Seagull silhouetted against the sunset at Liverpool Docks

We spent last weekend in Liverpool, exploring and shopping, and loved it. On our first evening wandering along the waterfront we were lucky enough to get a gorgeous sunset, with plenty of great shapes to silhouette against it. 

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/6.3, 1/100s, 35mm, hand held.

Seagull on a Thames launch passing the Shard.

I was photographing the buildings beside the Thames as we passed them on this tour boat in June this year, when I noticed the seagull land just above us. I realised how close we were to the Shard, so waited for the right moment to take the photo, hoping it didn't fly off before we passed it.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f.7.1, 1/200s, 35mm, hand held.

Heron in the river at Hardcastle Crags.

I've seen the heron at Hardcastle Crags many times but never managed to photograph it. A few weeks ago, I followed it quite a long way upstream, seeing it in numerous places each time it stopped to fish, but I only had a wide lens on my camera and couldn't get close enough. So, today, I deliberately took my long lens in the hope that I'd see it. I couldn't believe my luck when I reached the river beside Gibson Mill and found it posing perfectly for me in the waterfall. Then it flew further upstream and I managed another shot of it perched on the river bank. I'd love to know if there's more than one heron - I've only ever seen one on its own.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/4.8, 1/125s, -1 step exp bias, 210mm, hand held

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/5, 1/200s, -1 step exp bias, 120mm, hand held

Sparrow chick just fallen from its nest.

We were walking around London Zoo, from one enclosure to another, when this baby bird fell out of a little tree next to us. It landed on top of this wooden fence, just avoiding the much longer and harder fall to the concrete path below. We stopped a passing member of the zoo staff to tell him about the bird, as we were worried that someone would try to pick it up. He told us that it wasn't the first time that a chick had fallen out of this tree and was confident its mum would turn up to collect it soon. In the mean time, he asked a nearby staff member to keep an eye on it from a distance. When we walked past again 20 minutes later, it had gone, so hopefully mum managed to rescue it.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/5, 1/30s, 35mm, hand held.

Seagull perched on the barrier on Blackpool seafront.

I took this one about an hour before sunset at the end of December last year, close to Blackpool's north pier. The whole seafront in Blackpool was redesigned a few years ago and the new barriers, lights and steps all have great curves that complement rather than clash with the sea and beach.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/11, 1/80s, 55mm, hand held.

Swan on its nest among reeds on Trentham Lake.

Yesterday we visited the Trentham Estate in Staffordshire. We walked through the Monkey Forest (the woodland home of 140 free-roaming Barbary Macaques), then walked around the lake and gardens. This swan was nesting at the side of the lake.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/800s, 35mm, hand held.