Catch-up!

Sooo, when I started this challenge this year

I didn't expect to be playing catch-up quite so frequently.

A photo a week isn't onerous.

Or so I thought.

How wrong can one be.

The photo above is for week 34 - Black and White.
I was unbelievably fortunate enough to be on the right side

of the estuary when the Royal Spoonbills chose 

to meander across at low tide.

The Geese had been foraging there first and were a little perturbed by the

appearance of the Spoonbills.

The Geese are bigger than the Spoonbills, 

but there were only 3 geese and more than 8 Spoonbills 

so the Geese played it safe and wandered back to the duckpond.

For Week 35 - Panarama, I had such good intentions.
I was going to try combining multiple images to create a multi-image panarama.
Something I've not done before.

Time isn't always my friend though.

So this is an image of Browns Island, viewed from Glover Park, 

that I've cropped to a wide format.
I will at some stage get round to creating a multi-image panarama,

especially after having seen some of the gorgeous images posted for the challenge.

Tahuna Torea has been a lucky spot for me of late, 

especially at the duckpond end.
That's where I saw the Royal Spoonbills for week 34 

and that's where I found the Shag who's the subject of

Week 36 - Water Life.

I've often seen the Pied Shags fishing but never witnessed them

catching and swallowing a fish this large.
He very nearly lost it though.
The fish fought so strongly that it took 3 attempts 

before he finally managed to get it down his throat.
I was rooting for the fish

between racing along the side of the duckpond,

snapping away and trying not to fall in.

For Week 37 - an Artistic Touch, I've added a grunge effect

to my image of an Iceland Poppy.

There's a lot more playing around I would have loved to have done,

but it's that time thingy again.
There's never enough of it.

Onwards and upwards.

That's 4 weeks I've caught up on.

Yay!
I shall endeavour to complete Week 38 Scavenger Hunt

and Week 39 Bokeh and Blur this week.

No promises though.