birds – Tranature

Haiku: Bouncing Light

a black headed gull preening himself beside two female mallards on a snow covered river bank

preening gull
the light that bounces
in the snow

close up shot of snow on dead branches with starlight in a melting drop

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/6.5 – 1/2000 s – ISO 400 and f/6.5 – 1/1600 s – ISO 400.

Nancy Merrill’s A Photo A Week Challenge: Depth of Field

Sunday Stills: Unexpectedly Frozen

Silent Sunday: The Look of Love

a pen (female swan) swimming in the river in evening light

a pen and cob swimming past each other on the river

swan parents swimming closely past each other on the river

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/6.5 – 1/320 s – ISO 400, f/6.3 – 1/320 s – ISO 500 and f/6.3 – 1/320 s – ISO 400.

Silent Sunday

Paula’s Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word in January Y4 – Scintillating

Wordless Wednesday from the Banks of our River

a blackheaded gull standing in the river and tilting his head at the camera

An adult and two juvenile seagulls preening themselves by the river

a herring gull feeding in the river at low tide

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/6.5 – 1/320 s – ISO 200, f/5.6 – 1/320 s – ISO 160 and f/6.5 – 1/320 s – ISO 320.

Wordless Wednesday

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Bank

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Immerse

Haiku: Delightful Company

a maturing cygnet with pink bill on the river with a female mallard duck

cygnets and ducks
delightful company
on the river

one mature cygnet looks up at the camera whilst his sibling feeds below water

three mature cygnets swimming against the tide on the river

We wish you all a very happy Monday and a wonderful new week!

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, SettingsL f/6.5 – 1/320 s – ISO 640, f/5.6 – 1/320 s – ISO 100 and f/5 – 1/125 s – ISO 100.

Carpe Diem #1588: Delight in Company

Wordless Wednesday: Follow Me

close up shot of an oystercatcher wading into the sea

side-on close-up shot of an oystercatcher wading through the shallows

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/6.5, 1/320 s, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/320 s, ISO 100 and f/6.5, 1/320 s, ISO 125.

Wordless Wednesday

Nancy Merrill’s A Photo A Week Challenge: The Great Outdoors

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Quest

Our First Year in Review

As 2018 draws to a close we look back in gratitude for all the magic we found in nature.

a pen and her cob in the river

a pair of swans in the river with five cygnets on the pen's back

swan parents with cygnets

male bird (great tit) sitting on a branch with green buds

blue tit

friendly swan (cob) swimming in a pond towards the camera

a friendly cob

male mallard

seven cygnets in a circle on the river close to the grassy bank

young cygnets

oystercatcher

a female goosander standing in the shallows of a tidal river

curlew

close up shot of herring gull looking smart after his preening session

seagull

redshank

herring gull

wigeon

pigeon

a black-headed gull balancing on a weathered post beside a pond

black capped gull

a male seal barking next to a snoozing sleeping seal on a sandbar, a heron stands across the water

seals

red squirrel

We followed a pair of swans as they raised their first brood together, watched herring gulls dive for fish, were greeted by friendly mallards on our walks by the river. We saw squirrels and seals. We met oystercatchers, curlew, redshank, goosander, turnstones, wigeon and pigeons, sometimes as curious about us as we were about them.

chive blossom

yellow poppy

lilac rose

bellflower

macro shot of rain drop hanging from fern leaf

raindrop on young fern

buttercup

macro image of raindrops on a flowering white sweat pea

sweet pea

orange poppy

snapdragon

red currant blossom in Spring with green leaves

white currant blossom

ripe blackcurrant

macro shot of raindrops on blades of grass

raindrops on grass

green apple

macro shot of ice crytals around the edges of the tip of a green leaf

ice crystals on leaf

We enjoyed the magic of macro, looking closely at blossoms, flowers, at ripening fruit. Raindrops captured the light and a reflection of our world. Ice crystals shimmered on the edge of an evergreen.

tree-lined pond with a bird hide across the water

clouds in the water

young leaves in the foreground, lit up by the sun

spring leaves

a mountain in a stone

small waterfall with blue sky and trees reflected in the water

reflections in a waterfall

Spring pine and heather and view to Lairig Ghru

snow fields in the mountains

water lilies

close up of a tree stump in a forest covered in moss with grass and ferns

moss on a tree stump

Loch an Eilein

a stream flowing through the glen below pine trees, heather and ferns

autumn colours

sunset

beech tree in Autumn colours, branches forming an arch over the woodland path

autumn glory

sun breaking through morning mist and low cloud above the river Shin in Sutherland

mist over the kyle

We saw clouds wandering across a pond, the first leaves of Spring, a mountain inside a stone by the river. The snow fields were slow to leave the higher ground, even when the water lilies were blooming. Our Autumn was glorious and the mist over the Kyle on Solstice day guided us into Winter.

A very big thank you to all our followers and fellow bloggers for their kind comments and support since we started this blog.

We really appreciate those fellow bloggers who host challenges too. A special thank you to Cee Neuner for hosting her Flower of the Day, Frank Jansen for his wonderful prompts at Dutch Goes the Photo, Patti, Amy, Tina and Ann-Christine for hosting the Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge, the team at the Rag Tag Daily Prompt for their Daily Writing and Photo Prompts, the team at dVerse for their poetry prompts, Frank J Tassone for his Weekly Haikai Challenge and last and certainly not least, Kristjaan Panneman at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai for hosting the haiku prompts and retreats that we have supported throughout the year.

Thank you again for all the love. We wish you and your loved ones a blessed and very happy New Year.

a cob swimming in the pond and the pen and two cygnets in the foreground

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

The annual review on our sister blog Whippet Wisdom can be found here.

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #26: Photographic Review of 2018

Wordless Wednesday: Anticipation

close up shot of a swan from behind, his head and neck under water

close up shot of a swan from behind, his head and neck emerging from the water

close up shot of a cob (male swan) from behind, his head and neck freshly emerged from the water

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/6.5, 1/320 s, ISO 800 and f/6.5, 1/320 s, ISO 1250.

Wordless Wednesday

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Anticipation