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Pomaranč @[email protected] · 2026-02-06 · 03:44 UTC

Lost in the rainy streets of Prague. 🌧️🏰 The city wears its history like a cloak, even in the downpour. The Astronomical Clock stands silent, watching the centuries pass. 🕰️✨ There's a special kind of magic in these moments of solitary reflection. 🚶‍♂️💭
"Prague never lets you go… this dear little mother has sharp claws." - Franz Kafka
📸 My Prague
#Prague #OldTown #AstronomicalClock #RainyNight #ComicArt #Noir #Cityscape #Wanderlust #Moody #Travelgram #Praga

#prague #oldtown #astronomicalclock #rainynight #comicart #noir
Pomaranč @[email protected] · 2026-02-06 · 03:44 UTC

Lost in the rainy streets of Prague. 🌧️🏰 The city wears its history like a cloak, even in the downpour. The Astronomical Clock stands silent, watching the centuries pass. 🕰️✨ There's a special kind of magic in these moments of solitary reflection. 🚶‍♂️💭
"Prague never lets you go… this dear little mother has sharp claws." - Franz Kafka
📸 My Prague
#Prague #OldTown #AstronomicalClock #RainyNight #ComicArt #Noir #Cityscape #Wanderlust #Moody #Travelgram #Praga

#prague #oldtown #astronomicalclock #rainynight #comicart #noir
Pomaranč @[email protected] · 2026-02-06 · 03:44 UTC

Lost in the rainy streets of Prague. 🌧️🏰 The city wears its history like a cloak, even in the downpour. The Astronomical Clock stands silent, watching the centuries pass. 🕰️✨ There's a special kind of magic in these moments of solitary reflection. 🚶‍♂️💭
"Prague never lets you go… this dear little mother has sharp claws." - Franz Kafka
📸 My Prague
#Prague #OldTown #AstronomicalClock #RainyNight #ComicArt #Noir #Cityscape #Wanderlust #Moody #Travelgram #Praga

#praga #travelgram #moody #wanderlust #cityscape #noir
Pomaranč @[email protected] · 2026-02-06 · 03:44 UTC

Lost in the rainy streets of Prague. 🌧️🏰 The city wears its history like a cloak, even in the downpour. The Astronomical Clock stands silent, watching the centuries pass. 🕰️✨ There's a special kind of magic in these moments of solitary reflection. 🚶‍♂️💭
"Prague never lets you go… this dear little mother has sharp claws." - Franz Kafka
📸 My Prague
#Prague #OldTown #AstronomicalClock #RainyNight #ComicArt #Noir #Cityscape #Wanderlust #Moody #Travelgram #Praga

