David's charity talk in Townshend Village Hall on the 22nd of August went really well.  The total money raised was just short of £500.  Thanks to all who attended and/or gave donations.
As promised, now David's talk has been done here are some photos from his recent Norway trip.  Sarah and David spent most of their time in June around Varanger.  More photos will follow. The photos below show: long-tailed duck, female, taking off; red-throated diver, landing; long-tailed duck, male, landing; red-necked phalarope, female, feeding on mosquitoes; whooper swans paired in snowy conditions then a different pair of whooper swans with young, taken towards the end of the trip.
The summer has been very good for flying insects, particularly butterflies.  In David's insect garden he saw 14 different species in the space of two hours one morning in August, which is testament to the work he has put in to create this space for wildlife. With the new photographic technology available David has been able to capture some of these insects in flight and he has put together a short talk for photographic groups on this topic, as well as a talk on birds in flight.  See the talks page of this website for a full list. The photos below show a blue-tailed damselfly; a pair of azure blue damselflies in tandem in flight; a pair of small white butterflies undertaking their courtship dance; a small white butterfly in flight; a hummingbird hawkmoth exuding droplets whilst in flight; a painted lady in flight, a clouded yellow in flight; and a pair of common darters in tandem.
Over the last couple of weeks David has been focussing on the sand martins at Gwithian and Godrevy.  He has managed to get photos of them in flight, at the nesting colony and on the wires preening etc.  Here is a small selection from his now very large library of sand martin photos!
There is a delay in David posting images from his Norway trip because he wants those people attending his talk on the 22nd of August to be the first to see them!  But he doesn't want you to get bored so here are a few photos of choughs that he has taken in the last couple of weeks.  These show: a mixed flock of adults and juveniles in flight; a juvenile in flight; an adult calling; two adults; a youngster playing with grass; an adult tossing a grub into its beak; an adult (with many rings) being pestered by a youngster and an adult preening.  There are a lot of choughs around the coast of Cornwall at the moment.
David's photo of St Ives features on the cover of a novel by Deborah Fowler, see right.  When you consider how many millions of photos there must be of St Ives it is quite something to have an image chosen for this purpose!
This is the first post from David and Sarah's recent trip to Lapland.  In late May, they flew to Kirkenes, in the far north east of Norway, near the Russian border and drove south into Pasvik.  The view below shows the River Pasvik from the Norwegian side, but the landscape is all in Russia (the border between the two countries follows the middle of the river).  David didn't do a lot of wildlife photography in this area but there are a few subjects to show.  A willow warbler singing; a pair of waxwings; a male brambling singing; a male pine grosbeak (a real speciality of the Taiga forest found in this area); and finally an elk (Sarah loved seeing elks, David didn't always share her enthusiasm, maybe that's because they don't have feathers!)
David is going to give an illustrated talk to raise funds for The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Charity in Townshend Village Hall on the evening of the 22nd of August.  David and Sarah sadly lost a close friend to Leukemia only a few weeks ago. The illustrated talk will be about their recent trip to see wildlife in Northern Norway.  More information to follow, but please keep the date free in your diary! (Image right shows a young Northern Hawk Owl)
A couple of weeks ago David and Sarah returned from Norway where David did quite a lot of wildlife photography!  So please keep your eyes posted on this website for more frequent updates over the next couple of weeks. Since returning, David has hit the ground running with many projects on the go.  Below are a few shots taken from a morning photographing sand martins in flight.  These birds are one of the most challenging to photograph in flight: they are fast and don't seem to fly in straight lines...very inconsiderate of them! Below are photos showing one carrying nesting material to refurbish the nest; one carrying an insect to feed to its young and two simply in flight.
David's photo of Kynance Cove features on the cover of the July edition of 'The Caravan and Motorhome Club' magazine.  He also has his regular article inside which this month looks at some of the best places to look for wildlife in the UK during summer.
David has been working on a photographic project to capture birds in flight.  By setting up a feeder near a hawthorn where the birds perch he has, to some extent, been able to predict their flight paths.  This has taken quite a few attempts and the success rate is quite low but by using a shutter speed of 1/10000th of a second and 'trap focus' (manually focussing on a pre-determined spot) he has been able to freeze their motion to reveal their beautiful shapes.  He has many more photos but this is a small selection showing: long-tailed tit; coal tit; great tit; chaffinch; blue tit; robin.
David is a member of Penwith Photographic Group.  The club entered the annual competition of the Cornwall Photographic Alliance.  Four of the images entered by the club belonged to David.  Of these, three received awards. Kingfisher (right) was given 13 points and chosen for a 'Selectors Award'. Osprey (below) was given 14 points and 'Highly Commended'. Puffin in Flight was the only entry in the whole competition to receive the maximum 15 points so it was the best print in the show and the best overall image, so David went home with two trophies. (For your interest PPG won the best club in the CPA.)
		Eagle-eyed readers of Bird Watching magazine might have noticed that the cover photo for May is one of David's images.
As one of this year's judges, David has given a short interview to BWPA and this can be seen by following the link below: BWPA 15 Judge Spotlight: David Chapman — British Wildlife Photography Awards The photograph to the right, of a mountain hare, features in this interview.  David would like to thank his mum for taking the photo of him below (though she did have a bit of help!).
		David has been invited onto the judging panel for the BWPA (British Wildlife Photography Awards) this year.  See more here: Judges — British Wildlife Photography Awards This is a great honour and David is looking forward to seeing your images, but don't tell him if you've entered!
David had a day out with friends Keith and Alan.  They wanted help with optimising their camera settings before venturing to the Isle of Mull to photograph otters and sea eagles.  So David took them to Godrevy to have a play with their cameras.  David's photographs here show a raven in flight (right); a house sparrow cleaning up after lunch; and a variety of 'shag in flight' photos including one carrying nesting material.
David had a day out with some friends to photograph birds starting at Trenance Boating Lake, Newquay, then the nearby headland of West Pentire.  At Trenance there were only a few waterbirds (most having left for the summer) including the drake tufted duck seen shaking its head below.  A song thrush performed beautifully as it collected nesting ,material only a few yards from David.  Nearby a group of snakeshead fritillaries made a great subject. At West Pentire David concentrated on fulmars and stonechats in flight.  Both really enjoyable subjects which tested David's reactions and the 'procapture' facility on the Canon R5 Mark II. Notably, all these photos were taken with just one lens: the 500mm f4.