desperately seeking

Didn't actually see any falling but we've had an "icing sugar on the cake" simulation every morning this year so far (since 31st) and I'm yet to see a cloud! DS

Sorry about this but I couldn't think of a truly appropriate place to post this - I need to vent (in a - hopefully - humorous way ) I've been lurking around the forums for years and make very few posts as I find it hard to make a relevant and appreciated (not to say informed) addition to the conversations - I am confused. Not about models or the amount of snow/rain/cats/dogs/frogs we may get in Bromley - I've been hovering long enough to know that specifics (and in particular specific questions) aren't always appreciated. Instead I am confused as to why I find it necessary to keep reading (for example) the Model Output thread when I know: 1) No-one can say whether or not it will snow for a day over Bromley until it DOES snow for a day over Bromley 2) No-one can say if the rain that IS (possibly) coming will turn to snow or if it will turn the living room carpet into a flood topping 3) There is (almost) definitely going to be a return of cold (or very cold) air over the parts of the UK that aren't still cold from the "last" spell that started (in the SE ) a couple of weeks ago. 4) This cold air increases the chances of decent white stuff laying on the ground Outside My House but there is no guarantee. Knowing the above to be true why do I keep reading the forums in the vain hope that someone somewhere will give me the definitive answer when I know there is none? I think (after recent soggy mushy "school dinner" winters) I am lucky to be around when things are as interesting and edgy as they are now. My memories of good snow stem from the days in the the mid to late eighties when I was at boarding school near Ipswich and nearly every winter we had decent to extreme amounts of snow. My best memory is having to have an "A" level Chemistry lesson in the Staff room because the Chem lab was frozen shut and the path to it was "too dangerous" to get there... I just wish I had known then that I wouldn't see many more examples of that kind of weather so I could appreciate it for what it was - I remember cycling to the local snooker hall through 2 feet of snow over frozen paths and actually not managing to injure myself. Sorry for rambling but for an addict of the forums who finds a reason to post as rarely as he finds foot long icicles and the front door frozen shut this kind of exciting weather tends to get in the way of "normal life" and I'm not entirely sure I know why... Bring on the blizzards (which can't be confirmed until they've started...) DS

Hi All, Anyone know when the voting will start on this selection? TIA DS

Easily 7-8 inches of snow on the bird tables (top not where the food sits) - still just about snowing here in Bromley. Spent all day topping up the meal worms, suet sprinkles and peanuts. Our garden is only 20ft sq and we've had four blackbirds, around 30 starlings, no idea how many sparrows and four feuding robins - up until a large female sparrowhawk tried to get some fast food and scattered everything.... Looking like sleet might be on the way - here's hoping that I'm far enough inland to turn any sleet back to snow by the time it reaches me. Sha'n't be going far tomorrow when all this snow is "icified" - it'll make the railway bridges (not to mention the roads) unpassable..... Long may it continue.... DS

OK, I've not posted here for ages (since the last decent snow in SE London probably). In my experience we live in a "snow shadow" here in Bromley and really need a decent front or a hefty streamer to get anything to fall over us. Can't remember the date but I do remember a streamer setting up while I was working in London (right on the North Bank) and we had a day of seriously heavy snow showers (obscuring the other side of the river type heavy..) but when I got home there had been nothing. I live pretty low down at the bottom of a valley and need all the help I can get - would be nice to see some real snow and not the wet stuff we saw a few weeks ago.... Here's hoping... DS

W00t 4 more pics Anyway - two more non-weather shots: 1) Looking across to Liathach in Glen Torridon 2) A view across Loch Carron in B+W : Weather pics: 1) Loch Pityoulish again: 2) Across Strathspey again with some more dramatic light (in B+W): DS

I'm back after a while and I have a few pictures to share.. First my "non weather" shots - most of them have an autumn feel about them: 1) Long exposure (>1 sec) on a section of the Feshie river in Speyside near the Cairngorms 2) A tree in the same valley, again a long exposure and while exposing the focal length was changed using the zoom control on the lens 3) Glen Affric in West Scotland - allegedly the most beautiful glen in Scotland... Now for the weather related shots: 1) Taken on a cold misty morning at the side of Loch Pityoulish near the Cairngorms National Park 2) 3) 2) and 3) were taken from a high viewpoint looking across the Spey Valley - it was a showery day and the light provided a dramatic backdrop to a beautiful view... DS