#prague #oldtown #astronomicalclock #rainynight #comicart #noir
josechurape @[email protected] · 2025-10-25 · 05:52 UTC
Discover Why You Should Play The TTRPG Mutant Year Zero
Disclaimer
Free League Publishing sent me a free copy of the Mutant: Year Zero core rulebook to review for my blog. While I am very happy for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinions. Make sure you also check out my reviews for Dragonbane and The One Ring.
Table of Contents
What is Mutant: Year Zero?
Mutant is a tabletop roleplaying game about mutants at the end of the world. The game runs on the award winning Year Zero system which is a D6 system where things happen on 6s and 1s. Six is good and one is bad. There are no modifiers. Instead, stats and gear tell players how many dice they need to roll. More dice generally means better odds. Finally, Mutant is a survival game where the world is harsh, people have powers, and starvation is always a bad roll away.
Hook
Before the fall of civilization, Earth existed in a constant state of conflict. War broke out across the globe, quickly turning nuclear. Those smart and rich enough quickly found shelter in secure underground bunkers while others fled into the safety of space. Everyone else either died in the first wave, or had to rot away in the fallout. As the Earth became toxic, many began to mutate and develop powers.This was the next stage of evolution of man, but one that also marked its end. Mutants are sterile, and while there are tales of powerful folk that roam the wasteland, the population is aging towards is final days.
Some survivors band together and form flourishing communities known as arcs in an attempt to recapture what they lost, others turned to the harsh wasteland and let it transform. You were fortunate enough to grow in one of these arcs, and spend your days working towards a common goal. As the years go by, resources start to dwindle and the world becomes a harder place to live. Eventually, you and a promising group are tasked with going out farther than the usual patrol in search of anything that will extend your time on this planet. What secrets will you uncover beyond those walls? What will you bring back? Can humanity ever be saved, or are you merely surviving till your final days?
Gameplay
Mutant is a very easy game to pick up, but has enough depth to keep players engaged. The survival mechanics give players agency, without ever feeling like a chore. The mutation mechanic adds fun flavor that players can explore through their character, and it makes for some fun and interersting interactions. If you’ve ever wanted to be Xmen at the end of the world, pick up Mutant Year Zero.
Resources
Resources at the end of the world are limited. Players will need to spend their time constantly hunting for food, water, and other materials to survive the harsh dying world around them. Resources like food and water are expended every day for survival, but they are also used for healing. Rationing this precious resource keeps a high level of tension for the players. Players can choose to be at full health for the next encounter at the risk of starving to death. The system is streamlined so the bulk of the game is focused on the game rather than resource management, but you can make it more hard core if that is fun for you.
In Mutant, bullets are the most valuable resource after food and water. While players don’t need bullets to survive the wasteland, they are useful currency when it comes time to trade for better gear or materials. Bullets are also used for guns, and no one wants to be short a bullet in an important gunfight. Players will constantly need to weigh the benefits of trading away their bullets, and that will make for some difficult decisions.
Rot
The world rots away under the effects of the lingering radiation. While there are a few clean and hospitable areas left on this planet, there are pockets of deadly radiation spread in between. These areas give players rot points that slowly kill them. The only way to get rid of rot is to rest in a clean area, but those may be far in between during an adventure. The best bet is to avoid rot all together, or find some rot protection over time. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way forward is through a puddle of rot, and sometimes the only drinkable water is contaminated. The problem then becomes finding ways to mitigate the rot, and live with it.
Mutations
You can’t have a Mutant’s game without cool mutant powers, and this book has a very good selection of them. The DM can allow players to choose their mutation or roll for them at a table. I prefer rolling because that randomness gives the game its flavor. Survivors in this world wouldn’t have been able to choose their powers, neither should your players. That said, I’ll let a player choose their mutation if they have a fun idea that won’t kill the fun for anyone else.
As you would expect, mutations give players abilities they can use in and out of combat. Every player gets a mutation point per mutation at the start of each session that rolls over to the next if not used. Mutation points are the resource used to power the mutation. Because mutations are so powerful, this limit is used to balance the game. If the player could use their mutation as much as they wanted, things could get out of hand. Mutations can also backfire. They can explode or work as intended. They can also further mutate the user, leaving them weaker but with a cool new power to use.
Combat
Combat does not get any simpler than in Mutants. Attacks succeed on 6s and fail on 1s. Additional 6s give the user extra boons like bonus damage or the ability to disarm. Additional 1s can mean the weapon breaks, leaving its user defenseless. Weapon and gear do break in this game, and players will need a skilled craftsman for repairs, or enough bullets to buy the replacement.
What makes combat deep is the health and cover system. The way health works means that players will need to think carefully before rushing in. They may not have the resources to heal back, or they can get an injury that affects their performance. Learning how to effectively use the environment in combat is extremely important. Effectively finding cover in a gun fight or exploding a barrel can easily mean the difference between life and death.
Leveling
I love the leveling system in Mutant because it is streamlined and accessible. Players will need to answer the following questions:
1. Did you participate in the session? (You get 1 XP just for being present.)
2. Did you perform a Day’s Work for a project in the Ark?
3. Did you explore at least one new sector in the Zone?
4. Did you sacrifice or risk something for your PC buddy?
5. Did you sacrifice or risk something for the NPC you want to keep safe?
6. Did you sacrifice or risk something to mess with the NPC you hate?
7. Did you sacrifice or risk something to reach your big dream?
Players get 1xp point per yes, and they level up when they earn a total of five. Leveling means players will get put a point into a skill of their choice or pick up a new talent. This system not only eliminates the guess work you would see in something like D&D, and it allows players to customize their character. Personally, it forced my players to act in ways they wouldn’t normally because they wanted an XP point. Where in a D&D campaign they wouldn’t care if the NPC died, they went out of their way to keep them alive and get to know them. I was not ready to RP as much as I have in Mutant, but I am not complaining.
Other Mechanics
There are other very cool mechanics that make this game unique and fun to play, but I don’t want this post to get too long. I pulled out the most notable that set it apart from other systems I’ve played, but also the systems I’ve liked the most. While I do not currently run a hardcore survival campaign, its nice to play something more bleak and I’ve been enjoying the story that has come from it.
Review
Mutant Year Zero is easily one of my favorite TTRPGs. I love how accessible the game is. It is easy to learn, and this is important for table of busy dads. Mutant also has some fantastic flavor with the mechanics that make for a good story.
Quality
I did get a copy of the physical book, and it is beautiful. The printing is high quality with vibrant colors, and the book is very high quality. I love the comic book style art. It gives the game its distinct personality and the book looks fantastic on my table.
The cover is phenomenal. I love how it draws the attention to the survivors combing a burning crumbling city for danger and supplies. Their nonchalant expressions suggest that they’ve grown used to the wreckage, and remain unfazed by the apocalypse. The worn mismatched outfits fit the flavor of the world, and the colors tie it all together. I love that each character has a hint of their ability showing. It is just enough to make a statement about their power, while still evoking curiosity. Are these good guys? Bad guys? You’re going to have to play and decide.
Story
The corebook has a prewritten adventure, and it is a very good place to start if you’re a beginner or just need a little help. The adventure offers a solid mystery with an interesting hook to get things rolling.
The players start at the arc, with an aging leader and dwindling supplies. They are sent out in search of more, but find hints to the fabled Eden. Eden is a place of abundance, populated by the most brilliant minds to find a cure for mutation. Some say the cure exists somewhere within its walls, the trouble is finding it. Others say its all a cruel joke told by those too dumb to realize it is all over. As fate has it, your players find themselves chasing a legend, and what they find isn’t what they expected.
Adventure
What I like most about how the adventure is written is that it gives players to tell their own story around the main goal. The adventure outlines a meta story, fills it with important NPCs and location, and sprinkles enough clues to create agency. The gamemaster players have the freedom to do what they want. I’ve never had my players more invested in the world building, because we were building our world. We had a session where we just talked about the fake mutant animals that existed in the one zone and creating bits of random lore that carried throughout the campaign. I love that I was not tied down by a dungeon crawl because it allowed us to tell some very cool stories.
Most importantly, I love that my players liked the meta story enough to keep playing through it. I’ve ran modules where I stopped using the source material because my players wanted to do something different within that world. I wasn’t ready for them to start asking questions about Eden and actively working towards it because of how much time we spend messing around in character.
Roleplay
This is one of the games where my players got into unique characters. I think the random mutation forced them to play a character they wouldn’t usually which was very cool to see. It might also help that I ran this game with theater of the mind using Alchemy RPG. The official module for Mutant is fantastic. Maybe the lack of math and battle maps gave players the room to get creative with their roleplay. Whatever the answer, it was a lot of fun.
Theater of the Mind
You can get as fancy as you want with Mutant. You can use maps with intricate terrain and figures, or load up your favorite VTT and do it digitally. Run this game in whatever way is most fun for your table. The system will work no matter what. At my table, we run games through theater of the mind. I’ll use maps here and there, but I like the focus to be the story and the current format works for us.
As a theater of mind game, Mutant is a fantastic system. The year one system makes checks and combat easy to manage, and the mechanics give enough depth without needing much outside aid. If all you have is the rulebook, some dice, and a dream, you are ready to run Mutant Year One.
Survival
Do not be intimidated by the survival aspect of this game. Run this game as hardcore as it needs to be for your table. I run a casual table and would frequently forget to manage resources. There wasn’t enough scarcity, and I didn’t deduct enough resources. I did break weapons and give players rot points, but I wasn’t running the game as intended. That said, the game never felt like it lost any of the survival element. Players were still cautious with their decisions, and scavenging when they could. My campaign, as silly as it was, was still a survival campaign. I like that freedom.
Conclusion
If you want to run a survival campaign with cool mutant characters and have a good amount of freedom to tell a cool story, pick up your copy of Mutant Year Zero. This has become our favorite, and it is going to be hard to switch to anything else. You can pick up your copy of the Mutant Year Zero rule book on the official Free League Publishing website, or on DriveThru rpg if you want to go digital.
#2025 #blog #blogger #blogging #entertainment #fantasy #freeLeaguePublishing #game #gamingBlog #internet #media #review #Reviews #roleplay #rpg #tabletop #tabletopGame #ttrpg #watch #wordpress #writing
#blog #blogger #blogging #entertainment #fantasy #freeleaguepublishing
josechurape @[email protected] · 2025-10-25 · 05:52 UTC
Discover Why You Should Play The TTRPG Mutant Year Zero
Disclaimer
Free League Publishing sent me a free copy of the Mutant: Year Zero core rulebook to review for my blog. While I am very happy for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinions. Make sure you also check out my reviews for Dragonbane and The One Ring.
Table of Contents
What is Mutant: Year Zero?
Mutant is a tabletop roleplaying game about mutants at the end of the world. The game runs on the award winning Year Zero system which is a D6 system where things happen on 6s and 1s. Six is good and one is bad. There are no modifiers. Instead, stats and gear tell players how many dice they need to roll. More dice generally means better odds. Finally, Mutant is a survival game where the world is harsh, people have powers, and starvation is always a bad roll away.
Hook
Before the fall of civilization, Earth existed in a constant state of conflict. War broke out across the globe, quickly turning nuclear. Those smart and rich enough quickly found shelter in secure underground bunkers while others fled into the safety of space. Everyone else either died in the first wave, or had to rot away in the fallout. As the Earth became toxic, many began to mutate and develop powers.This was the next stage of evolution of man, but one that also marked its end. Mutants are sterile, and while there are tales of powerful folk that roam the wasteland, the population is aging towards is final days.
Some survivors band together and form flourishing communities known as arcs in an attempt to recapture what they lost, others turned to the harsh wasteland and let it transform. You were fortunate enough to grow in one of these arcs, and spend your days working towards a common goal. As the years go by, resources start to dwindle and the world becomes a harder place to live. Eventually, you and a promising group are tasked with going out farther than the usual patrol in search of anything that will extend your time on this planet. What secrets will you uncover beyond those walls? What will you bring back? Can humanity ever be saved, or are you merely surviving till your final days?
Gameplay
Mutant is a very easy game to pick up, but has enough depth to keep players engaged. The survival mechanics give players agency, without ever feeling like a chore. The mutation mechanic adds fun flavor that players can explore through their character, and it makes for some fun and interersting interactions. If you’ve ever wanted to be Xmen at the end of the world, pick up Mutant Year Zero.
Resources
Resources at the end of the world are limited. Players will need to spend their time constantly hunting for food, water, and other materials to survive the harsh dying world around them. Resources like food and water are expended every day for survival, but they are also used for healing. Rationing this precious resource keeps a high level of tension for the players. Players can choose to be at full health for the next encounter at the risk of starving to death. The system is streamlined so the bulk of the game is focused on the game rather than resource management, but you can make it more hard core if that is fun for you.
In Mutant, bullets are the most valuable resource after food and water. While players don’t need bullets to survive the wasteland, they are useful currency when it comes time to trade for better gear or materials. Bullets are also used for guns, and no one wants to be short a bullet in an important gunfight. Players will constantly need to weigh the benefits of trading away their bullets, and that will make for some difficult decisions.
Rot
The world rots away under the effects of the lingering radiation. While there are a few clean and hospitable areas left on this planet, there are pockets of deadly radiation spread in between. These areas give players rot points that slowly kill them. The only way to get rid of rot is to rest in a clean area, but those may be far in between during an adventure. The best bet is to avoid rot all together, or find some rot protection over time. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way forward is through a puddle of rot, and sometimes the only drinkable water is contaminated. The problem then becomes finding ways to mitigate the rot, and live with it.
Mutations
You can’t have a Mutant’s game without cool mutant powers, and this book has a very good selection of them. The DM can allow players to choose their mutation or roll for them at a table. I prefer rolling because that randomness gives the game its flavor. Survivors in this world wouldn’t have been able to choose their powers, neither should your players. That said, I’ll let a player choose their mutation if they have a fun idea that won’t kill the fun for anyone else.
As you would expect, mutations give players abilities they can use in and out of combat. Every player gets a mutation point per mutation at the start of each session that rolls over to the next if not used. Mutation points are the resource used to power the mutation. Because mutations are so powerful, this limit is used to balance the game. If the player could use their mutation as much as they wanted, things could get out of hand. Mutations can also backfire. They can explode or work as intended. They can also further mutate the user, leaving them weaker but with a cool new power to use.
Combat
Combat does not get any simpler than in Mutants. Attacks succeed on 6s and fail on 1s. Additional 6s give the user extra boons like bonus damage or the ability to disarm. Additional 1s can mean the weapon breaks, leaving its user defenseless. Weapon and gear do break in this game, and players will need a skilled craftsman for repairs, or enough bullets to buy the replacement.
What makes combat deep is the health and cover system. The way health works means that players will need to think carefully before rushing in. They may not have the resources to heal back, or they can get an injury that affects their performance. Learning how to effectively use the environment in combat is extremely important. Effectively finding cover in a gun fight or exploding a barrel can easily mean the difference between life and death.
Leveling
I love the leveling system in Mutant because it is streamlined and accessible. Players will need to answer the following questions:
1. Did you participate in the session? (You get 1 XP just for being present.)
2. Did you perform a Day’s Work for a project in the Ark?
3. Did you explore at least one new sector in the Zone?
