SMOKER'S ALLEY - MONONOCHROME ODDSHOTS MONDAY

It's Oddshot Monochrome combination again. I'm enjoying these two nemes together immensely as I have to challenge the grey matter and purposely take shots for this day only. It also means I can sneak in perhaps a real gritty slice of Ramsey life. This is the alley, back of Taubman Street, I usually take the Isle Of Man TT photos from. Well the opposing end anyway. This is the back of the little CO OP shop.

Until the island went non smoking in public places indoors these two inviting plastic white chairs (note the fag packet and discarded fag ends underneath the right hand chair) would have been an extremely odd sight on a cold wet Autumn day down a nondescript down town Ramsey back alley. Now though it's a commonplace sight to see the empty chairs awaiting the smoking ladies from the CO OP to partake of their smoking break, with a hot beverage and a little light conversation.

Ramsey has adjusted to the non smoking in public places indoors regulations very well. Even those die hard pubs that were awash with a layer of cigarette fog patrons seem to have coped well. Smokers adorn the pub doorways and back alleyways have those telltale signs like half full fag packets under empty chairs.

Do you have the same policy in your area?

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ODD SHOT MONDAY - SISKIN IN HAND

When in doubt get the birdies out!

This is one of those mad little birdies who fly into our patio window, who I sit with, or they sit on me until they are well and fly off. Not happened for a while though. This is one from the series I shot earlier in the year. Again something else was planned for odd shots, but I got a little sidetracked with the bird shots and well can't resist these cuties.

Here's the birdy science thingy stuff. I

The Eurasian Siskin, or just European Siskin in Europe, Carduelis spinus, is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. The siskin is also known as the aberdevine in Europe.

This bird breeds across northern temperate Europe and into Russia. There is a separate population in eastern Asia. It is partially resident, but the northern breeders migrate further south in Europe in the winter. The eastern Asian birds winter in China or further south. In some years there are large eruptions into the wintering range, when the preferred food of alder or birch seed fails. This species will form large flocks outside the breeding season, often mixed with redpolls.

Coniferous woodland, especially Spruce, is favoured for breeding. It builds its nest in a tree, laying 2-6 eggs. The British range of this once local breeder has expanded greatly due to commercial conifer plantations.

The food is mainly seeds, as above, and, in the breeding season, insects. This small siskin is an acrobatic feeder, often hanging upside-down like a tit. It will visit garden bird feeding stations.

The Siskin is a small short-tailed bird, 11.5-12cm in length. The upper parts are greyish green and the under parts grey-streaked white. Its wings are black with a conspicuous yellow wing bar, and the tail is black with yellow sides. The male has a mainly yellow face and breast, with a neat black cap. Female and young birds have a greyish green head and no cap. The song of this bird is a pleasant mix of twitters and trills.

There is a similar and closely related North America counterpart, the Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus.

This again was a one handed shot with a portrait lens on a portrait setting. Not as close in as a macro lens, but perfect when you only have on free hand and a siskin has laid claim to another. No I am not a manx witch, one of the Manx Fairy folk or have any other magical bird attracting powers. No the bird didn't poop, but his tiny claws did tickle a bit. Oh he also said can we call him George, not just the siskin. Ok George.

Please if you have no sense of the absurd, humour or think photography is just about who can say the cleverest comment, step away from the blog. George said that not me!

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ODD SHOTS MONDAY - NICKY'S NOOK

Water street is just off from the main high street in Ramsey. A quiet little place that I only really walk down to get to the post office. I had forgotten all about this wonderful house until I got there. I new straight away it was an odd shot. It just hits you as you turn the corner, all the intense purple, blue and yellow on such a drab grey street. It's just totally unexpected to be confronted by this plethora of colour. Not only that but it has a bright yellow Triskelion, the three legs of man symbol over the front door. The back is different again with well something else I will have to show you sometime. Note too the Isle of Man flag, you can see is also flying proudly from the flagpole. With all the dull weather we've had lately this really is a cheery little blast of colour. One more thing, it even has a name on the plaque outside, the sweetly named Nicky's Nook. There's no place like home!

I promised you another Manx Cat myth. They are all actually quite short, but there seem to be so many of them. Here's another one. The Isle of Man was prone to invasions from the Irish and theVikings. Manx kittens were frequently snatched by invaders from their mother's by their long tails. One Mother cat bit off her own kitten's tail. The kitten, tailless was never caught by the invaders. Other mother cats followed suit, until there was not a kitten left in the island that had a tale, or born thereafter. Hence the new breed, the cat with no tail, the Manx Cat was born.

I think I will have to delve into Manx myth and legend a lot more! What do you think?


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ODD SHOTS MONDAY- ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY?

