slodger

I'm sorry to say from Mark's perspective that the mag appears to have been killed off before the second issue.

Wow what incredible fish pictures! First time back out with the camera in a long time for me yesterday and a slightly different subject matter than the bird photographs. It was the first Adder I've ever seen in the wild.

Ran into one of these earlier today. A stunning little bird.

And a couple more from the Municipal Bird Bathing area at Hammond Towers.

Some terrific pictures being posted again folks! Here's one from my newly implemented bird bath.

By way of ringing the changes I thought I'd photograph the start of today's first horse racing classic of the year, the 2,000 Guineas, at my local Rowley Mile racecourse.

Thanks Janet, I'll have to give the competitions a look.

I've been trying to improve my technique with the widlife stuff Ayjay. What have you been snapping of late, anything interesting? Is the Lesser Redpoll an English bird? I've never heard of them before. Cracking shot though.

Thanks for the kind words Fred, but I think the diversity of subject matter on the thread rather puts me to shame. I seem to be obsessed with wildlife stuff in recent years. I will have to dust off the wide angle lens and see if I can get a few decent landscapes etc.

Nowt wrong with those Janet. I love the picture postcard quality of that last sea view shot with those gulls hanging in the sky. It would make a nice jigsaw I think.

I've not looked in for a while, and it's the same old subject matter from me IO'm afraid:

Another snap of a Kingfisher.

Snapped this chap earlier this morning.

I've recently had a look at the National Anguilla club site. Their reccomendation is to leave the hook behind in any deep hooking situation and cut the line as close to the eels mouth as is safely possible. Good advice IMO. Eels and disgorgers do not generally mix well. I've found in the past that, despite their tough exteriors, eels are incredibly easily damaged by probing around the throat area with such implements as disgorgers. Anyway, I think I may have come up with a helpful way of lessening the impact of any hooks that have to be left behind, and I thought I'd pass the tip on for consideration by other eel anglers. The simple change I've made is to create my hooklength from a loop. I.e I form a loop of around 6-8" depending on how I'm fishing. By attaching the hook onto the extended loop, in the event of a deeply hooked eel, I can simply snip one side of the loop with scissors and pull ALL of the hooklength material free of the eels mouth/throat, leaving absolutely nothing but the hook behind. Any comments chaps? Regards Chris

Hi Steve, They were photographed on Newmarket's 'Devil's Dyke'. I think it is one of only a tiny handful of sites where they grow in the Uk. Lizard Orchids

Havent visited in a while, but I'm pleased to see the thread still going strong. These are a first for me. They are shots of the extremely rare Lizard Orchids.

It isn't an early golf putter then? I thought maybe it was to hang the old fashioned parrafin lanterns on for rail use, but the 'blade' seems unnecesarily broad for that.

I think I must have had to change mine because of a change of address. You certainly wouldn't volunteer to have a photo licence ( ) with a mug like mine.

D'oh! Yes it is in the given context, my apologies. How curious that the verb is spelt the same as in the US?? In fact I cant see the reasoning. Surely the whole point is that the piece of paper/plastic photocard gives one the 'license' to drive a vehicle? Sorry Worms.

Err... unless you come from the wrong side of the pond, that is the correct spelling for the word 'license'. It's only to be expected that 'THEY' cant spell the word correctly, you only have to look at their representative's earlier contribution to this thread to realise that they don't know their arrises from their earoles. FFS It's turned into a Daily Mail readers convention.

Okay, I'll admit I'm a dimwit, but the point is that a license originally didn't have to be renewed, it's only since they've added the photo thingy. I certainly would have ended up on the wrong side of the law. Anyway, is it not a little conceited to think that everyone is as astute as your good self? Is it 'nannying' for a government to look to help those without as much grey matter as you? Is it 'nannying' when the goovernment takes care of mentally challenged people or disabled people? Isn't that the very raison d'etre of any governing body, to take care of it's people? ......I cant believe this has resulted in a row.