4. Did you sacrifice or risk something for your PC buddy?
5. Did you sacrifice or risk something for the NPC you want to keep safe?
6. Did you sacrifice or risk something to mess with the NPC you hate?
7. Did you sacrifice or risk something to reach your big dream?
Players get 1xp point per yes, and they level up when they earn a total of five. Leveling means players will get put a point into a skill of their choice or pick up a new talent. This system not only eliminates the guess work you would see in something like D&D, and it allows players to customize their character. Personally, it forced my players to act in ways they wouldn’t normally because they wanted an XP point. Where in a D&D campaign they wouldn’t care if the NPC died, they went out of their way to keep them alive and get to know them. I was not ready to RP as much as I have in Mutant, but I am not complaining.
Other Mechanics
There are other very cool mechanics that make this game unique and fun to play, but I don’t want this post to get too long. I pulled out the most notable that set it apart from other systems I’ve played, but also the systems I’ve liked the most. While I do not currently run a hardcore survival campaign, its nice to play something more bleak and I’ve been enjoying the story that has come from it.
Review
Mutant Year Zero is easily one of my favorite TTRPGs. I love how accessible the game is. It is easy to learn, and this is important for table of busy dads. Mutant also has some fantastic flavor with the mechanics that make for a good story.
Quality
I did get a copy of the physical book, and it is beautiful. The printing is high quality with vibrant colors, and the book is very high quality. I love the comic book style art. It gives the game its distinct personality and the book looks fantastic on my table.
The cover is phenomenal. I love how it draws the attention to the survivors combing a burning crumbling city for danger and supplies. Their nonchalant expressions suggest that they’ve grown used to the wreckage, and remain unfazed by the apocalypse. The worn mismatched outfits fit the flavor of the world, and the colors tie it all together. I love that each character has a hint of their ability showing. It is just enough to make a statement about their power, while still evoking curiosity. Are these good guys? Bad guys? You’re going to have to play and decide.
Story
The corebook has a prewritten adventure, and it is a very good place to start if you’re a beginner or just need a little help. The adventure offers a solid mystery with an interesting hook to get things rolling.
The players start at the arc, with an aging leader and dwindling supplies. They are sent out in search of more, but find hints to the fabled Eden. Eden is a place of abundance, populated by the most brilliant minds to find a cure for mutation. Some say the cure exists somewhere within its walls, the trouble is finding it. Others say its all a cruel joke told by those too dumb to realize it is all over. As fate has it, your players find themselves chasing a legend, and what they find isn’t what they expected.
Adventure
What I like most about how the adventure is written is that it gives players to tell their own story around the main goal. The adventure outlines a meta story, fills it with important NPCs and location, and sprinkles enough clues to create agency. The gamemaster players have the freedom to do what they want. I’ve never had my players more invested in the world building, because we were building our world. We had a session where we just talked about the fake mutant animals that existed in the one zone and creating bits of random lore that carried throughout the campaign. I love that I was not tied down by a dungeon crawl because it allowed us to tell some very cool stories.
Most importantly, I love that my players liked the meta story enough to keep playing through it. I’ve ran modules where I stopped using the source material because my players wanted to do something different within that world. I wasn’t ready for them to start asking questions about Eden and actively working towards it because of how much time we spend messing around in character.
Roleplay
This is one of the games where my players got into unique characters. I think the random mutation forced them to play a character they wouldn’t usually which was very cool to see. It might also help that I ran this game with theater of the mind using Alchemy RPG. The official module for Mutant is fantastic. Maybe the lack of math and battle maps gave players the room to get creative with their roleplay. Whatever the answer, it was a lot of fun.
Theater of the Mind
You can get as fancy as you want with Mutant. You can use maps with intricate terrain and figures, or load up your favorite VTT and do it digitally. Run this game in whatever way is most fun for your table. The system will work no matter what. At my table, we run games through theater of the mind. I’ll use maps here and there, but I like the focus to be the story and the current format works for us.
As a theater of mind game, Mutant is a fantastic system. The year one system makes checks and combat easy to manage, and the mechanics give enough depth without needing much outside aid. If all you have is the rulebook, some dice, and a dream, you are ready to run Mutant Year One.
Survival
Do not be intimidated by the survival aspect of this game. Run this game as hardcore as it needs to be for your table. I run a casual table and would frequently forget to manage resources. There wasn’t enough scarcity, and I didn’t deduct enough resources. I did break weapons and give players rot points, but I wasn’t running the game as intended. That said, the game never felt like it lost any of the survival element. Players were still cautious with their decisions, and scavenging when they could. My campaign, as silly as it was, was still a survival campaign. I like that freedom.
Conclusion
If you want to run a survival campaign with cool mutant characters and have a good amount of freedom to tell a cool story, pick up your copy of Mutant Year Zero. This has become our favorite, and it is going to be hard to switch to anything else. You can pick up your copy of the Mutant Year Zero rule book on the official Free League Publishing website, or on DriveThru rpg if you want to go digital.
#2025 #blog #blogger #blogging #entertainment #fantasy #freeLeaguePublishing #game #gamingBlog #internet #media #review #Reviews #roleplay #rpg #tabletop #tabletopGame #ttrpg #watch #wordpress #writing
#blog #blogger #blogging #entertainment #fantasy #freeleaguepublishing
josechurape @[email protected] · 2025-10-25 · 05:52 UTC
Discover Why You Should Play The TTRPG Mutant Year Zero
Disclaimer
Free League Publishing sent me a free copy of the Mutant: Year Zero core rulebook to review for my blog. While I am very happy for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinions. Make sure you also check out my reviews for Dragonbane and The One Ring.
Table of Contents
What is Mutant: Year Zero?
Mutant is a tabletop roleplaying game about mutants at the end of the world. The game runs on the award winning Year Zero system which is a D6 system where things happen on 6s and 1s. Six is good and one is bad. There are no modifiers. Instead, stats and gear tell players how many dice they need to roll. More dice generally means better odds. Finally, Mutant is a survival game where the world is harsh, people have powers, and starvation is always a bad roll away.
Hook
Before the fall of civilization, Earth existed in a constant state of conflict. War broke out across the globe, quickly turning nuclear. Those smart and rich enough quickly found shelter in secure underground bunkers while others fled into the safety of space. Everyone else either died in the first wave, or had to rot away in the fallout. As the Earth became toxic, many began to mutate and develop powers.This was the next stage of evolution of man, but one that also marked its end. Mutants are sterile, and while there are tales of powerful folk that roam the wasteland, the population is aging towards is final days.
Some survivors band together and form flourishing communities known as arcs in an attempt to recapture what they lost, others turned to the harsh wasteland and let it transform. You were fortunate enough to grow in one of these arcs, and spend your days working towards a common goal. As the years go by, resources start to dwindle and the world becomes a harder place to live. Eventually, you and a promising group are tasked with going out farther than the usual patrol in search of anything that will extend your time on this planet. What secrets will you uncover beyond those walls? What will you bring back? Can humanity ever be saved, or are you merely surviving till your final days?
Gameplay
Mutant is a very easy game to pick up, but has enough depth to keep players engaged. The survival mechanics give players agency, without ever feeling like a chore. The mutation mechanic adds fun flavor that players can explore through their character, and it makes for some fun and interersting interactions. If you’ve ever wanted to be Xmen at the end of the world, pick up Mutant Year Zero.
Resources
Resources at the end of the world are limited. Players will need to spend their time constantly hunting for food, water, and other materials to survive the harsh dying world around them. Resources like food and water are expended every day for survival, but they are also used for healing. Rationing this precious resource keeps a high level of tension for the players. Players can choose to be at full health for the next encounter at the risk of starving to death. The system is streamlined so the bulk of the game is focused on the game rather than resource management, but you can make it more hard core if that is fun for you.
In Mutant, bullets are the most valuable resource after food and water. While players don’t need bullets to survive the wasteland, they are useful currency when it comes time to trade for better gear or materials. Bullets are also used for guns, and no one wants to be short a bullet in an important gunfight. Players will constantly need to weigh the benefits of trading away their bullets, and that will make for some difficult decisions.
Rot
The world rots away under the effects of the lingering radiation. While there are a few clean and hospitable areas left on this planet, there are pockets of deadly radiation spread in between. These areas give players rot points that slowly kill them. The only way to get rid of rot is to rest in a clean area, but those may be far in between during an adventure. The best bet is to avoid rot all together, or find some rot protection over time. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way forward is through a puddle of rot, and sometimes the only drinkable water is contaminated. The problem then becomes finding ways to mitigate the rot, and live with it.
Mutations
You can’t have a Mutant’s game without cool mutant powers, and this book has a very good selection of them. The DM can allow players to choose their mutation or roll for them at a table. I prefer rolling because that randomness gives the game its flavor. Survivors in this world wouldn’t have been able to choose their powers, neither should your players. That said, I’ll let a player choose their mutation if they have a fun idea that won’t kill the fun for anyone else.
As you would expect, mutations give players abilities they can use in and out of combat. Every player gets a mutation point per mutation at the start of each session that rolls over to the next if not used. Mutation points are the resource used to power the mutation. Because mutations are so powerful, this limit is used to balance the game. If the player could use their mutation as much as they wanted, things could get out of hand. Mutations can also backfire. They can explode or work as intended. They can also further mutate the user, leaving them weaker but with a cool new power to use.
Combat
Combat does not get any simpler than in Mutants. Attacks succeed on 6s and fail on 1s. Additional 6s give the user extra boons like bonus damage or the ability to disarm. Additional 1s can mean the weapon breaks, leaving its user defenseless. Weapon and gear do break in this game, and players will need a skilled craftsman for repairs, or enough bullets to buy the replacement.
What makes combat deep is the health and cover system. The way health works means that players will need to think carefully before rushing in. They may not have the resources to heal back, or they can get an injury that affects their performance. Learning how to effectively use the environment in combat is extremely important. Effectively finding cover in a gun fight or exploding a barrel can easily mean the difference between life and death.
Leveling
I love the leveling system in Mutant because it is streamlined and accessible. Players will need to answer the following questions:
1. Did you participate in the session? (You get 1 XP just for being present.)
2. Did you perform a Day’s Work for a project in the Ark?
3. Did you explore at least one new sector in the Zone?
4. Did you sacrifice or risk something for your PC buddy?
5. Did you sacrifice or risk something for the NPC you want to keep safe?
6. Did you sacrifice or risk something to mess with the NPC you hate?
7. Did you sacrifice or risk something to reach your big dream?
Players get 1xp point per yes, and they level up when they earn a total of five. Leveling means players will get put a point into a skill of their choice or pick up a new talent. This system not only eliminates the guess work you would see in something like D&D, and it allows players to customize their character. Personally, it forced my players to act in ways they wouldn’t normally because they wanted an XP point. Where in a D&D campaign they wouldn’t care if the NPC died, they went out of their way to keep them alive and get to know them. I was not ready to RP as much as I have in Mutant, but I am not complaining.
Other Mechanics
There are other very cool mechanics that make this game unique and fun to play, but I don’t want this post to get too long. I pulled out the most notable that set it apart from other systems I’ve played, but also the systems I’ve liked the most. While I do not currently run a hardcore survival campaign, its nice to play something more bleak and I’ve been enjoying the story that has come from it.
Review
Mutant Year Zero is easily one of my favorite TTRPGs. I love how accessible the game is. It is easy to learn, and this is important for table of busy dads. Mutant also has some fantastic flavor with the mechanics that make for a good story.
Quality
I did get a copy of the physical book, and it is beautiful. The printing is high quality with vibrant colors, and the book is very high quality. I love the comic book style art. It gives the game its distinct personality and the book looks fantastic on my table.
The cover is phenomenal. I love how it draws the attention to the survivors combing a burning crumbling city for danger and supplies. Their nonchalant expressions suggest that they’ve grown used to the wreckage, and remain unfazed by the apocalypse. The worn mismatched outfits fit the flavor of the world, and the colors tie it all together. I love that each character has a hint of their ability showing. It is just enough to make a statement about their power, while still evoking curiosity. Are these good guys? Bad guys? You’re going to have to play and decide.
Story
The corebook has a prewritten adventure, and it is a very good place to start if you’re a beginner or just need a little help. The adventure offers a solid mystery with an interesting hook to get things rolling.
The players start at the arc, with an aging leader and dwindling supplies. They are sent out in search of more, but find hints to the fabled Eden. Eden is a place of abundance, populated by the most brilliant minds to find a cure for mutation. Some say the cure exists somewhere within its walls, the trouble is finding it. Others say its all a cruel joke told by those too dumb to realize it is all over. As fate has it, your players find themselves chasing a legend, and what they find isn’t what they expected.
Adventure
What I like most about how the adventure is written is that it gives players to tell their own story around the main goal. The adventure outlines a meta story, fills it with important NPCs and location, and sprinkles enough clues to create agency. The gamemaster players have the freedom to do what they want. I’ve never had my players more invested in the world building, because we were building our world. We had a session where we just talked about the fake mutant animals that existed in the one zone and creating bits of random lore that carried throughout the campaign. I love that I was not tied down by a dungeon crawl because it allowed us to tell some very cool stories.
Most importantly, I love that my players liked the meta story enough to keep playing through it. I’ve ran modules where I stopped using the source material because my players wanted to do something different within that world. I wasn’t ready for them to start asking questions about Eden and actively working towards it because of how much time we spend messing around in character.
Roleplay
This is one of the games where my players got into unique characters. I think the random mutation forced them to play a character they wouldn’t usually which was very cool to see. It might also help that I ran this game with theater of the mind using Alchemy RPG. The official module for Mutant is fantastic. Maybe the lack of math and battle maps gave players the room to get creative with their roleplay. Whatever the answer, it was a lot of fun.
Theater of the Mind
You can get as fancy as you want with Mutant. You can use maps with intricate terrain and figures, or load up your favorite VTT and do it digitally. Run this game in whatever way is most fun for your table. The system will work no matter what. At my table, we run games through theater of the mind. I’ll use maps here and there, but I like the focus to be the story and the current format works for us.
As a theater of mind game, Mutant is a fantastic system. The year one system makes checks and combat easy to manage, and the mechanics give enough depth without needing much outside aid. If all you have is the rulebook, some dice, and a dream, you are ready to run Mutant Year One.
Survival
Do not be intimidated by the survival aspect of this game. Run this game as hardcore as it needs to be for your table. I run a casual table and would frequently forget to manage resources. There wasn’t enough scarcity, and I didn’t deduct enough resources. I did break weapons and give players rot points, but I wasn’t running the game as intended. That said, the game never felt like it lost any of the survival element. Players were still cautious with their decisions, and scavenging when they could. My campaign, as silly as it was, was still a survival campaign. I like that freedom.
Conclusion
If you want to run a survival campaign with cool mutant characters and have a good amount of freedom to tell a cool story, pick up your copy of Mutant Year Zero. This has become our favorite, and it is going to be hard to switch to anything else. You can pick up your copy of the Mutant Year Zero rule book on the official Free League Publishing website, or on DriveThru rpg if you want to go digital.
#2025 #blog #blogger #blogging #entertainment #fantasy #freeLeaguePublishing #game #gamingBlog #internet #media #review #Reviews #roleplay #rpg #tabletop #tabletopGame #ttrpg #watch #wordpress #writing
#writing #wordpress #watch #ttrpg #tabletopgame #tabletop
Scottish Lost Places @[email protected] · 2026-05-14 · 05:02 UTC

