Today I went for a walk at Fourways Garden and saw some beautiful birds…

Loads of small birds around - always challenging to photograph, but I do enjoy torturing myself 😆 Practice is definitely the key - as I tell my students, an accomplished marksman would expect to practice continually to retain his/her sharp shooting skills. Absolutely no difference with photography, it's a very similar skill. I notice a significant improvement in my ability to raise the lens and have the bird centred perfectly in the frame after a full week of shooting. Unfortunately that skill slides backwards when I'm on a break from bird photography, and I have to work a little extra to get my eye back in. So keep getting out there and follow those tiny fluff balls, it does get easier! Weebill Superb Fairy Wren (M and F) Brown Thornbills

You know I love a small-in-frame and this at the extreme end 😄 But I was happy to get a banking swallow, picking up the light in front of a dark patch on the river - lots of floaty bits catching light, it was a beautiful sight and my photo doesn't do it justice. And yes it took quite a few shots to catch one sharp as they were at distance. I had to stop myself otherwise I could have churned through a memory card and battery on the one bird 😆

These Spotted Thick-knees are frequently seen on my pavement when I come home. They are trusting, yet very cautious. They lay their eggs on the sand and raise a number of precocious chicks every year…

In a recent trip to Namibia, we were fortunate enough to see a Baird’s Sandpiper at the salt pans in Windhoek. In this area the bird is considered a vagrant and caused much excitement among the local ornithologists…