The online presence of Tim Collier. Photographer, course leader, lecturer and blogger.
It’s been the geese that have drawn me to various locations recently but there’s normally a trade off in the form of waders that frequent the same habitat. Here’s a few images of some of the waders I’ve encountered recently whilst following the geese.
Following on from the Avocets on the Exe post (It’s all a bit jumping back and forth I know) I followed them, and the  flocks of black-tailed godwits onto the estuary as the tide receded.
The last post from the Mersey looked mainly at the physical power of the water as the high tide reached its peak, but I was very much aware of a developing narrative that involved not just the waves and surges but people and the wider context in which I was experiencing the event.
Over last weekend I was up at Martin Mere again and continuing my work on the swan and geese project. The whoopers can be quite aggressive to each other and to anything that gets in their way as the images with the mallard show here. It lunged towards the unsuspecting duck, twirled it round for a few ‘spins’ before the mallard escaped its attentions.
It seems as if the worst of the last storm was felt very close to home on the south Wales coast of Porthcawl and the west coast of Aberystwyth, both featuring on the national news. I was away at the time but was aware of the conditions that had been forecast close to my family home a couple of miles from the Mersey estuary in Liverpool.
Second day in the hide – 500 avocets, black and bar-tailed godwits and dunlin – the hide tide had pushed them all onto the Bowling Green Marsh on the Exe estuary. I was in the hide early enough to watch the avocets arrive, they came in three pulses.
Islay’s about the perfect destination in winter if you love both geese and a good malt. For such a small island it has a wealth of fine distilleries and they are wonderfully located. Eight distilleries in such a compact area all responding to the natural characteristics of the island.
Back on Islay and some of the landscapes. We were fortunate in having some really fine light and looking at the weather that’s around now we definitely hit a little purple patch.
More to come from Islay later but I managed a few of days down on the Exe estuary last week, again in search of getting some images of geese, dark-bellied brent this time from arctic Russia, in the context of the estuary. It was also an opportunity to witness a spectacle that has to be one of the finest in Britain, the population of avocets that flock in large numbers to this part of the world during the winter.
Islay has more, much more, to offer than just geese and the other wildlife that’s on offer, but when you’re only over for such a short time it’s difficult to get a sense of it all.
Following on from the previous post this set once again aims to give a sense of the broader context in which the geese are experienced.
I’ve never seen lesser white-fronted geese in the wild or red-breasted geese but you have a chance to get close in and personal with them, and other more common British species, at the WWT centres.
Whilst I was waiting for my brother to pick up his passport from the Durham regional office back in the summer (I’ve a bit of catching up to do!) and listening to the Ashes on TMS, I noticed a common tern fishing by a weir on the Wear. We were due to visit the Cathedral later on and as per normal I carry the 50 -500mm with me at all times.
A recent trip up to Scotland gave an opportunity to visit and experience the Gulf of Corryvreckan from close quarters. It’s somewhere  I’ve wanted to see properly close up for many a year. I’ve passed it by on a number of occasions, first on family holidays back in the sixties then taking my own kids to have a look as we sailed towards Colonsay.
On a recent trip down to Falmouth to attend my youngest daughter’s graduation (Press and Editorial Photography) Â I was able to grab some time to get out with AK Wildlife Cruises on one of their day long pelagic sea trips.
The Elvis festival began in 2004 from fairly small beginnings but is now it’s one of the largest in the world attracting Elvis’s from all over the globe. It has become something of an essential player in the local economy as well, worth close to seven million pounds but remains a tad surreal when you find yourself listening to a pretty good Elvis playing in a fish and chip shop!
A group of students on our new photojournalism course at the University of South Wales covered the Elvis festival at Porthcawl this weekend and their work was showcased on BBC Wales news online.
