My blog is mostly about wildlife, particularly birds, walking, days out, all growing things and anything else that comes to mind.
To view pictures in larger format, just click on any picture for the picture gallery....

Sunday 4 January 2009

2009 gets even better!

A while ago I'd been encouraged by a friend to submit a picture of mine to the photo gallery. I had an email this morning from Kevin of Birds of Britain website advising me that my picture had been chosen as "Photo of the Month" and consequently I'm to receive a prize of a book of the BBC Photographer of the Year. WOW - this is the first time I've ever had a picture of mine chosen for anything - let alone win a prize. I'm really chuffed :D

And twas the Grey Phalarope picture that qualified.

So now down to earth. I increased my garden list by 1 today, when I had a visit from a coal tit. I've had a huge number of garden visitors probably due to the cold weather. In excess of 25 Goldfinches, 8 Starlings, 10 Ring-necked Parakeets, 4 Blue Tits, the Black cap, 2 robins, other finches etc. etc. At one time, I had 40+ birds in the garden at the same time. I now need a sponsor for sunflower hearts!!

Some of today's garden visitors:
Male Blackcap

Starling

Goldfinch

"Levitating" Blackbird (female)

A cold Robin

even colder Robin as s/he's standing on frozen pond water!


I've had my grandson staying this weekend, so we trotted off to Bushey Park for the first visit of 2009. 90% of the water was covered in thick ice still. J (grandson) was given a camera for Christmas, so we were both taking pictures. Some of his are very good!
My sole contribution from Bushey Park today - a frozen Boating Lake.

and these are the results of some of J's pictures


23 comments:

Liz said...

Congrats on your photo Tricia! It's a lovely image :)

I can't believe how cold it's being down London! It's cold here, but no frost and actually sunny today. (I thought it was supposed to be warmer down there??!) My boyfriend called from central London, waiting for the tube freezing, bless.

Anonymous said...

Well done Tricia - the photo certainly deserved to win.

great pic of the robin

I see it was a lot less busy today than yesterday at Bushy.

Tricia Ryder said...

Thanks Liz and Neil

Liz - yes I thought it was meant to be warmer "down south"!

Neil - I was surprised how many spaces there were in the car park. Perhaps everyone's at the sales!!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on winning photo of the month!

I've just started feeding sunflower hearts again, it's amazing how many extra birds the hearts attract, almost as amazing as how fast they vanish!

Paul.

Tricia Ryder said...

Thanks Paul - wish the hearts were a tad cheaper though Lol!

swatson said...

WELL DONE!!!for a beautiful photo and a much deserved prize.
Sheila

Tricia Ryder said...

Thanks Sheila!

Anonymous said...

Hi Tricia

Congratulations on being photgrapher of the month. With all your great photo's I am sure you could win every month, well done!!

Jackie

Warren Baker said...

Chuffed ! I bet!
Well done tricia.
Enjoy all those winter birds

Shirley said...

Congratulations Tricia:-)

Yes, I’d guess you are ‘well chuffed’ :-D

It was one of many lovely images from your blog. In this posting I loved the levitating blackbird. I didn’t spot the caption at first as I scrolled through your images. Did ‘J’ get a Harry Potter wand for Christmas too ;-)

Joe said...

Hi Tricia,

Great post here. I loved the Blackcap photo. We had a Robin sat on our frozen bird bath today too!

Joe

The Quacks of Life said...

well done trish

Tricia Ryder said...

Jackie - thank you for your kind words!

Thanks to you Warren and to you Joe.

Shirl - it did suggest to me that she didn't want to put her feet on the cold frosty ground! And no wands - as far as I know that is :D

Thanks Pete :)

Eagleseagles said...

Well we did say what a lovely photo it was at the time!
Glad you entered, even better that you won and a nice prize too!

Not in the same league of course but I was very pleased with a series of shots today of the Night Heron in Kent. (Need to look at my blog...one pic there but tomorrow I plan on putting a sequence up if I can remember to go bakwards!)

Looks like the g-s is a chip of the old block!

C

Tricia Ryder said...

Thanks C - just in the right place at the right time!

I'll pass on the message to J (G-S)

Good capture of your Night Heron

oldcrow61 said...

It's a fabulous photo. You deserved to win the prize. Congratulations.

Tricia Ryder said...

Aw - thanks OC :D

Liz said...

Haha, I think I spoke too soon Trish!

I woke up to snow this morning, guess that'll explain why I was freezing cold in bed last night - I'm never cold in bed other than when I'm ill :)

Richard said...

Congrats Tricia. It is a great picture and worthy of your new header.

Tricia Ryder said...

Thank you Richard.

The Wessex Reiver said...

Well done Tricia, it is a great photo.

Tricia Ryder said...

Thanks ever so Andrew.

Anonymous said...

The Grey Phalarope is a stunning pic Tricia, a worthy winner well done.


Love the Blackcap shot.



paul.

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