Places and people from the Scottish Witchcraft Trials:
Helene Clerk in 1645 in North Leith.
http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q43390453
Survey of Scottish Witchcraft:
https://witches.shca.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.accusedrecord&accusedref=A/EGD/173&search_string=lastname
#ScottishHistory #WitchTrials #Edinburgh

#edinburgh #witchtrials #scottishhistory
Scottish Lost Places @[email protected] · 2026-05-14 · 05:02 UTC

Places and people from the Scottish Witchcraft Trials:
Helene Clerk in 1645 in North Leith.
http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q43390453
Survey of Scottish Witchcraft:
https://witches.shca.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.accusedrecord&accusedref=A/EGD/173&search_string=lastname
#ScottishHistory #WitchTrials #Edinburgh

#edinburgh #witchtrials #scottishhistory
Scottish Lost Places @[email protected] · 2026-05-14 · 05:02 UTC

Places and people from the Scottish Witchcraft Trials:
Helene Clerk in 1645 in North Leith.
http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q43390453
Survey of Scottish Witchcraft:
https://witches.shca.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.accusedrecord&accusedref=A/EGD/173&search_string=lastname
#ScottishHistory #WitchTrials #Edinburgh

#edinburgh #witchtrials #scottishhistory
Scottish Lost Places @[email protected] · 2026-05-14 · 05:02 UTC

Places and people from the Scottish Witchcraft Trials:
Helene Clerk in 1645 in North Leith.
http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q43390453
Survey of Scottish Witchcraft:
https://witches.shca.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.accusedrecord&accusedref=A/EGD/173&search_string=lastname
#ScottishHistory #WitchTrials #Edinburgh

#scottishhistory #witchtrials #edinburgh
Scottish Lost Places @[email protected] · 2026-05-14 · 05:02 UTC

Places and people from the Scottish Witchcraft Trials:
Helene Clerk in 1645 in North Leith.
http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q43390453
Survey of Scottish Witchcraft:
https://witches.shca.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.accusedrecord&accusedref=A/EGD/173&search_string=lastname
#ScottishHistory #WitchTrials #Edinburgh

#edinburgh #witchtrials #scottishhistory
Creative Splurges @[email protected] · 2026-05-01 · 18:38 UTC

Birds in the Bluebells

Bluebell season is in full swing right now. Anywhere I go at the moment there are swathes of bluebells, whether that’s in gardens, along the verges of the Brighton Main Line, or – yes – even along the heritage railway named after them. I love the bluebells. There is little I love more than seeing a massive carpet of them in a field or across the floor of a forest.
Kit ListCanon EOS R6 Mk II Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Jump to Gallery
For Christmas my wife bought me an assortment of photography experience days. I’ve already been on one – the photos of which are waiting patiently to be posted – but for my second I discovered that a bird of prey centre near me holds photography workshops of owls amongst bluebells. The idea of beautiful owls – especially any with gloriously contrasting orange eyes – amongst a sea of bluebells was hard to resist. So last week I headed over to the UK Owl and Raptor Centre for a morning of owls and bluebells.
The setup for the day was pretty simple. There were only three of us attending the session, as well as a bird handler or two, and a professional photographer who was on hand to help out with settings and guidance. We saw four birds, each of which did a mixture of flying and posing, depending on their temperament. And, almost as if they knew me, after the session was over they sent details of the birds with their names and species, which means for once I can state confidently what these birds are. Given the nature of what we were shooting, I exclusively used my super telephoto lens. A quick note on that – throughout this post you will see my aperture changing a lot. Sometimes that was a manual choice, but most of the time it’s because this lens doesn’t have a constant aperture – it’s f/4.5 at the widest zoom, and f/7.1 and the maximum zoom.
We started with Kofi, a Verreaux’s eagle owl. With them we started out posing.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 3200, 200mm
The main piece of general advice we were given was to set our shutter speeds pretty high – in Kofi’s case, it was around 1/1600th of a second – in order to ensure that once they flew around, which they were liable to do with little warning, you’d still get a sharp image. This did lead to some reasonably high ISOs, even in daylight (although we were in the mottled light of a wooded area).
Almost on queue we got some flight.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 4000, 186mm
Kofi was keen to fly around, hopping between branches and fallen logs, which meant I ended up with some nice dramatic takeoff and flying shots.
1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 10000, 400mm 1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 200mm1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 254mm1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 159mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2000, 100mm
Eventually he sat still long enough for a shot of him on a log.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 254mm
… but not for long.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 3200, 167mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2500, 123mm
One of the challenges was the mottled light. It looked fantastic, but you had no control over when a bird would land in a patch of light or in shade – or worse, where their head was in shade but their tail was in sun.
1/1600sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
In reality though, Kofi spent most of his time flying between various perches, showing off his impressive wingspan.
1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 5000, 135mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 3200, 135mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2500, 109mm
As you might expect, I found it very difficult to select shots from this bird, who gave so many impressive flybys. Sometimes it was almost a relief to get shots that were out of focus and so easy to cut. There are, admittedly, even more options in the gallery at the end of this post.
Next up was Haze, a barn owl. And, if you look really closely, you might be able to spot her handler.
1/1600sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000, 343mm
To be honest, Haze’s flybys caused me a lot more trouble. Time after time my camera struggled to focus, and really the only decent shots of her flying captured by my camera were taken by the pro photographer as she tried to help me dial in settings and figure out why I was struggling. All sorts of settings were changed to try to get the autofocus to play balls, but to little avail. It was only later on, when we were shooting the last bird of the day, that I think I figured out what I was doing wrong: I was framing too wide, giving the autofocus doubt as to what I was trying to focus on. By being overly cautious to not mess up my framing, I ended up missing the shots entirely. I’m glad I figured it out, but it was a bit annoying it happened so late in the day.
Which is in many ways a long-winded way of saying, expect more shots of this bird posing, rather than flying.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 800, 159mm
The advice we were given when shooting Haze was a faster shutter speed of 1/2000th, because as a smaller owl she moved faster, and to underexpose by at least a full stop to ensure she didn’t blow out as her white plumage moved from shade into the light.
This next shot is one of the few ones I got of her in a proper flight.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000, 135mm
The last time I photographed a barn owl, I found a really good preset that helped bring out the brownish details in their feathers. I didn’t use it much here, because the preset emphasises brown hues whilst dialling back other colours, which robbed the bluebells and green foliage of all their beautiful colour. I did use it once or twice when she landed places where there weren’t too much colour to be lost anyway.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 320, 186mm
I did manage to get a few decent shots of Haze in flight as she took off from spots, including when she took off from the spot above.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250, 128mm
It was still tempting to use the preset, even given it turned the lovely spring leaves into something more autumnal. Definitely one that’s more use in autumn and winter. In this next shot she’d flown off into a more distant tree, requiring me to use all of my zoom range.
1/2000sec, f/7.1, ISO 250, 500mm
I did not end up with that many shots of Haze, on account of my issues focussing on her whilst she flew.
Our third bird was a southern white faced owl called Zazu.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 500mm
Zazu was my favourite of the birds we saw this day. She was titchy, but with light grey feathers and those glorious orange eyes. Being smaller still, the shutter speed went another notch faster, up to 1/3200th.
For a few shots I couldn’t resist using the same preset as before, sacrificing the colour of the bluebells in order to bring out those lovely eyes.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 10000, 400mm
As you can see, whenever she landed in a shady spot, my ISO crept into five figures. Luckily she often landed in less-shady locations.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2000, 428mm
It was very easy to get carried away shooting this bird. How could you not?
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 16000, 500mm
A few times when she landed on the fallen tree next to her trainer, I broke out the brown preset for some deep oranges.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 363mm
Whenever she flew, she looked like a dart.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000, 254mm
Zazu’s colours – various shades of grey with those eyes – matched perfectly with the bluebells and the brown of the logs she would land on.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 2500, 500mm1/4000sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 270mm
As you can see, I decided that 1/3200th wasn’t quite enough, so upped the shutter speed to 1/4000th.
She briefly landed on her trainer’s hand within a reasonable camera range, so I can give you an idea of her diminutive size.
1/4000sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200, 400mm
Zazu was happy to flit between several different spots, giving us some variety in our shots.
1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000, 254mm
Sometimes, he landed in the only little bit of light in an otherwise shady spot.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Although I’ve mostly tried to keep the trainers out of these shots (and to be fair, they did an excellent job of staying out of the way), I couldn’t resist this one as a trainer helped Zazu find a piece of food she was missing.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Soon, though, it was time to say goodbye to little Zazu, who stood in one last little spot of light as her swansong.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 4000, 500mm
Finally it was time for the fourth and final bird, a long eared owl called Eileen.
1/2500sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 500mm
Eileen also had a decent knack of flying about and landing in patches of light.
1/2500sec, f/6.3, ISO 4000, 324mm
Occasionally, quite close.
1/2500sec, f/8, ISO 3200, 363mm
It was only when we got to Eileen that I finally got the hang of shooting the owls in flight. As I said earlier, it just required the courage to frame closer to the bird so that the autofocus knew what I was actually trying to photograph.
1/2500sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
Although I was obviously mostly after shots of Eileen flying low over the bluebells, giving a nice colourful backdrop, sometimes the shots with the large trees in the background worked just as nicely.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 10000, 500mm
Eileen had no trouble flying. In many ways it was harder to keep her still, she had bags of energy and so was happy to constantly fly up and down the bluebell-strewn area of the wood for us to fill our memory cards. Which obviously gave me the problem in the edit of selecting which shots to keep and which to bin (not that I bin many shots unless they’re a technical write-off – that is, motion blurred, out of focus, or framed so I completely miss the subject).
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 428mm
Which is to say, here’s a lot of flying photos of an owl.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
On at least one pass she let out a hoot and I captured her with her mouth open.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 167mm
The light on Eileen was often uneven – she was probably in the shade in many of the shots above – but sometimes she caught the light.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 363mm
Occasionally I was able to get away with slightly wider framing to get more bluebells in the shot.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 238mm
After a while, Eileen was more open to the idea of sitting still for brief moments.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500, 451mm1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Which also led to some dramatic takeoff shots.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Although most of my shots of Eileen in flight are her with spread wings, because that generally looks better, there is also something quite impressive about seeing her wings in a downward position.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500, 400mm
We closed the day with Eileen sitting at the base of a tree, poking her head around. She was, to be fair, a little bemused by the assignment, but eventually we got something workable.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200, 451mm1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 2500, 343mm
We got one last post in a spot of light and one last flyby, and then it was time to go home.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 2000, 472mm1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200, 128mm
This experience suitably scratched my itch for bluebells and wildlife. It is a little frustrating that it took me a little while to warm into it but I do feel out of the photography ‘zone’ at the moment for reasons I can’t quite fathom. It did also feel nice to photograph something other than trains, because although I love doing that, I’ve not been flexing my other photography muscles much recently.
That said, I am pretty pleased with myself that I’ve been able to take the 1,100 photos I took on this day, edit them, select the best (albeit perhaps with not as much selectiveness as I should have) and post them in the space of only a week.
May is going to start out as a bit of a blue month, because my next post will also feature some sizeable patches of bluebells.
As ever, although moreso in this post than most, there are a lot more shots in the gallery below.
#birds #birdsOfPrey #bluebells #nature #Photography #sussex #travel #wildlife

