Hey guys,


What a frustrating day..! I headed out this morning to a location called Barns Bridge, which is situated in the middle of the Delamere Forest Park, Cheshire. I knew this spot fairly well because I used to picnic there as a kid, and I knew that there were always a number of great birds in the area (such as Woodpeckers, Robins and Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal tits..) and I was fairly confident of coming home with a bunch of decent shots.

I was equipped with my brand new Panasonic DMC-FZ28 which I was really looking forward to trying out, and upon arriving in the area it was desolate, nobody around, just me and the birds - Great! So I found an idealic spot, surrounded by all sorts of different beautiful birds, set up my stuff, and was ready to go, when a truck with a trailer full of mountain bikes races up the trail and pulls up right next to me. Can you guess what happens next? All the birds fly away. Anyway, no big deal I figured, as long as they get their bikes out and move along soon, I should have enough time to get some shots when the birds return, before I have to leave for home (I was on a tight time schedule).

So..I waited at the spot for an hour while the damn bikers proceeded to get all their bikes out, play some loud rock music, smoke a few cigarettes, eat their lunch, and make some phone calls..and when they FINALLY went on their way, I was left with a matter of minutes left to shoot before I had to leave for home.

The only positive thing to come out of today was the shot of the Robin that I've posted called 'Rocky Robin', simply because this little guy seemed to be the only bird in the area that wasn't spooked away by the bikers loud music.

As for the new camera, it seems great, it has an 18x Optical zoom which is incredible, and I'm looking forward to exploring all of its functions!

Have a good day