Age: 40
Lives: Isle of Wight, England
Favourite UK bird species: Goldcrest, Common Redstart, Long-tailed Tit, Fulmar, Peregrine
Favourite foreign bird species: all hummingbirds, sunbirds, Beryl-spangled Tanager, Southern Cassowary, Black-browed Albatross
Likes: my hobbies, beer, curry, chocolate, coffee (proper coffee), peppermint tea, lemon tea, Star Trek, rock music, big ships, aircraft, star parties (astronomy gatherings), the USA, dogs, birding when no-one else is around.
Dislikes: noisy people, small children, parents who let their children run riot and who think the rest of us should put up with it, adverts, commercial radio, Portsmouth FC, brussels sprouts, urban contemporary music, jazz, the awful modern obsession with so-called celebrities, not being able to afford a 500mm lens, work, drivers who don't indicate, tailgate and don't say thanks if I let them through, cyclists, horse riders, people who kill animals for kicks (and that includes hunting).
Occupation: office temp/delivery driver/anything I can get (legal, of course!).
The rest of it: I have been interested in birds and photography for a long time. However, before the digital age the cost of film and processing was prohibitive, so it wasn't until 2007 that I started getting into bird photography, with two trips to South America where the birds are a lot more approachable and easier to photograph than they are here in the UK. Until July 2008 I used a Nikon D80 DSLR with various lenses but have now switched to Canon.
I have loved photography - all photography at first - since I was about 10 years old and my aunt gave me her old instamatic camera for a family holiday to Cornwall in 1980. As a teenager, I was always frustrated by the awful 110 camera I had (a replacement for the instamatic), with it's tiny negatives, poor quality, usually grainy photographs and absolutely no reach on the lens at all (in short it was absolute crap) until I was given a 35mm film compact with a fixed 32mm lens for Christmas when I was 16. This was an improvement over the 110 but still frustratingly bloody awful and I resorted to using my stepfather's Praktica SLR (he'd lost interest) and a short zoom until I could afford my own decent SLR - a Vivitar V2000, with a Pentax lens mount and a set of lenses - as soon as I got my first proper job (four years in the Royal Navy). Over the past 22 years I have got through various cameras, from the aforementioned Vivitar, through Pentax, Nikon and the digital Canon system I now use.
My current equipment consists of two Canon DSLR bodies, a 40D and a 20D, a Canon 400mm f5.6 L-series telephoto (pride and joy!), Canon 70-200mm f4 L zoom and a Canon 18-55 bog-standard kit zoom. Miscellaneous bits and pieces include a Canon EX430 flash and flash extender, LowePro MiniTrekker backpack and a Manfrotto monopod when I don't want to lug a tripod around.
I am based on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast off England but, as well as birding in my home county, I also like travelling for birds and have been to Ecuador, the USA, Singapore, Australia and Thailand in recent years and the photos from these trips will eventually appear here.
Apart from birding, photography and travel, I am also interested in astronomy (I have a large telescope for deep sky observing), football (Southampton FC supporter), sketching, watching big ships in the Solent, reading and watching science fiction films. I also have a miniature long-haired dachshund, called Ruthie, who is now 11 years old and who I love very much.
I hate having my picture taken, but ones of me in nice foreign places are not too bad. The pic above is me sat on a wall by Sydney Harbour with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge in the background. It was a very windy day; as (non) luck would have it, my visit coincided with Australia's wettest and windiest weather in 25 years.
Lives: Isle of Wight, England
Favourite UK bird species: Goldcrest, Common Redstart, Long-tailed Tit, Fulmar, Peregrine
Favourite foreign bird species: all hummingbirds, sunbirds, Beryl-spangled Tanager, Southern Cassowary, Black-browed Albatross
Likes: my hobbies, beer, curry, chocolate, coffee (proper coffee), peppermint tea, lemon tea, Star Trek, rock music, big ships, aircraft, star parties (astronomy gatherings), the USA, dogs, birding when no-one else is around.
Dislikes: noisy people, small children, parents who let their children run riot and who think the rest of us should put up with it, adverts, commercial radio, Portsmouth FC, brussels sprouts, urban contemporary music, jazz, the awful modern obsession with so-called celebrities, not being able to afford a 500mm lens, work, drivers who don't indicate, tailgate and don't say thanks if I let them through, cyclists, horse riders, people who kill animals for kicks (and that includes hunting).
Occupation: office temp/delivery driver/anything I can get (legal, of course!).
The rest of it: I have been interested in birds and photography for a long time. However, before the digital age the cost of film and processing was prohibitive, so it wasn't until 2007 that I started getting into bird photography, with two trips to South America where the birds are a lot more approachable and easier to photograph than they are here in the UK. Until July 2008 I used a Nikon D80 DSLR with various lenses but have now switched to Canon.
I have loved photography - all photography at first - since I was about 10 years old and my aunt gave me her old instamatic camera for a family holiday to Cornwall in 1980. As a teenager, I was always frustrated by the awful 110 camera I had (a replacement for the instamatic), with it's tiny negatives, poor quality, usually grainy photographs and absolutely no reach on the lens at all (in short it was absolute crap) until I was given a 35mm film compact with a fixed 32mm lens for Christmas when I was 16. This was an improvement over the 110 but still frustratingly bloody awful and I resorted to using my stepfather's Praktica SLR (he'd lost interest) and a short zoom until I could afford my own decent SLR - a Vivitar V2000, with a Pentax lens mount and a set of lenses - as soon as I got my first proper job (four years in the Royal Navy). Over the past 22 years I have got through various cameras, from the aforementioned Vivitar, through Pentax, Nikon and the digital Canon system I now use.
My current equipment consists of two Canon DSLR bodies, a 40D and a 20D, a Canon 400mm f5.6 L-series telephoto (pride and joy!), Canon 70-200mm f4 L zoom and a Canon 18-55 bog-standard kit zoom. Miscellaneous bits and pieces include a Canon EX430 flash and flash extender, LowePro MiniTrekker backpack and a Manfrotto monopod when I don't want to lug a tripod around.
I am based on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast off England but, as well as birding in my home county, I also like travelling for birds and have been to Ecuador, the USA, Singapore, Australia and Thailand in recent years and the photos from these trips will eventually appear here.
Apart from birding, photography and travel, I am also interested in astronomy (I have a large telescope for deep sky observing), football (Southampton FC supporter), sketching, watching big ships in the Solent, reading and watching science fiction films. I also have a miniature long-haired dachshund, called Ruthie, who is now 11 years old and who I love very much.
I hate having my picture taken, but ones of me in nice foreign places are not too bad. The pic above is me sat on a wall by Sydney Harbour with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge in the background. It was a very windy day; as (non) luck would have it, my visit coincided with Australia's wettest and windiest weather in 25 years.