I don’t think I’ve posted a ‘bird pic’ in my potd since April 2003 and that was a terribly disfigured common pigeon with no toes that was begging on Guildford station. To be honest, I’d love to be able to get shots like Penny Roots’ wonderful photos but her work must take ages to set up and capture – me, I’m so busy dashing around the place that I never think to spend time waiting for a bird to show up and do something interesting.

Today we’ve done very little but potter about, moving our darkroom from one part of the house to another. I got sick of tripping over studio lights and backdrops every time I ventured into the dining room, not to mention the pain in the bum every time we want to use the dining table for its real purpose. So, we’ve moved the whole lot, lock stock and barrel to a different room, where we can use it without it being in anyone’s way or needing to dismantle it when we want to use the dining room. It’s also a bigger room so there is better space for portraits.

While David was ‘making’ a table for the studio still life set up, I ambled around and put a few bread crusts onto the bird table. I was standing in the bedroom watching as the birds came in for their share, completely enthralled and thought ‘why don’t I do that for my potd today’.

So, I kitted up the camera with its longest telephoto lens and set up the tripod in the garage as a nice, convenient ‘hide’. I waited for a bit and within a few minutes, I’d had a bevy of sparrows, this wood pigeon, a magpie and a collared dove BUT by then, the light was failing and even on iso 800, I was barely getting fast enough shutter speeds for this long lens so I decided to call it a day.

Lesson for me – it was glorious weather earlier and I could have easily got shots at a suitable shutter speed if I’d thought through a plan, set up my kit and put out the bread earlier. So, instead of this grainy shot of a pigeon, I might have had some lovely little greenfinches or a chaffinch or two.

Ah well, that’s life! Next time, be prepared!!!

I'm deeply ashamed to report that it is a whole year since I last saw my dear friend Beth - life has been so hectic. Though when we did meet, it was the catalyst for taking my life off in a whole new direction that I didn't expect. Her wedding to the gorgeous Sabino, in Madrid later this summer, is going to be my third venture into wedding photography and I am so excited about it. I am so thrilled she asked me to do it for her. The year before she'd been ill and I was just succumbing to the same thing.