Olympics - London 2012

A little late perhaps, but I thought I'd share some of my London 2012 Olympics images, before the year is out!  After a little persistence and a large spattering of luck, I managed to get tickets to several events and thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle which was delivered.  I also bumped into the torch relay a few times too...

The images below aren't going to be anything like the ones which professional photographers would have been able to take from their privileged positions (and better skill and equipment!), but help remember a unique fortnight.

Waxwings in Surrey

Having missed out on seeing Waxwings (Bombycilla garrulus) on several occasions in the last couple of years, I had a free morning and thought I'd follow various sightings mentioned on Twitter (e.g. from Matt - @mostlyscarce, thanks!) - and head to North Camp railway station on the Surrey/Hants border.

Earlier in the day, around 28 had been spotted, so I was pleased to see about 40 fly into a nearby tree...

In smaller groups, they then proceeded to head down towards the red berries, where they were greeted with a clatter of shutter releases from the long-lens crowd that had gathered.  As well as the 'classic' shot of berry-in-mouth, I also tried to get some with a simple composition and/or flying.

The waxwings would often fly-off and not be seen for over 30 minutes, but during these times, I was also lucky enough to find a couple of Roe deer, as well as a Redwing.

You can click on the photos below to see them slightly larger.

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All photos taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8 L IS II and 1.4x teleconverter.