Shadow

Silent Sunday: Snow Meditation

a herring gull bracing the snow storm on top of a chimney cowl
a herring gull on top of a chimney pot in a snow storm

Our adult herring gulls were oozing calm while braving the snow (that followed Storm Eunice) from the top of their chimneys.

We hope you all stayed safe and wish you a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Silent Sunday

Weekend Sky #56

Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: Close-Up

Haiku: Window Feeder

window feeder
a robin people-watches
while he eats

© Xenia Tran

a robin looking in from the window feeder

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful new week,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: Window

Your Daily Word Prompt: Amenable

Caring for River Wildlife

It is an honour and a great pleasure to contribute four photographs to the 2022 Calendar for the River Nairn Swans & Waterfowl Trust that cares for our local river wildlife.

The river meets the sea here and we are blessed with the regular company of our resident swan family, mallard ducks, mandarin duck, goosander, oystercatcher, herring gull, heron and occasional visits by redshank, cormorant, wigeon and seals hunting for salmon.

Joe Telfer from the River Nairn Swans & Waterfowl Trust cares for injured birds and orphaned ducklings until they are ready to be released back into the wild and provides extra food when it is needed.

Our local wildlife is a great inspiration to me and I’m delighted to be able to give something back.

Copies of the 2022 Calendar are available from River Nairn Swans & Waterfowl Trust, Nairn Bookshop and Strachans.

A special thank you to Iona Gibson for putting this beautiful calendar together.

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #160: Your Inspiration

CFFC: It’s a Small World

Silent Sunday: Light on their Wings

close up of a swan feeding on plants in the pond
a pair of canada geese flying above the river

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Settings: f/1.8 – 1/4000 s – ISO 140, f/1.8 – 1/4000 s – ISO 160 and f/7.1 – 1/2000 s – ISO 400.

Silent Sunday

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #144: Taking Flight

Silent Sunday: Snow Scenes from the Sea Shore

a cairn on a snow-covered hill overlooking the Moray Firth
oystercatchers feeding on tidal sands with snow on the beach in the foreground

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/4 – 1/400 s – ISO 100, f/4.5 – 1/400 s – ISO 100 and f/5.6 – 1/250 s – ISO 320.

I am deeply honoured and delighted to be interviewed by the lovely Bella from ThoughtsnLivesBlog about my photography and poetry for her Let’s Get Inspired Series. Part 1 of the interview was published yesterday and if you missed it you can read it here.

Silent Sunday

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #136: Subjects Starting with the Letter ‘S’

Wordless Wednesday: Sea Foam and Silver Wings

a herring gull leaning forward on a snow-covered rock
close up of a herring gull standing on a rocky outcrop

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/5.6 – 1/250 s – ISO 100, f/5.6 – 1/250 s – ISO 320 and f/6.3 – 1/320 s – ISO 400.

Wordless Wednesday

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Stack

Wordless Wednesday: A Dash of Dazzle

a goldfinch munching on lavender seed heads in Winter
a goldfinch eating lavender seed heads in Winter

Lavender has a lovely scent and it provides food for bees and other insects from Spring to late Summer. We leave the lavender stems after flowering so that Goldfinches can feed on the seed heads in Winter. It’s a delight to see these lovely birds in the garden at this time of year.

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/6.3 – 1/60 s – ISO 800, f/6.5 – 1/80 s – ISO 1000 and f/6.5 – 1/50 s – ISO 800.

Wordless Wednesday

Word of the Day Challenge: Dazzling