Robert's Ramblings

This guy engrossed in his own personal bathing antics attracted the interest of a young lady eager to see what all the fuss was about. But, when she ventured too close he was clearly not happy.

She persisted a few moments but when he got aggressive she was out of there!

A short while later another young lady turned up and was met with a very different reception.


#anasplatyrhynchos #ducks #ireland #donerailepark #mallard #doneraile #waterfowl #birds #courtship

I took a big gun of a lens into Doneraile Park today to see if size really matters.

The pros are obvious of course in being able to get closer to the action. The cons don’t become obvious until you have been holding that camera and lens for a few minutes. It’s a heavy setup and really hampers being dynamic.

In the end for practical reasons I put the camera on a monopod and simply waited for something to happen. And something did happen. A gorgeous mallard flew into the pond and preceded giving itself a bath. Just magic.

Today at least size mattered but I’ll need to build my upper body strength if I am going to make a habit of it.


#anasplatyrhynchos #ducks #ireland #donerailepark #mallard #doneraile #waterfowl #birds

We’ve been living in ‘The Emerald Isle’ for six weeks now and Ireland’s poetic namesake is as true as ever. Despite it being in the middle of winter with most trees being bare, the lushness of the grassy fields makes everything as green as ever.

I’m told the weather can only get better from now on but really arriving into an Irish winter has been kind of fun with the incessant and unpredictable rain, the frozen white frosted mornings, and the occasional peeking through of the sun from rents in a sky shrouded in cloud.

So just for a bit of extra craic here’s our tiny little emerald planet, on a pale blue dot, somewhere in the universe. Our new home.


#Ireland #tinyplanet #panorama #emeraldisle