#birds #birdsofprey #bluebells #nature #photography #sussex
Creative Splurges @[email protected] · 2026-05-01 · 18:38 UTC

Birds in the Bluebells

Bluebell season is in full swing right now. Anywhere I go at the moment there are swathes of bluebells, whether that’s in gardens, along the verges of the Brighton Main Line, or – yes – even along the heritage railway named after them. I love the bluebells. There is little I love more than seeing a massive carpet of them in a field or across the floor of a forest.
Kit ListCanon EOS R6 Mk II Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Jump to Gallery
For Christmas my wife bought me an assortment of photography experience days. I’ve already been on one – the photos of which are waiting patiently to be posted – but for my second I discovered that a bird of prey centre near me holds photography workshops of owls amongst bluebells. The idea of beautiful owls – especially any with gloriously contrasting orange eyes – amongst a sea of bluebells was hard to resist. So last week I headed over to the UK Owl and Raptor Centre for a morning of owls and bluebells.
The setup for the day was pretty simple. There were only three of us attending the session, as well as a bird handler or two, and a professional photographer who was on hand to help out with settings and guidance. We saw four birds, each of which did a mixture of flying and posing, depending on their temperament. And, almost as if they knew me, after the session was over they sent details of the birds with their names and species, which means for once I can state confidently what these birds are. Given the nature of what we were shooting, I exclusively used my super telephoto lens. A quick note on that – throughout this post you will see my aperture changing a lot. Sometimes that was a manual choice, but most of the time it’s because this lens doesn’t have a constant aperture – it’s f/4.5 at the widest zoom, and f/7.1 and the maximum zoom.
We started with Kofi, a Verreaux’s eagle owl. With them we started out posing.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 3200, 200mm
The main piece of general advice we were given was to set our shutter speeds pretty high – in Kofi’s case, it was around 1/1600th of a second – in order to ensure that once they flew around, which they were liable to do with little warning, you’d still get a sharp image. This did lead to some reasonably high ISOs, even in daylight (although we were in the mottled light of a wooded area).
Almost on queue we got some flight.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 4000, 186mm
Kofi was keen to fly around, hopping between branches and fallen logs, which meant I ended up with some nice dramatic takeoff and flying shots.
1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 10000, 400mm 1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 200mm1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 254mm1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 159mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2000, 100mm
Eventually he sat still long enough for a shot of him on a log.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 254mm
… but not for long.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 3200, 167mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2500, 123mm
One of the challenges was the mottled light. It looked fantastic, but you had no control over when a bird would land in a patch of light or in shade – or worse, where their head was in shade but their tail was in sun.
1/1600sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
In reality though, Kofi spent most of his time flying between various perches, showing off his impressive wingspan.
1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 5000, 135mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 3200, 135mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2500, 109mm
As you might expect, I found it very difficult to select shots from this bird, who gave so many impressive flybys. Sometimes it was almost a relief to get shots that were out of focus and so easy to cut. There are, admittedly, even more options in the gallery at the end of this post.
Next up was Haze, a barn owl. And, if you look really closely, you might be able to spot her handler.
1/1600sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000, 343mm
To be honest, Haze’s flybys caused me a lot more trouble. Time after time my camera struggled to focus, and really the only decent shots of her flying captured by my camera were taken by the pro photographer as she tried to help me dial in settings and figure out why I was struggling. All sorts of settings were changed to try to get the autofocus to play balls, but to little avail. It was only later on, when we were shooting the last bird of the day, that I think I figured out what I was doing wrong: I was framing too wide, giving the autofocus doubt as to what I was trying to focus on. By being overly cautious to not mess up my framing, I ended up missing the shots entirely. I’m glad I figured it out, but it was a bit annoying it happened so late in the day.
Which is in many ways a long-winded way of saying, expect more shots of this bird posing, rather than flying.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 800, 159mm
The advice we were given when shooting Haze was a faster shutter speed of 1/2000th, because as a smaller owl she moved faster, and to underexpose by at least a full stop to ensure she didn’t blow out as her white plumage moved from shade into the light.
This next shot is one of the few ones I got of her in a proper flight.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000, 135mm
The last time I photographed a barn owl, I found a really good preset that helped bring out the brownish details in their feathers. I didn’t use it much here, because the preset emphasises brown hues whilst dialling back other colours, which robbed the bluebells and green foliage of all their beautiful colour. I did use it once or twice when she landed places where there weren’t too much colour to be lost anyway.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 320, 186mm
I did manage to get a few decent shots of Haze in flight as she took off from spots, including when she took off from the spot above.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250, 128mm
It was still tempting to use the preset, even given it turned the lovely spring leaves into something more autumnal. Definitely one that’s more use in autumn and winter. In this next shot she’d flown off into a more distant tree, requiring me to use all of my zoom range.
1/2000sec, f/7.1, ISO 250, 500mm
I did not end up with that many shots of Haze, on account of my issues focussing on her whilst she flew.
Our third bird was a southern white faced owl called Zazu.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 500mm
Zazu was my favourite of the birds we saw this day. She was titchy, but with light grey feathers and those glorious orange eyes. Being smaller still, the shutter speed went another notch faster, up to 1/3200th.
For a few shots I couldn’t resist using the same preset as before, sacrificing the colour of the bluebells in order to bring out those lovely eyes.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 10000, 400mm
As you can see, whenever she landed in a shady spot, my ISO crept into five figures. Luckily she often landed in less-shady locations.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2000, 428mm
It was very easy to get carried away shooting this bird. How could you not?
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 16000, 500mm
A few times when she landed on the fallen tree next to her trainer, I broke out the brown preset for some deep oranges.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 363mm
Whenever she flew, she looked like a dart.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000, 254mm
Zazu’s colours – various shades of grey with those eyes – matched perfectly with the bluebells and the brown of the logs she would land on.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 2500, 500mm1/4000sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 270mm
As you can see, I decided that 1/3200th wasn’t quite enough, so upped the shutter speed to 1/4000th.
She briefly landed on her trainer’s hand within a reasonable camera range, so I can give you an idea of her diminutive size.
1/4000sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200, 400mm
Zazu was happy to flit between several different spots, giving us some variety in our shots.
1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000, 254mm
Sometimes, he landed in the only little bit of light in an otherwise shady spot.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Although I’ve mostly tried to keep the trainers out of these shots (and to be fair, they did an excellent job of staying out of the way), I couldn’t resist this one as a trainer helped Zazu find a piece of food she was missing.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Soon, though, it was time to say goodbye to little Zazu, who stood in one last little spot of light as her swansong.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 4000, 500mm
Finally it was time for the fourth and final bird, a long eared owl called Eileen.
1/2500sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 500mm
Eileen also had a decent knack of flying about and landing in patches of light.
1/2500sec, f/6.3, ISO 4000, 324mm
Occasionally, quite close.
1/2500sec, f/8, ISO 3200, 363mm
It was only when we got to Eileen that I finally got the hang of shooting the owls in flight. As I said earlier, it just required the courage to frame closer to the bird so that the autofocus knew what I was actually trying to photograph.
1/2500sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
Although I was obviously mostly after shots of Eileen flying low over the bluebells, giving a nice colourful backdrop, sometimes the shots with the large trees in the background worked just as nicely.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 10000, 500mm
Eileen had no trouble flying. In many ways it was harder to keep her still, she had bags of energy and so was happy to constantly fly up and down the bluebell-strewn area of the wood for us to fill our memory cards. Which obviously gave me the problem in the edit of selecting which shots to keep and which to bin (not that I bin many shots unless they’re a technical write-off – that is, motion blurred, out of focus, or framed so I completely miss the subject).
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 428mm
Which is to say, here’s a lot of flying photos of an owl.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
On at least one pass she let out a hoot and I captured her with her mouth open.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 167mm
The light on Eileen was often uneven – she was probably in the shade in many of the shots above – but sometimes she caught the light.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 363mm
Occasionally I was able to get away with slightly wider framing to get more bluebells in the shot.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 238mm
After a while, Eileen was more open to the idea of sitting still for brief moments.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500, 451mm1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Which also led to some dramatic takeoff shots.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Although most of my shots of Eileen in flight are her with spread wings, because that generally looks better, there is also something quite impressive about seeing her wings in a downward position.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500, 400mm
We closed the day with Eileen sitting at the base of a tree, poking her head around. She was, to be fair, a little bemused by the assignment, but eventually we got something workable.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200, 451mm1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 2500, 343mm
We got one last post in a spot of light and one last flyby, and then it was time to go home.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 2000, 472mm1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200, 128mm
This experience suitably scratched my itch for bluebells and wildlife. It is a little frustrating that it took me a little while to warm into it but I do feel out of the photography ‘zone’ at the moment for reasons I can’t quite fathom. It did also feel nice to photograph something other than trains, because although I love doing that, I’ve not been flexing my other photography muscles much recently.
That said, I am pretty pleased with myself that I’ve been able to take the 1,100 photos I took on this day, edit them, select the best (albeit perhaps with not as much selectiveness as I should have) and post them in the space of only a week.
May is going to start out as a bit of a blue month, because my next post will also feature some sizeable patches of bluebells.
As ever, although moreso in this post than most, there are a lot more shots in the gallery below.
#birds #birdsOfPrey #bluebells #nature #Photography #sussex #travel #wildlife

