I notice that the forum has recently attracted its 1000th member.
I did suggest that perhaps the 1000th through the door should get a special prize - a bit like a supermarket trolley dash - but I'm not sure it's going to happen
Well done Ian on the continued popularity of the website and forum - you must be doing something right.
Oh, and a big thank you to all those many people who took the time and trouble to get in touch with me to let me know the website was down. I knew almost immediately as it happened (as I was actually on as it went down!) but it's nice to know that folk care enough about it to go out of their way and I really appreciate it
The website and forum are totally seperate, hence one is fine whilst the other isn't! The website is hosted by a company in the UK and the forum by one in Canada.
As far as i can see it the whole forum under the activeboard.com part of the site is fine, its the manchesterbirding.com with all the other parts of the site, links, site guides, galleries and all the other stuff that are unreachable with the same 503 server error, we will just have to wait till the server work is finished to see if Ian has got any more pictues of the illusive Winchat, i am sure John Tymon hasent really put a virus on the server to sabotage the bird comp, he might have joined the darkside by using Nikon but he does take some good pictures with it so all is forgiven
__________________
Did you see it? It was small and brown and flew that way.........................
I'm back! Strange how you can get on from your mobile? Have you refreshed the page to see if you can still get one as no one else seems to be able?
browneys havin' kittens on north ron,because he can't get on he was worried some leyther had sabotaged his connection ,so the said leyther could win the mystery bird comp
Is anybody else having problems accessing the Manchester Birding website? I keep getting "Service Unavailable" "HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable."
Rob the server is having some work done to it,Ian is aware-should be back soon John
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Wednesday 25th of August 2010 03:42:19 PM
Is anybody else having problems accessing the Manchester Birding website? I keep getting "Service Unavailable" "HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable."
Rob the server is having some work done to it,Ian is aware-should be back soon John
-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Wednesday 25th of August 2010 03:42:19 PM
Is anybody else having problems accessing the Manchester Birding website? I keep getting "Service Unavailable" "HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable."
Ian has come up with the goods again. Another excellent article, this time on the ID of Tree Pipits. You never know, in 20 years time we might be waiting with bated breath for the McKerchar 2nd edition. Eat you heart out Collins
-- Edited by Mark Rigby on Saturday 14th of August 2010 12:31:18 AM
For all those people wondering where the main website is, copy the following link into your browser and save it as a favorite. The next time you log on, click on this link and you will be on the Manchester Birding Homepage. Then you can click to your hearts content and access the Forum from here, which is a very small part of the bigger picture.
The forum is only a tiny part of the huge website that is THE MANCHESTER BIRDING WEBSITE.
So click on the top right hand heading back to the manchester birding website, whats new! or Articles issues and Reviews, click on the heading next to the big picture of a pager, then click on the heading next to the big picture of the scope.
The website if full of excellent articles helpful hints photos, its brill, take a tour round its free.
Have fun reading all of it and
Keep Birding.
Looks like you beat me to it John
-- Edited by Paul Heaton on Tuesday 11th of May 2010 03:40:44 PM
As you are a newish poster I guess you haven't seen the many references to the larger part of this website (this forum is only a bit of it). Elsewhere there are maps and guides to various sites, identification articles, competitions, items for sale and, of course, review articles (and much more!)
Try clicking on
1/ BACK TO MANCHESTER BIRDING WEBSITE HOMEPAGE (At top of this page) 2/ ARTICLES, IDENTIFICATION ISSUES AND REVIEWS 3/ REVIEWS
Very nice scope review Ian, I was also allowed a test view at Elton, it is a nice scope, but beyond my pocket money.
Keep birding
I too managed to get a look through this wonderful scope - viewing RB Mergansers at Elton. Don't think Sue will be upgrading her Leica 77 APO though - it was bought to last a lifetime and probably will!
I dunno Dave. All I do know is that at the time of me looking there were 29 members and 10 visitors on line at that particular time. It's really not something I'm likely to loose sleep over though . Posting breeding birds this coming spring/summer however...
I think it goes off the most members on at one time Ian, on the Wildlife one its says most is 6 members 0 visitors but i regular see 12+ visitors but only 2/3 members at that time.
It was beaten the other evening (might have been the 16th I think) as there were 39 users on line at one moment when I looked but for some reason it has not been logged on the forum statistics
Dave,s excellent article on bird photography and images are brill, may I suggest that a follow up piece on how you took them, also can we achieve reasonable shots with a 300m lens or do we have to have a mega one.
keep Birding
I would say anyone serious about bird photography need a minimum of 500mm,to get the better shots,I did 3 years with a 300mm,and was always feeling i didn't have enough reach.now I use a sigma 150-500mm,which is great for both flight shots,and anything else i encounter,The only place a 300mm is enough really ,is a place like bunting hide at penny,but after the 200th shot of a bullfinch there,you'll be wanting more reach. Its like anything,its how serious you want to be about it,if its just record shots of the odd rarity,300mm would be ok,but there is definately a reason most bird photographers have massive lenses,they are powerful,and fast,which means they are good in lower light.just wish i could afford a 500mm,2.8,but a new car is cheaper,so the sigma doas me fine.
300mm is more than enough - the key with all wildlife photography is getting close enough to your subject (Ethically). I am just finishing the next article which i feel is more important than ever with recent developments in Wildlife Photographer of the Year and National Geographic.....Ethics.
Then the one after that i aim to cover the differences on settings like ISO, exposure, f number, composition etc.
But if people do want advice on any aspect of bird/wildlife photography then let me know and i can make or incorporate it into an article.
Dave,s excellent article on bird photography and images are brill, may I suggest that a follow up piece on how you took them, also can we achieve reasonable shots with a 300m lens or do we have to have a mega one.
A great web site just keeps on getting better, thanks in the main to all the hard work but into it by Ian. Like Paul, I'd like to wish Ian and his family a very Happy Christmas, thanks once again. Cheers Ian
My head is sore through banging it the wall Mark so feel free
The regular visitors to the website make it more than enough of a good reason to keep banging away on this keyboard though. Plenty more new stuff in the pipeline.
A GENTLE REMINDER (Hope I'm not stepping on your toes Ian?)
I have spoken to several birders recently who use the Forum, but are still blissfully un-aware of the Manchester Birding Website.
If you read the Forum pages, take a look at the Website. There is a wealth of information available from ID papers, GM Birding sites and directions, Photo Gallery, Mystery Bird Competition, Systematic lists etc, etc, etc, etc.
There is also a Who's-Who's of GM birders (who's photo's look nothing like the real article-with the exception of a certain Mr.Woosey!!!)
This Website is only succesfull due to the hard work and time put in by the owner (who ever he is?) and the people who use and contribute on a regular basis.
So if you are reading this and never visited the Website take a look.
WARNING- Looking at the Website will seriously damage your sleep time, once you start, you just cant stop
Thanks for the driving lesson, cleared out my caches, messy job!
found the answers to Novembers mystery, however when I click on December nothing, dont you just hate computers, I am giving them up for new year, and just going birding instead.
For those on Firefox the magic F5 button reloads the page and clears the cache.
BTW - I didn't have clairvoyant powers to 'spot' the Redshank - I have an almost identical photo and must have been stood next to the photographer - it was a very packed hide that day - 6th October I believe !
-- Edited by Tony Coatsworth on Thursday 3rd of December 2009 10:28:59 PM