Lake and Pond Wildlife

When I saw this picture I knew, just knew, it was going to be in my top ten.

Little grebes, or dab-chicks as they're fondly referred to as in the UK, are blooming hard work to capture. They spend barely any time on the surface of the water in full view of anyone hunting them with a lens.

They stick to the shadows and outcrops and overhangs, hunting fish and teaching their little ones to do the same.

Seeing this amazing action shot pop up in the contest filled me with utter joy. So thank you!

Not only is he in full focus but he is almost completely out of the water, just hovering mid-air. What a capture!

There have been many amazing captures in this contest but this one shows exactly what I associate with a pond or lake - a duckling.

Beautifully crisp and up close with the water droplets kissing his downy feathers. The lighting adds a certain amount of presence to not only the duckling subject but the pond water hovering on his feathers.

The clarity in this kind of shot is hard work to grab, believe me, I know. Well done.

I love this!

The image is not only beautifully in focus, and perfectly composed, but it made me laugh out loud!

A serious case of mistaken identity shot wonderfully for the world to see.

The depth of field here is awesome. From the far left side where the first terrapin sits proudly on the branch to the far right where that little fella is smiling directly at the camera. It's hard work capturing more than a couple of subjects and having them all come out crisply like this, so well done, and thank you for sharing.

It's extremely hard to capture one of these magnificent birds without the saturation being far too high or the photo itself being way too over exposed and striking to the eye. This photo manages to capture the subject and his colours without blinding the viewer, without making the bird a caricature of itself. Simply he is this colourful, this beautiful, and this amazing to look at and you've managed to capture that perfectly.

I am genuinely in AWE of this shot.

I spend a lot of my time at ponds and lakes attempting to capture birds with their wings out mid-flap, so I know how HARD this shot was.

I know how many different settings you went through before you got this and THIS is a stunning shot of a duck doing exactly what it's meant to - flap.

The depth of field on this picture is quite impressive; you have the water whipping up past his wing, you have his face in focus, you even have the left hand wing in complete clarity.

I might be a little in love.

When thinking of the pond or the lake you think of swans.

This swan is beautifully captured.

It shows not only your skill as a photographer but your love of the subject.

I adore the darkened background, I can't tell you how many times I've tried to capture a swan shot like this but being white on water, they are hard to snap - as you clearly must know.

This shot shows the beauty of the bird, the movement of the water and the action of her wings coming into their own.

Thank you for entering her into my contest.

First of all I wanted to say thank you for entering this competition, for taking the time to find a photo that worked.

Second, the reason I've chosen to review this photo is because it is the QUINTESSENTIAL pond/lake shot.

The vista of the water, the colouring and low light, just a few simple trees in the foreground. It is beautiful. It shows off exactly what I wanted to see and then some. It speaks to peace and quiet and taking time out of a busy life to enjoy that which surrounds us but we maybe don't notice as much as we should.

Can I ask though, what is the bird? I've been debating with my husband over this ;)