#birds #birdsofprey #bluebells #nature #photography #sussex
Creative Splurges @[email protected] · 2026-05-01 · 18:38 UTC

Birds in the Bluebells

Bluebell season is in full swing right now. Anywhere I go at the moment there are swathes of bluebells, whether that’s in gardens, along the verges of the Brighton Main Line, or – yes – even along the heritage railway named after them. I love the bluebells. There is little I love more than seeing a massive carpet of them in a field or across the floor of a forest.
Kit ListCanon EOS R6 Mk II Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Jump to Gallery
For Christmas my wife bought me an assortment of photography experience days. I’ve already been on one – the photos of which are waiting patiently to be posted – but for my second I discovered that a bird of prey centre near me holds photography workshops of owls amongst bluebells. The idea of beautiful owls – especially any with gloriously contrasting orange eyes – amongst a sea of bluebells was hard to resist. So last week I headed over to the UK Owl and Raptor Centre for a morning of owls and bluebells.
The setup for the day was pretty simple. There were only three of us attending the session, as well as a bird handler or two, and a professional photographer who was on hand to help out with settings and guidance. We saw four birds, each of which did a mixture of flying and posing, depending on their temperament. And, almost as if they knew me, after the session was over they sent details of the birds with their names and species, which means for once I can state confidently what these birds are. Given the nature of what we were shooting, I exclusively used my super telephoto lens. A quick note on that – throughout this post you will see my aperture changing a lot. Sometimes that was a manual choice, but most of the time it’s because this lens doesn’t have a constant aperture – it’s f/4.5 at the widest zoom, and f/7.1 and the maximum zoom.
We started with Kofi, a Verreaux’s eagle owl. With them we started out posing.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 3200, 200mm
The main piece of general advice we were given was to set our shutter speeds pretty high – in Kofi’s case, it was around 1/1600th of a second – in order to ensure that once they flew around, which they were liable to do with little warning, you’d still get a sharp image. This did lead to some reasonably high ISOs, even in daylight (although we were in the mottled light of a wooded area).
Almost on queue we got some flight.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 4000, 186mm
Kofi was keen to fly around, hopping between branches and fallen logs, which meant I ended up with some nice dramatic takeoff and flying shots.
1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 10000, 400mm 1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 200mm1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 254mm1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 159mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2000, 100mm
Eventually he sat still long enough for a shot of him on a log.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 254mm
… but not for long.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 3200, 167mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2500, 123mm
One of the challenges was the mottled light. It looked fantastic, but you had no control over when a bird would land in a patch of light or in shade – or worse, where their head was in shade but their tail was in sun.
1/1600sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
In reality though, Kofi spent most of his time flying between various perches, showing off his impressive wingspan.
1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 5000, 135mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 3200, 135mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2500, 109mm
As you might expect, I found it very difficult to select shots from this bird, who gave so many impressive flybys. Sometimes it was almost a relief to get shots that were out of focus and so easy to cut. There are, admittedly, even more options in the gallery at the end of this post.
Next up was Haze, a barn owl. And, if you look really closely, you might be able to spot her handler.
1/1600sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000, 343mm
To be honest, Haze’s flybys caused me a lot more trouble. Time after time my camera struggled to focus, and really the only decent shots of her flying captured by my camera were taken by the pro photographer as she tried to help me dial in settings and figure out why I was struggling. All sorts of settings were changed to try to get the autofocus to play balls, but to little avail. It was only later on, when we were shooting the last bird of the day, that I think I figured out what I was doing wrong: I was framing too wide, giving the autofocus doubt as to what I was trying to focus on. By being overly cautious to not mess up my framing, I ended up missing the shots entirely. I’m glad I figured it out, but it was a bit annoying it happened so late in the day.
Which is in many ways a long-winded way of saying, expect more shots of this bird posing, rather than flying.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 800, 159mm
The advice we were given when shooting Haze was a faster shutter speed of 1/2000th, because as a smaller owl she moved faster, and to underexpose by at least a full stop to ensure she didn’t blow out as her white plumage moved from shade into the light.
This next shot is one of the few ones I got of her in a proper flight.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000, 135mm
The last time I photographed a barn owl, I found a really good preset that helped bring out the brownish details in their feathers. I didn’t use it much here, because the preset emphasises brown hues whilst dialling back other colours, which robbed the bluebells and green foliage of all their beautiful colour. I did use it once or twice when she landed places where there weren’t too much colour to be lost anyway.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 320, 186mm
I did manage to get a few decent shots of Haze in flight as she took off from spots, including when she took off from the spot above.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250, 128mm
It was still tempting to use the preset, even given it turned the lovely spring leaves into something more autumnal. Definitely one that’s more use in autumn and winter. In this next shot she’d flown off into a more distant tree, requiring me to use all of my zoom range.
1/2000sec, f/7.1, ISO 250, 500mm
I did not end up with that many shots of Haze, on account of my issues focussing on her whilst she flew.
Our third bird was a southern white faced owl called Zazu.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 500mm
Zazu was my favourite of the birds we saw this day. She was titchy, but with light grey feathers and those glorious orange eyes. Being smaller still, the shutter speed went another notch faster, up to 1/3200th.
For a few shots I couldn’t resist using the same preset as before, sacrificing the colour of the bluebells in order to bring out those lovely eyes.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 10000, 400mm
As you can see, whenever she landed in a shady spot, my ISO crept into five figures. Luckily she often landed in less-shady locations.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2000, 428mm
It was very easy to get carried away shooting this bird. How could you not?
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 16000, 500mm
A few times when she landed on the fallen tree next to her trainer, I broke out the brown preset for some deep oranges.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 363mm
Whenever she flew, she looked like a dart.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000, 254mm
Zazu’s colours – various shades of grey with those eyes – matched perfectly with the bluebells and the brown of the logs she would land on.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 2500, 500mm1/4000sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 270mm
As you can see, I decided that 1/3200th wasn’t quite enough, so upped the shutter speed to 1/4000th.
She briefly landed on her trainer’s hand within a reasonable camera range, so I can give you an idea of her diminutive size.
1/4000sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200, 400mm
Zazu was happy to flit between several different spots, giving us some variety in our shots.
1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000, 254mm
Sometimes, he landed in the only little bit of light in an otherwise shady spot.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Although I’ve mostly tried to keep the trainers out of these shots (and to be fair, they did an excellent job of staying out of the way), I couldn’t resist this one as a trainer helped Zazu find a piece of food she was missing.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Soon, though, it was time to say goodbye to little Zazu, who stood in one last little spot of light as her swansong.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 4000, 500mm
Finally it was time for the fourth and final bird, a long eared owl called Eileen.
1/2500sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 500mm
Eileen also had a decent knack of flying about and landing in patches of light.
1/2500sec, f/6.3, ISO 4000, 324mm
Occasionally, quite close.
1/2500sec, f/8, ISO 3200, 363mm
It was only when we got to Eileen that I finally got the hang of shooting the owls in flight. As I said earlier, it just required the courage to frame closer to the bird so that the autofocus knew what I was actually trying to photograph.
1/2500sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
Although I was obviously mostly after shots of Eileen flying low over the bluebells, giving a nice colourful backdrop, sometimes the shots with the large trees in the background worked just as nicely.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 10000, 500mm
Eileen had no trouble flying. In many ways it was harder to keep her still, she had bags of energy and so was happy to constantly fly up and down the bluebell-strewn area of the wood for us to fill our memory cards. Which obviously gave me the problem in the edit of selecting which shots to keep and which to bin (not that I bin many shots unless they’re a technical write-off – that is, motion blurred, out of focus, or framed so I completely miss the subject).
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 428mm
Which is to say, here’s a lot of flying photos of an owl.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
On at least one pass she let out a hoot and I captured her with her mouth open.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 167mm
The light on Eileen was often uneven – she was probably in the shade in many of the shots above – but sometimes she caught the light.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 363mm
Occasionally I was able to get away with slightly wider framing to get more bluebells in the shot.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 238mm
After a while, Eileen was more open to the idea of sitting still for brief moments.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500, 451mm1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Which also led to some dramatic takeoff shots.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Although most of my shots of Eileen in flight are her with spread wings, because that generally looks better, there is also something quite impressive about seeing her wings in a downward position.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500, 400mm
We closed the day with Eileen sitting at the base of a tree, poking her head around. She was, to be fair, a little bemused by the assignment, but eventually we got something workable.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200, 451mm1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 2500, 343mm
We got one last post in a spot of light and one last flyby, and then it was time to go home.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 2000, 472mm1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200, 128mm
This experience suitably scratched my itch for bluebells and wildlife. It is a little frustrating that it took me a little while to warm into it but I do feel out of the photography ‘zone’ at the moment for reasons I can’t quite fathom. It did also feel nice to photograph something other than trains, because although I love doing that, I’ve not been flexing my other photography muscles much recently.
That said, I am pretty pleased with myself that I’ve been able to take the 1,100 photos I took on this day, edit them, select the best (albeit perhaps with not as much selectiveness as I should have) and post them in the space of only a week.
May is going to start out as a bit of a blue month, because my next post will also feature some sizeable patches of bluebells.
As ever, although moreso in this post than most, there are a lot more shots in the gallery below.
#birds #birdsOfPrey #bluebells #nature #Photography #sussex #travel #wildlife

#birds #birdsofprey #bluebells #nature #photography #sussex
Creative Splurges @[email protected] · 2026-05-01 · 18:38 UTC