Perhaps you need to add a couple of birds My squirrel was left out as well! (Not that wanting all three votes is greedy or anything ) DS

I have: 1) Olympus OM1 (film) plus everal OM lenses, got it for my 18th birthday and took it to Kenya on my first Safari - still love those pics 2) Olympus OM10 (film) - same lenses, took them both to Alaska and was highly disappointed with the results - they just didn't "look" right. 3) Canon EOS30 (film) my first autofocus camera, several lenses, took the kit with me to Africa twice and a few other places - best shots yet. 4) Canon 350D - same lenses - used it to shoot my raptor shots etc last year and loved every second of it except for the frame rate and high noise levels so before I went to India last November I got: 5) Canon 40D - best camera I've ever owned. All my shots in the March competition were taken with this and: Sigma 50-500 (called the Bigma) - got it because I couldn't justify £5000 on a new 600L F4 Canon 100 Macro Canon 10-22 wide angle Canon kit lenses (too many to mention). I will end up owning a large prime telephoto but not for a while yet... DS

Someone has to go first... In no particular order (except weather first) wb3 rn2 dr1 non weather gb n1 yt n1 DS

Right, I'm back; I've been to Scotland for Easter - excellent timing as it snowed every day (from 20th to 25th of March) and I saw some wonderful things and places. I have three entries for each competition.... Non-weather: A Crested Tit with some company: A splendid Greater Spotted Woodpecker: and thirdly - well, this fella needs no introduction: For my weather related entries the obvious subject is the snow (although to me all three are just nice landscapes ) It was an arctic day at the top of Findhorn Valley- negative 5 degrees celsius with ice pellets and heavy snow squalls. Despite this we still saw Snow Bunting, Dippers (my first), Golden Eagles, Buzzards and a pair of very territorial Peregrines taking offence at one particular Buzzard's presence - an amazing place... Next we travelled to the West Coast to look for Sea Eagles etc - we saw one in the distance along with more Goldies and Buzzards plus numeorus Black Throated, Great Nothern and Red Throated Divers. This is a view from Mellon Udrigle beach looking towards the peak of Sail Mhor - it's an example of how the lower levels of the North-West of Scotland missed the brunt of the snow that covered the East: And finally - we spent a morning looking for Capercaillie in a stretch of ancient Caledonian Pine forest near Abernethy - no Capers but we did visit (and see) a Black Grouse Lek earlier in the day - way too far away for any camera lens in my posession unfortunately.... Enjoy! DS

Lion?!!!

OK - I've not entered for a while and TBH I'm not realy sure if these are relevant but here goes anyway... I've just got back from a week in Bandhavgarh, a tiger reserve 18.5 hours train journey south east of New Delhi in India; the main object of the trip was to photograph tigers like this one: This tigress is called Pyari and she's one of the most successful mothers in the park at the moment - she's just about to wean her 10th, 11th and 12th cubs... We didn't only see tigers though: This is called a Changeable Hawk Eagle.... Not because it can change between a hawk and an eagle but because the plumage and appearance of this species can vary so much between individual birds that it can be very tricky to ID one when you see one. The final pic goes for the Ahhhh vote: There are no wild elephants in Bandhavgarh - when fully grown this baby will be used by the park rangers to keep a check on the tigers and to follow them when they get away from the park's roads... DS

Paul, I've PM'd you back but no response - I was away in India until after the deadline. Can you let me know if I can still get my pic on the calendar? If so. how do I send you the poc without it being automatically resized? DS

W00T!! I won another one!!!! Maybe I should think about actually trying to snap some weather... A bit difficult where I live, besides I don't get a lot of chance to snap things in the summer when my weekends are taken up with the fine pastime that is leather bashing with willow (not that I do a lot of the bashing, more of the throwing). Perhaps at the end of the season I'll get out more with the camera - then there's the trip to India in November..... I know tigers aren't weather related (and OON will probably try to ban them as a pre-emptive strike anyway). Anyway thanks for voting those who did... It's always nice to be appreciated! DS

