Nikkor 200-500 VR @500mm, f5.6, ISO 125; Nikon D750 Feeding on sprouts of favourite trees in the spring (rowan and hedera here). It is numerous in much of Britain but in deep forests of many parts on the continent this is a wary, difficult to spot bird. Fleeting glimpses high in a dense canopy are a lucky find. South East England
Nikkor 200-500 VR @500mm, f5.6, ISO 800; Nikon D750 crop (APS-H); playful and curious; A tough environment to survive in. This family is doing well. There are four kits in this burrow, all well-fed. A mosaic of gardens, meadows and woodlands, South East England.
Nikkor 200-500 VR/TC 14 III @700mm, f8, ISO 400; Nikon D750 The European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) in full spring sun, chalk grassland Another stunning European bird. It sometimes does some harm to the fruit production, but that is something we can deal with. A fraction of the attitude far poorer countries have adopted in Asia for a long time would do. It sometimes seems that our approach hasn't changed much from the 1850s. A time when slavery was a subject of serious debates and terms like negro frequented literature of the noblest and most progressive writers. Not necessarily because we are evil so much. It's more that in our climate (literally and socially) we were trained for thousands of years to do things properly. Very properly and very thorough. Those who did not didn't pass their genes. Today, we see that there are (essential) things one-eye focus, no matter how good, can miss. It can even be that the more of it, the worse we can see that 'properly' in broader context. And, paradoxically, it is a hard work to relax. Now talk about harm. It is also difficult to ask other courtiers to protect nature and wildlife when we decimate "our own". Large-scale changes to the biomes without any thought are at the heart of many seemingly petty problems we encounter every day that nevertheless, and not surprisingly, are hard to rectify. Unanswered, they snowball with time, and they are not petty and without direct consequences anymore. On a few levels.
