I like the huts in shots, gives impression of scale, which otherwise would be lost.
Are these colour strips on last shot markings for trekking paths? Here we don't have mountains, instead trees are painted with stripes to designate trekking paths.

Lovely shots, I like first shot most. I'm not a fan of dressed up dogs, I guess. On third and fourth shot I'd preferred bit higher angle, to see eyes better, now all I see is big mouth and sharp teeth, not inviting :P

Now a Wildlife Photographer?

No, not really, but I went out on Saturday afternoon to the nearby Yarrow Valley Park, or Birkacre as it used to be known in th'olden days before it became a local tourist spot and the only thing it was known for was a large drained, swampy lodge and a run down buildings where my dad used to buy TV spares from (this was back in the days proper recycling when people used to fix things rather than throw them away).

Birkacre actually has its place in history as the mill there was one of the first places Richard Arkwright installed his Water Spinning Frame. It was subsequently destroyed in 1779 when rioters opposed to the growth in automation descended on the mill, smashed the machinery and burned it down.

Anyway, in recent years (and by recent, I mean since the 1980's when Chorley Council obtained a grant to renovate the area) the area was cleared, the lodge refurbished and restocked, transforming it into Yarrow Valley Park, making it a popular location with townsfolk.

As I prefer quieter and more remote locations, it's not an area I've really explored since its refurbishment, but it has a reputation for rare birds often nesting in amongst the vegetation around the smaller lodges, so I had a wander down there during the afternoon with the Z8 to do a bit of practicing and playing around with settings for bird photography.

Ironically, I didn't manage to get anything rare or really decent in the bird department. I did experiment with higher speeds (1/2000th) and different tracking settings, but I'm still not getting consistent tracking or accurate focusing on moving birds. Often it just completely refused to lock onto single flying birds that were quite large in the frame and distinctly coloured against the background, which is a bit odd as I know people are getting great results with this camera. More experimentation required I think.

Anyway, as I left the lodges and headed into the quieter woods at the South Eastern edge of the park, I spotted a squirrel enjoying some nuts and cereal that had been set out for the birds and I managed to get quite close to it.

Tracking doesn't seem to work at all on squirrels, so these were all shot AF-S with a small manually placed focus point. All handheld with the Z8 and 100-400 f/4.5-5.6S.

After that brief bit of excitement, it was off into the woods to photograph less dynamically challenging (i.e. not moving) subjects, although here the challenge was composition and lighting. All subsequent images taken handheld with the Z8 and 24-70 f/2.8S, a polariser was involved in many of them.

Dancing Tree

This tree looks like it's doing a lively jig, albeit very, very, slowly, with each step taking decades.

Down By The River

The lodges at Birkacre capture water from the river Yarrow, which meanders its way down and around the Southern edge of Chorley from the moors above Anglezarke having already been rudely interrupted by the Rivington reservoir chain. The route I was following through the woods followed the Yarrow upstream.

Clinging On

Exposed roots fascinate me and these were particularly good examples.

You Call This A Path?

The path that follows the river is, er, interesting. It's a nice bit of woods though, so I'm not complaining.

Mushy Peas

I'm not entirely sure how I ended up with this chip shop mushy peas palette for this image, but I think it suits it, even if it's not entirely 100% authentic.

Framing

Ah, back to a more normal looking woodland colour palette. I quite liked the way the foreground tree frames the background one here.

On The Banks of The Yarrow

This imposing Beech tree dominates the opposite bank of the Yarrow as it switches back on itself here. Unfortunately, it's nigh on impossible to get a clear shot of it without standing in 2 feet of water and I wasn't wearing waders. Even getting this shot required scrambling down to a precarious spot.

Flakey Birch

A rather worse for wear looking Birch tree, it might actually be dead but hasn't realised it yet.

Gentians really are eye wateringly blue. Back in film days, it used to be really difficult to capture their colour accurately, usually tending towards more magenta. Can't remember the reason now...

Looking here on my phone I tend to agree. I wonder if if they look a bit darker than when I processed them on my laptop screen. Lifting the shadows much did make for a lot of noise, so I didn't push it too far. I was also aiming for a mysterious effect. I'll have another go when I get home.

I think it's due to the use of yellow dye that represents blue in the negative. There's a limit to how saturated yellow dye can get, which imposes a limit on how blue the reversed image can be when printed. I imagine reversal (slide) film behaves differently.

The squirrel steals the show here.

Wildlife is an expensive slippery slope to go down. I once worked with a chap who was a dedicated wildlife photographer. It often involved long hours in uncomfortable hides. His photos were brilliant, but I realised I did not have the dedication for this branch of photography.

I don't think I'd have the patience to do it properly (in this instance, I got bored before the squirrel did!), but it's fun to try something different once in a while.

Don't know how I missed these. They're just lovely. Their characters really shine though. Congrats on that new camera.

Again, I seem to have missed a big chunk of this week's thread.
This is my fav from a very moody set.

The squirrel shot with the feet is cute. Even thouh those little sods are ruining my garden.
Down By The River is a lovely shot.

Also, people don't realise how much effort goes into it just to get half-decent results.

I presume you never experienced that rush of adrenaline when you see animal and try to shoot it. Without blood. Well, there is sometimes blood involved, from bloody mosquitoes or from barbed wire you tripped over when chasing animal. But these rare exciting moments are well worth of long and fruitless waits.
IMO, of course 😀

I think I've seen this one before ?
I also think that the sign says its up for sale. I won't ge putting in an offer though ;-)

I like these two best :-)
Interesting place
Those stairs look endless !
When I hear the word terraforming, I usually think about changing the climate and conditions of some other planet. But you've reminded me that we have enough opportunities here on earth to do some of that here too

3 boxes of wine and some good photos.
Sounds like a pretty good balance for the trip :-)

Wildlife photography is difficult. Your results are good but I have the feeling that if you really wanted to you could perfect the choice of best gear and needed technique and deliver some
Relly excellent results :-)

This one fits well to your style of high contrast with deep blacks and just the right amount of good light on the subject. And then taken at just the right moment :-)

Quite the elegant lady in this shot!

Congrats on the new camera. It's getting lots of praise.
Definitely fun to have something new to play with. Personally, I'm waiting for a possible Z7iii, but I'm not in a real hurry :-)

You manage to find and stay in some great places.
Love these two shots, expecially the second one. Very atmospheric, mystical and inspiring

Thanks. It was quite a hike to get to that hut at the end of the winding path. But well worth the walk :-)

Thanks, I feel lucky to live fairly close to these locations. Austria certainly has lots of great scenery to offer. As, of course, do many other places in the world :-)

The wild flowers were especially beautiful on that hike. Higher up it's like going back 2 months in time and seeing spring flowers in the middle of summer

Yes, most of the paths here are marked with the painted red-white-red strips.
That's the colours of the Austrian flag.
Always reassuring to see the next marking along a hike :-)

We use this system too in Italy, with the same colours. Yes, it saves a lot of map reading on mountain hikes, but panic can set in when you cannot find the next one in deep woodland.