Why bother posting then? I appreciated the heads up and I assumed a few others might also. And BTW, maybe you should ignore stuff that isn't relevant to you and concentrate on your reading practise. "....Official DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired this summer, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding. "

There's obviously four thousand odd of us that aren't as smart as you then eh Eintstein?

I received this mail from a friend today. I've just checked mine and luckily it's valid until this december. Unwitting motorists face £1,000 fines as thousands of photo card driving licenses expire Thousands of motorists are at risk of being fined up to £1,000 because they are unwittingly driving without a valid license. They risk prosecution after failing to spot the extremely small print on their photo card license which says it automatically expires after 10 years and has to be renewed - even though drivers are licensed to drive until the age of 70. The fiasco has come to light a decade after the first batch of photo licenses was issued in July 1998, just as the they start to expire. Motoring organisations blamed the Government for the fiasco and said 'most' drivers believed their licenses were for life. A mock-up driving license from 1998 when the photo cards were launched shows the imminent expiry date as item '4b' They said officials had failed to publicise sufficiently the fact that new-style licenses - unlike the old paper ones - expire after a set period and have to be renewed. To rub salt into wounds, drivers will have to pay £17.50 to renew their card - a charge which critics have condemned as a 'stealth tax' and which will earn the Treasury an estimated £437million over 25 years. Official DVLA figures reveal that while 16,136 expired this summer, so far only 11,566 drivers have renewed, leaving 4,570 outstanding. With another 300,000 photo card licenses due to expire over the coming year, experts fear the number of invalid licenses will soar, putting thousands more drivers in breach of the law and at risk of a fine. At the heart of the confusion is the small print on the tiny credit-card-size photo license, which is used in conjunction with the paper version. Just below the driver name on the front of the photo card license is a series of dates and details - each one numbered. Number 4b features a date in tiny writing, but no explicit explanation as to what it means. The date's significance is only explained if the driver turns over the card and reads the key on the back which states that '4b' means 'license valid to'. Even more confusingly, an adjacent table on the rear of the card sets out how long the driver is registered to hold a license - that is until his or her 70th birthday. A total of 25million new-style licenses have been issued but - motoring experts say - drivers were never sufficiently warned they would expire after 10 years. Motorists who fail to renew their licenses in time are allowed to continue driving. But the DVLA says they could be charged with 'failing to surrender their license', an offence carrying a £1,000 fine. AA president, Edmund King said: 'It is not generally known that photo card licenses expire: there appears to be a lack of information that people will have to renew these licenses. 'People think they have already paid them for once over and that is it. 'It will come as a surprise to motorists and a shock that they have to pay an extra £17.50.' The AA called on the Government to use the annual £450million from traffic enforcement fines to offset the renewal charge. Before photo card licenses were introduced, old-style paper licenses were valid until the age of 70. 'Many motorists still believe this to be the case with the new ones.' Driving instructor Tony Carter, of Canterbury, said: 'It's outrageous; everybody thinks their driving license is for life. 'Why - when you have already paid £50 for your photo card license - should you pay the Government an extra £17.50 every 10 years? 'It's another stealth tax. Drivers will be very annoyed.' Today the DVLA said the date of expiry was carried on the new-style licenses, even though the AA says this is 'not clear'. The Agency was unable to say whether motorists were told the licenses would expire when they were first issued. It said it was issuing postal reminders to drivers whose photograph was due to expire, to get the renewal message across. But a spokesman admitted this was the limit of their publicity. Experts say many drivers will slip through the net because DVLA records are inaccurate and many motorists have changed address, making it impossible to trace them. A DVLA spokesman said: 'Previous experience has shown that wide-scale publicity is less effective and can generate enquiries and concerns from those not affected. Instead, DVLA focused on targeted publicity to ensure that we got the message to the right person at the right time.' The Driving Standards Agency is allowing L-test candidates with out-of-date photo card licenses to sit their driving tests as long as they provide a valid passport. This concession will end in January next year, raising the prospect that some L-test candidates will be turned away. The DVLA said no one had so far been charged with failing to surrender a license.