Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Well, we had no entries this year as Kieran has been so busy with A-levels for the last 18 months that photography (and the blog) has gone by the wayside.  However, for those of you who are interested, the results of this year's competition have been announced and can be seen in the gallery on the Natural History Museum's website.  Tickets for the exhibition which takes place between 19th October 2012 and 13th March 2013 can also be ordered online.

The 2013 competition opens on 17th December 2012 and closes on 22nd February 2013, so there's plenty of time to get your entries in!  Rules for entry and further details can be found here.

A Lancashire Christmas 2011

Goodshaw village on Christmas Eve.  Although Lancashire is well known for being one of the wettest counties in England, we do at least get plenty of snow (or we have done for the past couple of years) which makes us the envy of children (and grown ups!) from all over the South of England.

WWF Earth Hour

On behalf of the World Wildlife Fund, Wildshotsonline invites
you to join us and millions of others in doing our bit for the
climate by turning off all our lights for one hour this evening
(26th March). For more information and to register for the
event (it's free!) click on the swinging light bulb.

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

So the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is over for another year!  Don't forget to log your observations on their website.  Were we pleasantly surprised by the sheer number of visitors to our garden this year? Sadly no, it was much the same as any other year - one robin and one house sparrow!  Not even the starlings turned up as we didn't have any fatballs left for them.  Worst of all, no photo opportunities :-(

Burst of orange

Tee off

Refreshed for 2011

Happy New Year to one and all!

We are starting the New Year with a few changes.  We have removed the gallery, the option to purchase prints by a one-click ordering system on recently added images and we've updated the livery. 

For enquiries and prints please contact us by email.

Merry Christmas

Flame

Not strictly 'wildlife' but I adore this image of a log fire flame. It looks as though it's been highly processed but, in actual fact, it was simply taken on a slow shutter speed.   

Willow Warbler

This willow warbler was spotted at the RSPB Nature Reserve at Vane Farm in Scotland.  It was very well camouflaged and therefore quite difficult to see so Kieran did a fantastic job of capturing this beautiful bird.

Berwick Galleon

Taking an early evening stroll along the golf links at Berwick-upon-Tweed during the summer, we happened upon this gorgeous galleon sporting the flag of the Netherlands.  The ship moored awhile before moving off around the headland towards Lindisfarne.  Kieran chose this image because he particularly liked the pink blush in the sky and the positioning of the ship above the line of rocks.





Technical details:

Taken 05/08/2010 at 19:40
Camera Canon PowerShot SX110 IS
Lens Canon Zoom Lens 10x is 6.0-60.0mm 1:2.8-4.3
Macro  No
Aperture F4.3
Shutter Speed 1/500
ISO 400
Cropping No
Focal length 60.00 mm

Hoverfly on Dandelion

This hoverfly was snapped happily dipping into dandelion nectar at RSPB Leighton Moss on one of the few sunny days we've had in recent months!

Blackheaded Gull

Although we haven't posted here for ages, Kieran has been busy over the summer taking lots of new photographs which will appear here over the course of the next few weeks.  The first image he's chosen in his new collection shows a Blackheaded Gull sporting it's winter plumage at St. Andrews in Scotland.  The Blackheaded Gull loses it's trade-mark black coloured head during winter and takes on the look of a white face with black markings either side that resemble headphones.

Thistles at Fairburn Ings

This image of thistles was taken at Fairburn Ings RSPB Nature Reserve in September of 2009. 

Spring is in the air!

It seems as though the long snowy winter is finally over and spring is definitely in the air.  I love this image, firstly because I adore sheep and secondly because it actually looks as if this sheep is enjoying having it's photo taken!  The photo was taken in the countryside around Leighton Moss RSPB reserve in Lancashire in June of last year and is one of a collection of photos that are being moved from another site to this one.  More to follow!

Yachts on Loch Morlich

These little yachts were also shot on the banks of Loch Morlich last summer.

Canoe

This upturned canoe on the banks of Loch Morlich in Scotland was taken in the summer of last year.  Kieran was somewhat disappointed with the sky in this shot as a few moments before it had been a glorious blue colour.  Typically British weather!

This is the first of a number of images that appeared on Kieran's Photobox site prior to the conception of this blog.  Other images in this collection will appear here on the blog over the course of the next few weeks.

Frosted Grass (Original)

I thought it might be nice to put this shot in.  It's the original shot from which Frosted Grass was taken.  This photo has been cropped ever so slightly on the left hand side just to remove a passer-by from the frame.

Winter Wilderness

"Winter Wilderness" is a rather bleak shot taken on the Rossendale moors on the outskirts of Clowbridge Reservoir. Although it was taken around midday, it actually has a feel of late afternoon.  Shortly after the photograph was taken the weather took a turn for the worse and more snow fell.  Kieran and his trusty camera made it home just in time!

Winter Turbines

These wind turbines on the moors above Burnley in Lancashire can just about been seen on the horizon.  There seems to be a lot of sky in this shot and I wondered whether it would have been better to crop some of it out to add more focus?  Please let us have your suggestions.

Frosted Grass

Happy New Year!  We wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2010.

This shot of ice-covered grass is Kieran's first photo of the New Year, taken on our New Year ramble on the moors of Rossendale. 

As requested, Kieran has included some technical information but if there is anything he has omitted to include please do not hesitate to point it out.

As always, Kieran will look forward to reading your comments and please do feel free to comment - good or bad, it's all helpful!

Damselfly

Taken in June 2009 this shot of a damselfly on a rain-splashed blade of grass is one of my favourite of all Kieran's images.  He would love to know what others think about it too.  Please leave your comments.

Buzzards in the blue

Not the clearest shot as the buzzard on the right is a little undefined but given the distance that he was from the subject Kieran was quite happy with the result.  This particular image demonstrates the power of the zoom function on the SX110is. 

Campsite sunset

As always, this image is unedited.  I'm not sure that it works completely as it stands.  Perhaps the caravans appear a little too dark?  Comments and suggestions for improvements most welcome.

Successful fledglings

After the disappointing year we had last year when two of our three baby blue tits died in the nest we were delighted this year to have completely successful fledglings.  The blue tit shown here is one of the parents of this year's brood.  Unlike the photos in the previous postings which were shot on a Canon Powershot SX110is this one was captured with the Canon EOS 300D. 

Thistles in seed

This image of thistles in seed was taken at RSPB Conwy during the summer.  As usual, we would love to receive your comments.

Raindrops

Today's photo was taken on a hazy summer's day way back in June this year at Leighton Moss RSPB reserve.  Kieran wasn't sure he had captured what he had in mind but overall he was pleased with the result.  Please, let us have your comments.

First published photo!

It seems remarkable that the first image that we decided to upload onto this new blog has also turned out to be the first image Kieran has had published.  In all fairness, Kieran had no idea that I'd submitted it for publication but obviously he was delighted with the result.  Comments would be most welcome.