We've had far to many pretty pictures on this blog recently that I thought we'd get back to reality and have the uglier side of life again. The photographer in me knew straight away that this was going to be snapped as an example of the odd shot concept. The other side of me though,
well got really angry about this.

On so many levels this image is wrong! The image was taken yet again in the nature reserve. The reserve as I have often stated is a haven for wildlife. It is not a landfill site, dumping ground, or recycling bin. Obviously some idiot out there blatantly disagrees. Now, I know I spend a lot of time over here, but that does not give me the right to pull up a abandoned chair to study the wildlife. This really angers me! For a start, if you want to get rid of it hire a skip and dispose of it.
Why would you go to the trouble of dragging the chair through the brambles onto a designated wildlife area. The other thing is, the chair itself seemed in not to bad condition. What was wrong with donating it to a local charity to get it cleaned and refurbished. I'm sure a poor soul in need of
such an item would gladly give this poor chair a home. As for the child's toy buggy, the same applies. How do we know that wouldn't have made some kids day to receive that, which another had so easily discarded.

We live in a very selfish age. There really is no need for this kind of unsociable behaviour. These abandoned items are a danger to wildlife and a missed opportunity on the recycling front. Charity is supposed to begin at home. So maybe next time you have a item you no longer need try your neighbour, charity shop, homeless centre, or recycling plant. Whoever you are that did this, I hope you and your new shiny sofa are siting very uncomfortably right now!

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ODD SHOTS MONDAY - CAPTAIN DEFINITE

"Captain Definite" is the alter ego of the Btitish Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Remeber yesterday in my blog I said Gordon Brown was in for a shock, this is why. I also mentioned that my living room floor is covered in painting of footballers and politicians, well Captain Definite is one of those paintings. Captain Definite was created on my living room floor last week by my partner, Gary Barker for the BBC Politics Show Website.

Look closely at the image. It's my photo, of Barker's cartoon. Now this is the odd bit. If you look closely you will see that the image I have taken is actually on the tv. Can you imagine sitting down to your to sunday dinner to have the image you have been living with in varied incarnations appear on your own tv. Surreal. Just had to snap it fo the odd shot.

Captain Definite is part of a BBC cartoon strip created by Barker. See BARKER BITES BACK! if you want to see the entire strip, posted one a day from today. Also while your there can you tell him Babooshka would like to hoover, so pick his bloody drawings up.

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ODD SHOTS MONDAY- SISKIN

Back to the birds! Same as my first Odd Shots a few weeks back(the chaffinch on my hand) this little siskin flew into the window. I again sat with him for about 2 hours until he started to come round. For some reason they always seem to hop onto my hand. Maybe it's to escape the cats or warmth, but they all seem to do this when injured, but rousing.

This time I didn't have the tripod. Instead I tried my new macro, that I've been dying to use. So this is a one handed macro shot. Not the ideal way to get a bird image, but it seem to have worked out ok. I seem to have a charmed life when it comes to photographing birds. Had no idea what odd shot to do this week, when this little fellow appeared last friday. Unlike the locals the birds seem to adore being part of ramsey daily photo.

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ODD SHOTS MONDAY- HIDE AND SEEK

I'm thinking of starting a range of humourous critters greetings cards. What do you think? The humans run away when they see me and my camera. Not so the animals and birds. Almost seem to perform when they see me appear on the horizon. Two minutes earlier these ducks were perfectly happy waddling about. Then in unison, it was heads down for the camera lady. Maybe they weren't performing afterall? Perhaps they were hoping I'd pass them by if they weren't displaying their heads and fine beaks. Don't be silly it's Odd shots Monday and hiding ducks will do just fine. More Isle of Man birds immortalized as greetings cards coming soon. Well it will be if they keep behaving like this!

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THE SEAGULL HAS LANDED!

What is it with me and birds?

Here's what happened.

Two herring gulls were fighting in the back garden. I tried to separate them with a broom, the weaker one flew into the house and proceeded to have a mad half hour flying about. Managed to shoo the other one away. By this time the gull above had decided to sit where you see him now. At this point in the proceeding, I just had to take his pic, having texted my other half to tell him we had a gull in the kitchen. Now even for me this seemed in the realms of fantasy, as only so much can happen to one person, as far as birds are concerned, so pictorial evidence was required.

Now, getting him out was another challenge in itself. More shooing with brooms until he retreated to the garden , straight behind the oil burner. More problems! He sat there for about 2 hours, came out of his own accord, flew off and left me with a big pile of seagull mess as a parting gift for my trouble. You have no idea how much a scared seagull can pass. It must be me, beacuse I have moved house, even country and the birds still go crazy around me.

Want to join Odd Shots Monday?

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Katney's Kaboodle is also the place to join Odd Shots Monday and see other wierd and wonderful shots from fellow bloggers.