Abyssinian Gladiolus - November 2018

It was a gorgeous sunny morning, if a little cold, for my Sunday morning photo shoot in dad's garden this week. It was getting closer to Winter, and flora and fauna subjects were becoming more difficult to find, but thankfully there were a few gems left for me to shoot.

I was very happy to see, as predicted last week, that there was a new Abyssinian Gladiolus (Gladiolus murielae) bloom waiting for me to photograph.

Buttercup Shadows - November 2018

I had to get down quite low to shoot this Buttercup (Ranunculus) that was growing in the lawn. My knees did quite a lot of complaining, but I was quite pleased with the results, so it was worth the pain.

Lily the Pink - November 2018

The River Lilies (Hesperantha coccinea) continued to surprise me, and even had new buds forming, so they could be around for at least another couple of weeks.

Mahonia Blossom - November 2018

The Mahonia (Mahonia japonica) bush blossom was beginning to open en masse, and I loved how it looked in close-up.

Bunch of Berries - November 2018

The Firethorn (Pyracantha) bush berries were nearly all gone, despite there being literally thousands of berries just a couple of weeks ago. There were a few small clumps of berries left on various bushes that the birds were finding difficult to access.

Gold and Blue - November 2018

The Acer palmatum tree had lost nearly all of its leaves, but the ones that were left were a lovely golden colour, and looked even better against the day's blue sky.

Singing Wagtail - November 2018

I was almost caught out by this Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba) as it flew overhead with a mate. They were calling to each other constantly, which is what alerted me to their presence, but unfortunately I was shooting macros at the time, so had the wrong lens attached to my camera, and couldn't get a better shot than this!

Colourful Feral - November 2018

By the time I had a 300mm lens attached, the Wagtails had gone, and the Feral Pigeons (Columba livia) had arrived. I absolutely loved the amazing spectrum of colours in the neck of this one.

Explorer - November 2018

A 300mm lens was still too short to get close enough to this Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), however, I liked this shot because it looked like the bird was mimicking one of the few remaining leaves of the Silver Birch (Betula pendula) tree it was exploring.

Brown Blackbird - November 2018

I was a lot happier when this female Blackbird (Turdus merula) popped up in the lens range comfort zone. I particularly liked how the eye of the bird was twinkling in the sunshine.

Carrying Crow - November 2018

Sod's Law dictated that I had the wrong lens on the camera again when I spotted this Crow (Corvid) flying past with something in its beak! I've had to crop the image quite drastically to get even a glimpse of the object, but still can't make out exactly what it is. Any thoughts?

So this week I went with Abyssinian Gladiolus as my Image of the Week simply because they are one of the last flowers to bloom in the garden, and it may be my last chance to post a flower shot as my main image this year...