Chris Gravett

Well the blog is a mixed bag today. Most imporatant of all it contains some new images. Yesterday I ignored the physio and actually shot some photos. It was a lovely day, in the afternoon we visited the London Wetlands Centre  at Barnes.

I've never been there before and after the disappointment of BWC I went with an open mind. I knew we would end up at The Dukes Head  at Putney later, which is just about a mile along the Thames towpath and is a guaranteed good pint and nice food, so whatever the wetlands were like the day would end well. There was no need to worry though. The weather was fantastic and the Wetland Centre is a great place for nature photography. Nice to walk around and although it was a bank holiday it was not too crowded. I am pleased with my first action behind the shutter for over three weeks. I certainly do not profess to be a natural history specialist photographer but I think my efforts yesterday are passable as nice nature shots if nothing else.

The first thing I shot was this Grey Heron. They are magnificint especially in flight. I could have done with some more light on his eye ideally.

I took a number of shots of a pair of coots feeding their four chicks. For some reason this chick did something out of order and this image catches the mother (or father) chasrising the nipper by pushing it a long at speed and finally dipping it under the water. All four chicks appeared to be on best behaviour after this incident. You can see where the saying 'bald as a coot' comes from looking at this chick! there is a another coot saying but I could get no photgraphic evidence for that one!

Next I have three images of frogs as they were particularly active yesterday. I call this one Froggy Would a Wooing Go - and he did!

This one hasn't pulled yet but is making a lot of noise and huffing and puffing in the process of doing so. There were a lot of frogs in this area and the noise was really surprising and difficult to believe it was bang in the middle of SW London.

The last frog image is a marsh frog who appeared set for a long slow mating session - his partner completely submerged but one hopes enjoying every minute.

And just to prove not all the wildlife in the wetlands is water related this hooded crow (I think) landed in front of me and hung around long enough to have a portrait taken. Monday - update courtesey of Dennis Jackson  who reliably informs me that it's a Jackdaw. He's a top ornithologist - thanks Dennis!

The title of this blog is London Wetlands Centre and Bridal Nails Update. I've added the Bridal Nails bit as the competition results were announced last night. My friend, Catriona, works at The Nail Retreat  in St Ives (Cambs). Last year Cat entered a nail competition for which I took the photos. Well we didn't come last but felt we could do better. So last month we entered a Bridal Nail competition. The competition is for nails , design etc, not a photography competition but you have to submit photos so the way they are presented in the image does play a part. Shooting nails is not easy so it's a good learning curve for me. In this competition we were only allowed one submission. Below is the one we chose.

Well last night the results were announced and Cat came 17th out of 63 entrants. As Cat made the top twenty our photo will be in Scratch Magazine next month. We will now look forward to making the top ten in the next competition.

And to end I mentioned earlier The Dukes Head  Putney, well we did end up there and great fun it was too. Below is an image I shot there, another bird, well little more than a chick really, note the winter plumage growing out exposing the naturaly dark roots and also observe that she too appears about to make a mating call! Happy Easter.