Russell F Spencer's photostream  

On a balmy summers day on a hillside in the middle of Serbia, this individual was singing it's heart out in the late morning. As I moved closer it appeared oblivious, focussed on it's mission to fill the hazy valley below with song. As I set the picture up, I knew the trees and on the other side of the valley and the haze in between would make a great contrasting background for this colourful specimen...

So while I am uploading, here is one a a huge series of images taken of a group of these agile little falcons in Serbia last year...it was not just owls. I really liked the way the bird sat on the very tip of this dead tree the wonderful curves and lines of the bird contrasted by the stark and jagged tree. More to follow.

Yesterday I finally made it out for the day with my kit, accompanied by Mrs S...I have been very busy, my favourite part of the day was dusk, out in the snowy fields of the Hertfordshire - Essex boarders with the setting sun smouldering on the horizon and long blue shadows being cast over the fields, skien after skien of honking geese brushed overhead on their way to safe haven and there was no one else there, just the two of us, to experience this marvel.

I'm off to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards this year - as a guest, I did not win...This is one of the images I entered this year in the urban birds category.
It was taken at twilight in London Zoo, the starlings were looking for every last crumb with a real sense of urgency as the light faded. The polished metal tables made for amazing lighting as the sun faded...
Hardly anyone noticed these amazing birds with all of the Zoo fauna and people stopped to ask me what I was taking pictures of...The answer is the smartest visitors to the Zoo...because these visitors don't pay admission or for the food.

Staying with Ethiopia (I have so many images to upload!) here is another amazing endemic species. This and others will feature in a BBC Wildlife magazine article by David Lindo on our amazing journey to this area earlier this year.

We saw first hand how difficult things are in this region at the moment and yet everywhere we went people were so friendly always welcoming and doing everything possible to cope. We left lots of our kit behind, shared what we could and I must say I now find it much easier to donate to charities working in this region and others, having seen only a fraction of the challenges they face.

This is a truly amazing area of the world, with so much amazing life, appearing to exist on a knife edge.