Birds in the Bluebells

Bluebell season is in full swing right now. Anywhere I go at the moment there are swathes of bluebells, whether that’s in gardens, along the verges of the Brighton Main Line, or – yes – even along the heritage railway named after them. I love the bluebells. There is little I love more than seeing a massive carpet of them in a field or across the floor of a forest.
Kit ListCanon EOS R6 Mk II Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Jump to Gallery
For Christmas my wife bought me an assortment of photography experience days. I’ve already been on one – the photos of which are waiting patiently to be posted – but for my second I discovered that a bird of prey centre near me holds photography workshops of owls amongst bluebells. The idea of beautiful owls – especially any with gloriously contrasting orange eyes – amongst a sea of bluebells was hard to resist. So last week I headed over to the UK Owl and Raptor Centre for a morning of owls and bluebells.
The setup for the day was pretty simple. There were only three of us attending the session, as well as a bird handler or two, and a professional photographer who was on hand to help out with settings and guidance. We saw four birds, each of which did a mixture of flying and posing, depending on their temperament. And, almost as if they knew me, after the session was over they sent details of the birds with their names and species, which means for once I can state confidently what these birds are. Given the nature of what we were shooting, I exclusively used my super telephoto lens. A quick note on that – throughout this post you will see my aperture changing a lot. Sometimes that was a manual choice, but most of the time it’s because this lens doesn’t have a constant aperture – it’s f/4.5 at the widest zoom, and f/7.1 and the maximum zoom.
We started with Kofi, a Verreaux’s eagle owl. With them we started out posing.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 3200, 200mm
The main piece of general advice we were given was to set our shutter speeds pretty high – in Kofi’s case, it was around 1/1600th of a second – in order to ensure that once they flew around, which they were liable to do with little warning, you’d still get a sharp image. This did lead to some reasonably high ISOs, even in daylight (although we were in the mottled light of a wooded area).
Almost on queue we got some flight.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 4000, 186mm
Kofi was keen to fly around, hopping between branches and fallen logs, which meant I ended up with some nice dramatic takeoff and flying shots.
1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 10000, 400mm 1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 200mm1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 254mm1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 159mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2000, 100mm
Eventually he sat still long enough for a shot of him on a log.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 254mm
… but not for long.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 3200, 167mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2500, 123mm
One of the challenges was the mottled light. It looked fantastic, but you had no control over when a bird would land in a patch of light or in shade – or worse, where their head was in shade but their tail was in sun.
1/1600sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
In reality though, Kofi spent most of his time flying between various perches, showing off his impressive wingspan.
1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 5000, 135mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 3200, 135mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2500, 109mm
As you might expect, I found it very difficult to select shots from this bird, who gave so many impressive flybys. Sometimes it was almost a relief to get shots that were out of focus and so easy to cut. There are, admittedly, even more options in the gallery at the end of this post.
Next up was Haze, a barn owl. And, if you look really closely, you might be able to spot her handler.
1/1600sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000, 343mm
To be honest, Haze’s flybys caused me a lot more trouble. Time after time my camera struggled to focus, and really the only decent shots of her flying captured by my camera were taken by the pro photographer as she tried to help me dial in settings and figure out why I was struggling. All sorts of settings were changed to try to get the autofocus to play balls, but to little avail. It was only later on, when we were shooting the last bird of the day, that I think I figured out what I was doing wrong: I was framing too wide, giving the autofocus doubt as to what I was trying to focus on. By being overly cautious to not mess up my framing, I ended up missing the shots entirely. I’m glad I figured it out, but it was a bit annoying it happened so late in the day.
Which is in many ways a long-winded way of saying, expect more shots of this bird posing, rather than flying.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 800, 159mm
The advice we were given when shooting Haze was a faster shutter speed of 1/2000th, because as a smaller owl she moved faster, and to underexpose by at least a full stop to ensure she didn’t blow out as her white plumage moved from shade into the light.
This next shot is one of the few ones I got of her in a proper flight.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000, 135mm
The last time I photographed a barn owl, I found a really good preset that helped bring out the brownish details in their feathers. I didn’t use it much here, because the preset emphasises brown hues whilst dialling back other colours, which robbed the bluebells and green foliage of all their beautiful colour. I did use it once or twice when she landed places where there weren’t too much colour to be lost anyway.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 320, 186mm
I did manage to get a few decent shots of Haze in flight as she took off from spots, including when she took off from the spot above.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250, 128mm
It was still tempting to use the preset, even given it turned the lovely spring leaves into something more autumnal. Definitely one that’s more use in autumn and winter. In this next shot she’d flown off into a more distant tree, requiring me to use all of my zoom range.
1/2000sec, f/7.1, ISO 250, 500mm
I did not end up with that many shots of Haze, on account of my issues focussing on her whilst she flew.
Our third bird was a southern white faced owl called Zazu.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 500mm
Zazu was my favourite of the birds we saw this day. She was titchy, but with light grey feathers and those glorious orange eyes. Being smaller still, the shutter speed went another notch faster, up to 1/3200th.
For a few shots I couldn’t resist using the same preset as before, sacrificing the colour of the bluebells in order to bring out those lovely eyes.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 10000, 400mm
As you can see, whenever she landed in a shady spot, my ISO crept into five figures. Luckily she often landed in less-shady locations.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2000, 428mm
It was very easy to get carried away shooting this bird. How could you not?
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 16000, 500mm
A few times when she landed on the fallen tree next to her trainer, I broke out the brown preset for some deep oranges.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 363mm
Whenever she flew, she looked like a dart.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000, 254mm
Zazu’s colours – various shades of grey with those eyes – matched perfectly with the bluebells and the brown of the logs she would land on.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 2500, 500mm1/4000sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 270mm
As you can see, I decided that 1/3200th wasn’t quite enough, so upped the shutter speed to 1/4000th.
She briefly landed on her trainer’s hand within a reasonable camera range, so I can give you an idea of her diminutive size.
1/4000sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200, 400mm
Zazu was happy to flit between several different spots, giving us some variety in our shots.
1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000, 254mm
Sometimes, he landed in the only little bit of light in an otherwise shady spot.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Although I’ve mostly tried to keep the trainers out of these shots (and to be fair, they did an excellent job of staying out of the way), I couldn’t resist this one as a trainer helped Zazu find a piece of food she was missing.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Soon, though, it was time to say goodbye to little Zazu, who stood in one last little spot of light as her swansong.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 4000, 500mm
Finally it was time for the fourth and final bird, a long eared owl called Eileen.
1/2500sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 500mm
Eileen also had a decent knack of flying about and landing in patches of light.
1/2500sec, f/6.3, ISO 4000, 324mm
Occasionally, quite close.
1/2500sec, f/8, ISO 3200, 363mm
It was only when we got to Eileen that I finally got the hang of shooting the owls in flight. As I said earlier, it just required the courage to frame closer to the bird so that the autofocus knew what I was actually trying to photograph.
1/2500sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
Although I was obviously mostly after shots of Eileen flying low over the bluebells, giving a nice colourful backdrop, sometimes the shots with the large trees in the background worked just as nicely.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 10000, 500mm
Eileen had no trouble flying. In many ways it was harder to keep her still, she had bags of energy and so was happy to constantly fly up and down the bluebell-strewn area of the wood for us to fill our memory cards. Which obviously gave me the problem in the edit of selecting which shots to keep and which to bin (not that I bin many shots unless they’re a technical write-off – that is, motion blurred, out of focus, or framed so I completely miss the subject).
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 428mm
Which is to say, here’s a lot of flying photos of an owl.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
On at least one pass she let out a hoot and I captured her with her mouth open.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 167mm
The light on Eileen was often uneven – she was probably in the shade in many of the shots above – but sometimes she caught the light.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 363mm
Occasionally I was able to get away with slightly wider framing to get more bluebells in the shot.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 238mm
After a while, Eileen was more open to the idea of sitting still for brief moments.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500, 451mm1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Which also led to some dramatic takeoff shots.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Although most of my shots of Eileen in flight are her with spread wings, because that generally looks better, there is also something quite impressive about seeing her wings in a downward position.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500, 400mm
We closed the day with Eileen sitting at the base of a tree, poking her head around. She was, to be fair, a little bemused by the assignment, but eventually we got something workable.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200, 451mm1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 2500, 343mm
We got one last post in a spot of light and one last flyby, and then it was time to go home.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 2000, 472mm1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200, 128mm
This experience suitably scratched my itch for bluebells and wildlife. It is a little frustrating that it took me a little while to warm into it but I do feel out of the photography ‘zone’ at the moment for reasons I can’t quite fathom. It did also feel nice to photograph something other than trains, because although I love doing that, I’ve not been flexing my other photography muscles much recently.
That said, I am pretty pleased with myself that I’ve been able to take the 1,100 photos I took on this day, edit them, select the best (albeit perhaps with not as much selectiveness as I should have) and post them in the space of only a week.
May is going to start out as a bit of a blue month, because my next post will also feature some sizeable patches of bluebells.
As ever, although moreso in this post than most, there are a lot more shots in the gallery below.
#birds #birdsOfPrey #bluebells #nature #Photography #sussex #travel #wildlife

#wildlife #travel #sussex #photography #nature #bluebells
Creative Splurges @[email protected] · 2026-05-01 · 18:38 UTC

