by David Clarke | Sep 26, 2012 | All, Hong Kong, Wildlife
‘Don’t you know? There’s no such thing as a Gruffalo.” So Julia Donaldson’s wonderful story goes, but it isn’t true. Here’s proof that the Gruffalo really exists. It’s alive, well and living disguised as a rather scruffy tree in Big Wave Bay Village, Hong Kong. Normally somewhat obscured by the surrounding countryside, I rumbled it on a misty morning when the background vegetation on the hills was less visible. I took just one shot – I wasn’t prepared to hang around having heard about its terrible teeth and terrible claws…
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Canon 40D with Canon EFS 10-22mm lens at 22mm. ISO800 1/400 at f6.3
by David Clarke | Sep 6, 2012 | All, Birds, Hong Kong
This fellow was one of several bulbuls that frequented the trees outside the balcony of our apartment in Hong Kong. I took this shot some years ago with my first digital slr on a misty day in the spring. The bird was at least 40 feet away and even using a doubler on the 300mm lens, he was quite small – the image is a little cropped. In order to get sufficient light, I used a projection device on the flash gun.
According to Craig Robson’s Birds of South East Asia (pub. New Holland) ‘the Red-Whiskered Bulbul in the adult has a tall erect black crest, black moustachial line, whitish ear-coverts and underparts and red ear-patch and undertail coverts. The juvenile is brown tinged overall, crest shorter, red ear-patch lacking, undertail parts pinker. Resident from India & Tibet eastwards and a common resident in SE Asia except Peninsula Malaysia and Singapore. Size of adult: 18-20.5 cm’
The Red-Whiskered Bulbul is also known as the Crested Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)
Canon EOS D60 with Canon 300mm f2.8L IS lens and Canon x2 extender; ISO 200 f11 1/200, projection flash.
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by David Clarke | Sep 4, 2012 | All, Hong Kong, Places
Everyone has seen twilight shots of Hong Kong harbour from the Peak: the millions of twinkling lights in that busy harbour never fail to fascinate. This image is a little different, combining as it does the harbour with a piece of colonial history in the foreground – the Barker Road Peak Tram stop, the final stop on the funicular tramway before reaching the Peak Tower. For those with a keen eye to Hong Kong’s ever-changing panorama, this image was taken in June 2002.
Canon EOS D60 with a Canon 17-35L f2.8 lens at 35mm. ISO400 1/15 at f2.8
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by David Clarke | Aug 17, 2012 | All, Birds, Hong Kong
This flamingo was posing in perfect flamingo fashion in the Hong Kong Botanical and Zoological gardens. The S-shape formed by its head and neck is reminiscent of the sort of heading you see in children’s alphabet books.
Taken in pre-digital days with a Canon EOS3 and Canon 300mm f2.8L IS lens using Fuji Provia transparency film and also in pre-bird flu days – since then the fencing in the park has ruined getting good shots of the inhabitants.
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