FarStrider

Saturday 14 January 2017

Short walk in the base of the Vitosha Mountain near Sofia, Bulgaria

Short walk in the base of the Vitosha Mountain near Sofia, Bulgaria.

Vitosha

Friday 13 January 2017

Night flight on easyJet's Airbus A319-111 from Gatwick, England to Sofia, Bulgaria

Night flight on easyJet's Airbus A319-111 from Gatwick, England to Sofia, Bulgaria.

Thursday 12 January 2017

First snow in London

Today we had the first snowfall in London.

Saturday 31 December 2016

Rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri) in St James's Park, London

These birds can be seen in almost all parks in London. They look a bit out of place in this place of the Earth, but anyway they are here so we can enjoy the sight of them in the short winter days.

Rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri)

Friday 30 December 2016

Trafalgar Square in the late December

Trafalgar Square in the late December.

Nelson's Column

The National Gallery

Mermaid sculpture

St Martin-in-the-Fields

Thursday 29 December 2016

Walk in St James's Park, London

Video clips from a walk in the St James's Park in London. Nowadays its mostly known for its proximity to the Buckingham Palace and the abundance of waterfowl from many species some of which rare.

Tuesday 27 December 2016

Statsraad Lehmkuh, a 102-year-old Norwegian barque docked at Lerwick, Shetland

Statsraad Lehmkuh, a 102-year-old Norwegian barque was docked at Lerwick, Shetland. I didn't know the name of the ship or anything about her, but it was clear that it is not just another boat. And also Lerwick was invaded by Norwegian cadets, so I assumed that this should be some kind of training vessel and after short research as it happens my guess was correct.

Statsraad Lehmkuh

Greylag geese (Anser anser) near Sumburgh farm, Shetland

I've seen this pretty big flock of Greylag geese (Anser anser) hanging the last few weeks around the Sumburgh farm, Shetland. Here my new Panasonic Lumix TZ80EB proved its superzoom claim, the distance was so great that there was no way for me to tell for sure the species with naked eye.

Greylag geese (Anser anser) near Sumburgh farm, Shetland

Friday 23 December 2016

Windy day near Sumburgh Airport, Shetland

It was a windy day near the Sumburgh Airport, Shetland. This video is from the west side between the airport runway and the Grutness beach.

Saturday 17 December 2016

Great black-backed gull (Larus marinus) at Grutness, Shetland

I managed to take a few pictures and short video of pair of the largest and meanest species from the gulls' family, the Great black-backed gulls (Larus marinus) at Grutness, Shetland. It was fortunate that I've seen them just when I went out to test my new camera with its superzoom, because the distance was great enough for me to not be sure of the species only by looking at it with naked eye.

For one reason or another I've rarely seen these birds from close. Maybe where I've been they were too shy or some other reason, but for me is pretty rare experience to have a good look at one of them.

Great black-backed gull (Larus marinus) at Grutness, Shetland

Sunday 11 December 2016

West Voe of Sumburgh, Shetland. Testing my new camera Panasonic TZ80

I bought a new Panasonic Lumix TZ80. Seems that currently this is the only model on the market, which is compact enough to be carried in pocket, have binocular-like zoom (30x or 35mm camera equivalent: 24-720mm) and good enough freedom with the settings, so I can use it for a bit more then point and shoot. There are several close competitors, but in each case there was something missing for my needs, which include taking pictures of wildlife and other things from great distances, taking pictures from distance, manually adjusting most of the settings and the ability to carry the camera with me while climbing for example. The only other thing I needed it to be was water or at least weatherproof, but alas at this moment such beast doesn't exist yet.

And by the way I am again at West Voe of Sumburgh.

Thursday 8 December 2016

Stone house at Sumburgh, Shetland

Just had a closer look at one of the stone houses found everywhere around in Shetland. It looks nearly fully made from stone, even the roof tiles. I guess this way of building became popular because the type of rocks found on Shetland is particularly suitable for stacking and stonemasonary, it splits neatly on smaller flat blocks, it doesn't have very high density and its found everywhere around.