tesco is shit

why? cos this morning i walked up to buy a digital camera for my mum to give to my dad as a christmas present,after choosing the said product and its accompanied large security box,i proceeded to go and pay for the item.

after 20 minutes in which no one could open the security box,my offer of placing it on the floor and stamping on it was met by funny looks and i may damage the product.i explained i have been breaking things since i was a small child and thus im quite a expert! but they would not let me break the fucking thing open!

they did offer to get me another bit i replied 'dont fucking bother' god i hate shopping.

but on a happier note next friday im off to see LADY GAGA

Ms Gaga VIP tickets.........check

train tickets..............check

hotel................check

the look on my face when i saw how much its costing...............priceless.

i think i could of bailed out ireland

Ring Billed Gull Mirfield

headed over to selby for my brothers birthday, so thought i would call in and pay my respects to the ring billed gull at sands lane thingy.

it was a balmy 0 degrees and the cracker was showing as soon as i managed to stop my little car on the icy roads.

ring billed gull

sands lane

black headed gulls

sands lane

quite a nice twitch with just 2 others

pugneys and pits

the big K

shaw lodge

a few first shots with the sony nex-5 think i need to work on the digiscoping though

a new camera

i have become fed up of canon their products which are not cheap are crap in the build quality.maybe its just me and bad luck but out of 7 products 4 let me down

350d= no problems

40d= shutter failed on 24768 clicks just after the warranty ran out

50d= no problems

100-400= zoom failed had to be sent back twice

400 l= no problems

50mm 1.8= just fell apart after 1 day

bg e2n grip= got stuck on the 50d had to be taken apart to get the dam thing off

so i was in the market for a new system, nikon looked good but very expensive, so i thought about sony but a lack of lenses,im not including sigma as they are cheaper and in my opinion from what ive used are crap.

then i saw the sony nex-5, interchangeable lenses and with a converter they can be used with all of the sony/minolta range! so off to town i went after what seemed like ages i walked out of the shop with it.

i got the twin lens kit which is the 16mm and the 18-55mm zoom, so far im very impressed with it.........very small,well built hopefully tomorrow i can put it through its paces

spain 1999

in response to nick dawtreys photo on his blog

firstly spain for birding is awesome just the numbers and species are fantastic.

nick d, ady z, andy c and myself spent a week birding southern spain, no better bunch of birders could be found anywhere,we were lean,mean and keen apart from ady who boasted he never had shit in the week!

we hired a ford fiesta which when we returned it was fucked! god knows how many miles we put on the clock but many of the roads were crap,the road alongside the guadalquivir river was so bad in places we had to get out just to get the car out of the potholes.

andy c is chef of some repute and many people in halifax have enjoyed his fine cooking,but in spain i seem to recall him just eating out of a tin of cassorelle and eating chorizo in the supermarket.

on the plane home he bought us all beer,infact he bought all the beer on the plane.

nick d had his first taste of chicken!! on the plane, though well remembered for his pissed up attempt at trying to stand a aerosol can up,which is still to this day the funniest thing i have ever seen though the electric fence indecent at whitby is a good second.

as for myself i spent the time driving to bird sites phoning my 17 year old girlfriend and buying beer from the many vending machines

without trawling through the notebook the best birds for me were

black wheatear

rock bunting

rock thrush

azure winged magpie

thekla lark

little bustard

myself and 'heavy birder'

note my bausch and lomb elites and nicks swift audubon

ady z, nick d and andy c

at the little bustard site

Egyptian Vulture

a late chiffchaff

a walk along the hebble from siddal to dean clough. though not possible to do it in parts as its either under the mills or inaccessible,after last weeks rain its now back to normal.

chiffchaff 1 feeding in bushes alongside the hebble by nestle

dipper 3

grey wagtail 5

moorhen 1 by north bridge

sparrowhawk 1 over sainsburys

jackdaws 7 giving great views opposite lidl

the moorhen was the most surprising bird today god only knows where it came from? very strange record for the town center.

the chiffchaff as feeding in the bushes by the weir just before the cantilevered walkway

chiffchaff

the hebble

i also visited Bankfield Museum in Boothtown well worth a visit if the weather is too bad for birding

birding amongst the dead

Stoney Royd Cemetery

chaffinch 11

g s woodpecker 1

treecreeper 1

jay 3