Now I'm feeling victimised.... :blush: DS

Post your storm reports here. I'll start - torrential rain and frequent lightning/thunder here in Charing Cross. 12:15. Pitch black outside. I'm right on the River and can't see the other side. The Eye has vanished into the rain.... Amazing weather. DS

Hi All, I'm a subscriber to the "lite extra" package 'cos I like to see where the rain is on a Saturday and Sunday when I'm due to play cricket. My question is how do you tell which direction (with some degree of accuracy) the rain is moving in? I know you can add the overlays with different wind directions at different heights but I don't know which heights are relevant to the actual rain bearing clouds. Any hints greatfully accepted.... DS

Guys, Thanks for the kind comments - a few of the pics did turn out rather well. I looked at the Red Arrows' site and they do have a "gallery" section but there doesn't seem to be a way to post to it! Maybe I'll drop them an email. Surprisingly enough my vantage point wasn't particularly special. I was lucky to have a very bright day (which enabled me to hand hold my Sigma 50-500 lens) and the Red Arrows do that particular break from about 500 Ft. That picture is a 100% crop which turned out quite well considering. I've posted a few more on my photobucket page. DS

Hi all, I'm not sure how "weather relevant" these are - but they've all got loads of blue sky in them! I spent all Saturday at Biggin Hill for the first day of this year's Air Fair and came away with a few good shots (not surprising considering I took over 1200 on the day - isn't digital photography a wonderful thing?!) DS

Thanks for re-opening this Shuggee - glad I could be of help finding a bug! Anyway - I wanted to thank those who voted for me; it's the first time anything I've snapped has won anything so I was really chuffed to finish on top. I hope I can enter some more comps in the future - it's going to be hard during the summer though as my cricket team's fixture list takes precedence, but I'll try to be more weather orientated in the future. Blackie - thanks for your comments - you've managed to convince me to enter a couple of pics in the countryfile photography contest (even if the Snowy Owl isn't actually a British bird it was shot in Scotland so I suppose it qualifies)! Thanks again ya'll and especially to Shuggee for listening to my whinges! DS

Thanks for this John, I've been trying to work out how best to word my feelings on this. I live ten miles from the city of London and the chances of getting a winning weather related picture (especially when considering the stunning landscapes that are entered) are pretty slim. To get the one that did win I had to wait until I went away on holiday for a weekend. Pictures of a "stormy" Bromley town centre would not inspire anyone believe me. I am going to find my chances of entering this competition seriously limited by the "restriction" (I apologise for the poor choice of words). Not only did I really enjoy winning the March round (thanks to everyone who voted for me btw) but I also enjoy reading the comments made about my other entries. In future I'm going to have to plan trips away to take photographs where as before hand (with the exception of last month's entries) I used to just take trips up to the local park. I can see where OON and the rest are coming from and I understand completely but the changes are going to limit my ability to participate (after all there's no point entering a competition if you don't think you stand a chance of winning it) and that, for me, is a disappointment.. DS PS - can I just add, on a personal note, that I was disappointed with the speed at which the final vote thread for March was closed; I don't win things very often and I would have enjoyed reading a few congratulatory posts that were aimed at me for once!

I enjoyed it - it's run by a professional wildlife snapper (Pete Cairns) and his wife. They're extremely friendly and very helpful. They coach you if you need it. The guy I mentioned with "low end" equipment got a lot of help and in the end even he got some good shots. Pete will even lend you his "L" lenses (if you're a Canon-ite). I got to use a 300 f2.8 while I was shooting a tawny owl; it made me want to spend lots of money that I don't have. If you're a keen snapper and want to shoot wildlife I say go for it. I didn't think I was going to get anything worth boasting about but a couple turned out nice! DS

Strictly speaking it wasn't at a centre. I was on holiday with these guys based near Aviemore. They're very friendly with a falconer (lives in the same valley with them - beeyootiful place) and he provides the birds for the birds of prey photography weekend I was on. I recommend it to everyone but you do need some half decent kit though - one guy turned up with a Nikon and a 75-300mm "kit" lens and really struggled to keep up. Most of the guys had top notch pro kit. I was a sort of halfway house - no Canon "L" lenses but more than the basic stuff though. It certainly helped me! BTW - I'm loving this voting; isn't democracy pretty?! DS

But the owl was saying "March" - honest! It's why her beak is open! DS