Glynn Hobbs - imageweaver

I have been fascinated by Ospreys, since following some of the online 'nest-cams' at locations around the British Isles. Most of the locations are run by the RSPB, or Wildlife Scotland and many locations have purpose built hides, which are available to the public to watch these amazing birds. With a wingspan of 1.5 metres Ospreys are one of europes largest birds of prey and the only kind that exclusively eats fish. My first visit, was near to Castle Douglas, where I had been told there were a nesting pair. Although I did manage to locate the nest site, it was at least half a mile from them and simply not worth trying to photograph anything due to the distance. The following images were taken at my next location 'Loch of the Lowes' Wildlife Reserve in Perth, which was two hours north. Here, you can access two purpose built 'hides', overlooking the loch, but quite some distance from the nest site. I was using my 500mm lens with a 1.4 teleconverter, giving me 700mm...

  a Male Marsh Harrier searching for breakfast. After two years of lockdown, the time has come to start our travels again. We have not visited the UK since March in 2020, so the opportunity to visit one of my favourite Nature Reserves was always going to be high on my itinery. The forecast was good, but cold for the 24th March, so at 05.00 and at a temperature of just 1 degree, I arrived at Stodmarsh just before sunrise. It was a 'still' day with barely a breath of wind and all that could be heard, was the 'murmering' of water fowl awakening from their slumber.    A cold and misty start to the day as the sun came up, with frost still on the ground. As the sun started to rise, so did some of the birds and whilst there was not really enough light for photographing birds in flight, I stopped down the camera to f4 and kept the shutter speed as low as possible. These images are therefore rather 'noisy', but at least capture the day as it unfolded and the light slowly...