Birds in the Bluebells

Bluebell season is in full swing right now. Anywhere I go at the moment there are swathes of bluebells, whether that’s in gardens, along the verges of the Brighton Main Line, or – yes – even along the heritage railway named after them. I love the bluebells. There is little I love more than seeing a massive carpet of them in a field or across the floor of a forest.
Kit ListCanon EOS R6 Mk II Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Jump to Gallery
For Christmas my wife bought me an assortment of photography experience days. I’ve already been on one – the photos of which are waiting patiently to be posted – but for my second I discovered that a bird of prey centre near me holds photography workshops of owls amongst bluebells. The idea of beautiful owls – especially any with gloriously contrasting orange eyes – amongst a sea of bluebells was hard to resist. So last week I headed over to the UK Owl and Raptor Centre for a morning of owls and bluebells.
The setup for the day was pretty simple. There were only three of us attending the session, as well as a bird handler or two, and a professional photographer who was on hand to help out with settings and guidance. We saw four birds, each of which did a mixture of flying and posing, depending on their temperament. And, almost as if they knew me, after the session was over they sent details of the birds with their names and species, which means for once I can state confidently what these birds are. Given the nature of what we were shooting, I exclusively used my super telephoto lens. A quick note on that – throughout this post you will see my aperture changing a lot. Sometimes that was a manual choice, but most of the time it’s because this lens doesn’t have a constant aperture – it’s f/4.5 at the widest zoom, and f/7.1 and the maximum zoom.
We started with Kofi, a Verreaux’s eagle owl. With them we started out posing.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 3200, 200mm
The main piece of general advice we were given was to set our shutter speeds pretty high – in Kofi’s case, it was around 1/1600th of a second – in order to ensure that once they flew around, which they were liable to do with little warning, you’d still get a sharp image. This did lead to some reasonably high ISOs, even in daylight (although we were in the mottled light of a wooded area).
Almost on queue we got some flight.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 4000, 186mm
Kofi was keen to fly around, hopping between branches and fallen logs, which meant I ended up with some nice dramatic takeoff and flying shots.
1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 10000, 400mm 1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 200mm1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 254mm1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 159mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2000, 100mm
Eventually he sat still long enough for a shot of him on a log.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 2500, 254mm
… but not for long.
1/1600sec, f/5, ISO 3200, 167mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2500, 123mm
One of the challenges was the mottled light. It looked fantastic, but you had no control over when a bird would land in a patch of light or in shade – or worse, where their head was in shade but their tail was in sun.
1/1600sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
In reality though, Kofi spent most of his time flying between various perches, showing off his impressive wingspan.
1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 5000, 135mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 3200, 135mm1/1600sec, f/4.5, ISO 2500, 109mm
As you might expect, I found it very difficult to select shots from this bird, who gave so many impressive flybys. Sometimes it was almost a relief to get shots that were out of focus and so easy to cut. There are, admittedly, even more options in the gallery at the end of this post.
Next up was Haze, a barn owl. And, if you look really closely, you might be able to spot her handler.
1/1600sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000, 343mm
To be honest, Haze’s flybys caused me a lot more trouble. Time after time my camera struggled to focus, and really the only decent shots of her flying captured by my camera were taken by the pro photographer as she tried to help me dial in settings and figure out why I was struggling. All sorts of settings were changed to try to get the autofocus to play balls, but to little avail. It was only later on, when we were shooting the last bird of the day, that I think I figured out what I was doing wrong: I was framing too wide, giving the autofocus doubt as to what I was trying to focus on. By being overly cautious to not mess up my framing, I ended up missing the shots entirely. I’m glad I figured it out, but it was a bit annoying it happened so late in the day.
Which is in many ways a long-winded way of saying, expect more shots of this bird posing, rather than flying.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 800, 159mm
The advice we were given when shooting Haze was a faster shutter speed of 1/2000th, because as a smaller owl she moved faster, and to underexpose by at least a full stop to ensure she didn’t blow out as her white plumage moved from shade into the light.
This next shot is one of the few ones I got of her in a proper flight.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 1000, 135mm
The last time I photographed a barn owl, I found a really good preset that helped bring out the brownish details in their feathers. I didn’t use it much here, because the preset emphasises brown hues whilst dialling back other colours, which robbed the bluebells and green foliage of all their beautiful colour. I did use it once or twice when she landed places where there weren’t too much colour to be lost anyway.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 320, 186mm
I did manage to get a few decent shots of Haze in flight as she took off from spots, including when she took off from the spot above.
1/2000sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250, 128mm
It was still tempting to use the preset, even given it turned the lovely spring leaves into something more autumnal. Definitely one that’s more use in autumn and winter. In this next shot she’d flown off into a more distant tree, requiring me to use all of my zoom range.
1/2000sec, f/7.1, ISO 250, 500mm
I did not end up with that many shots of Haze, on account of my issues focussing on her whilst she flew.
Our third bird was a southern white faced owl called Zazu.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 500mm
Zazu was my favourite of the birds we saw this day. She was titchy, but with light grey feathers and those glorious orange eyes. Being smaller still, the shutter speed went another notch faster, up to 1/3200th.
For a few shots I couldn’t resist using the same preset as before, sacrificing the colour of the bluebells in order to bring out those lovely eyes.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 10000, 400mm
As you can see, whenever she landed in a shady spot, my ISO crept into five figures. Luckily she often landed in less-shady locations.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2000, 428mm
It was very easy to get carried away shooting this bird. How could you not?
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 16000, 500mm
A few times when she landed on the fallen tree next to her trainer, I broke out the brown preset for some deep oranges.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 363mm
Whenever she flew, she looked like a dart.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000, 254mm
Zazu’s colours – various shades of grey with those eyes – matched perfectly with the bluebells and the brown of the logs she would land on.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 2500, 500mm1/4000sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400, 270mm
As you can see, I decided that 1/3200th wasn’t quite enough, so upped the shutter speed to 1/4000th.
She briefly landed on her trainer’s hand within a reasonable camera range, so I can give you an idea of her diminutive size.
1/4000sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200, 400mm
Zazu was happy to flit between several different spots, giving us some variety in our shots.
1/1600sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000, 254mm
Sometimes, he landed in the only little bit of light in an otherwise shady spot.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Although I’ve mostly tried to keep the trainers out of these shots (and to be fair, they did an excellent job of staying out of the way), I couldn’t resist this one as a trainer helped Zazu find a piece of food she was missing.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Soon, though, it was time to say goodbye to little Zazu, who stood in one last little spot of light as her swansong.
1/4000sec, f/7.1, ISO 4000, 500mm
Finally it was time for the fourth and final bird, a long eared owl called Eileen.
1/2500sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 500mm
Eileen also had a decent knack of flying about and landing in patches of light.
1/2500sec, f/6.3, ISO 4000, 324mm
Occasionally, quite close.
1/2500sec, f/8, ISO 3200, 363mm
It was only when we got to Eileen that I finally got the hang of shooting the owls in flight. As I said earlier, it just required the courage to frame closer to the bird so that the autofocus knew what I was actually trying to photograph.
1/2500sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
Although I was obviously mostly after shots of Eileen flying low over the bluebells, giving a nice colourful backdrop, sometimes the shots with the large trees in the background worked just as nicely.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 10000, 500mm
Eileen had no trouble flying. In many ways it was harder to keep her still, she had bags of energy and so was happy to constantly fly up and down the bluebell-strewn area of the wood for us to fill our memory cards. Which obviously gave me the problem in the edit of selecting which shots to keep and which to bin (not that I bin many shots unless they’re a technical write-off – that is, motion blurred, out of focus, or framed so I completely miss the subject).
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 8000, 428mm
Which is to say, here’s a lot of flying photos of an owl.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 300mm
On at least one pass she let out a hoot and I captured her with her mouth open.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 167mm
The light on Eileen was often uneven – she was probably in the shade in many of the shots above – but sometimes she caught the light.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 5000, 363mm
Occasionally I was able to get away with slightly wider framing to get more bluebells in the shot.
1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000, 238mm
After a while, Eileen was more open to the idea of sitting still for brief moments.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500, 451mm1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Which also led to some dramatic takeoff shots.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 3200, 500mm
Although most of my shots of Eileen in flight are her with spread wings, because that generally looks better, there is also something quite impressive about seeing her wings in a downward position.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500, 400mm
We closed the day with Eileen sitting at the base of a tree, poking her head around. She was, to be fair, a little bemused by the assignment, but eventually we got something workable.
1/3200sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200, 451mm1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 2500, 343mm
We got one last post in a spot of light and one last flyby, and then it was time to go home.
1/3200sec, f/7.1, ISO 2000, 472mm1/3200sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200, 128mm
This experience suitably scratched my itch for bluebells and wildlife. It is a little frustrating that it took me a little while to warm into it but I do feel out of the photography ‘zone’ at the moment for reasons I can’t quite fathom. It did also feel nice to photograph something other than trains, because although I love doing that, I’ve not been flexing my other photography muscles much recently.
That said, I am pretty pleased with myself that I’ve been able to take the 1,100 photos I took on this day, edit them, select the best (albeit perhaps with not as much selectiveness as I should have) and post them in the space of only a week.
May is going to start out as a bit of a blue month, because my next post will also feature some sizeable patches of bluebells.
As ever, although moreso in this post than most, there are a lot more shots in the gallery below.
#birds #birdsOfPrey #bluebells #nature #Photography #sussex #travel #wildlife

#birds #birdsofprey #bluebells #nature #photography #sussex
Spooky Panda 🏳️‍🌈 @[email protected] · 2025-03-11 · 18:04 UTC

#WordWeavers 3.11 — What’s your most useful skill that could help you in your story’s world?
Minding my own business! I'd be able to survive just by doing that. To be fair, it's a dog eat dog galaxy. You have to do what you can to remain amongst the living. I'd probably be a tarot reader on the street, catching coin / credits whenever I can. I'm a medium, so it fits. You need to get in contact with your lost loved ones? Come talk to me, for a price.
Me: *sees something shady happening*
Me: *minds my own business and leaves*
Me: I didn't see a thing, officer. Sorry.
#WritingCommunity #StarWars #ShadowsOfDesire #DarkRomance #Romance #ScienceFiction #Worldbuilding #AmWriting

#wordweavers #writingcommunity #starwars #shadowsofdesire #darkromance #romance
Spooky Panda 🏳️‍🌈 @[email protected] · 2025-03-11 · 18:04 UTC

#WordWeavers 3.11 — What’s your most useful skill that could help you in your story’s world?
Minding my own business! I'd be able to survive just by doing that. To be fair, it's a dog eat dog galaxy. You have to do what you can to remain amongst the living. I'd probably be a tarot reader on the street, catching coin / credits whenever I can. I'm a medium, so it fits. You need to get in contact with your lost loved ones? Come talk to me, for a price.
Me: *sees something shady happening*
Me: *minds my own business and leaves*
Me: I didn't see a thing, officer. Sorry.
#WritingCommunity #StarWars #ShadowsOfDesire #DarkRomance #Romance #ScienceFiction #Worldbuilding #AmWriting

#wordweavers #writingcommunity #starwars #shadowsofdesire #darkromance #romance
Spooky Panda 🏳️‍🌈 @[email protected] · 2025-03-11 · 18:04 UTC

#WordWeavers 3.11 — What’s your most useful skill that could help you in your story’s world?
Minding my own business! I'd be able to survive just by doing that. To be fair, it's a dog eat dog galaxy. You have to do what you can to remain amongst the living. I'd probably be a tarot reader on the street, catching coin / credits whenever I can. I'm a medium, so it fits. You need to get in contact with your lost loved ones? Come talk to me, for a price.
Me: *sees something shady happening*
Me: *minds my own business and leaves*
Me: I didn't see a thing, officer. Sorry.
#WritingCommunity #StarWars #ShadowsOfDesire #DarkRomance #Romance #ScienceFiction #Worldbuilding #AmWriting

#wordweavers #writingcommunity #starwars #shadowsofdesire #darkromance #romance
Spooky Panda 🏳️‍🌈 @[email protected] · 2025-03-11 · 18:04 UTC

#WordWeavers 3.11 — What’s your most useful skill that could help you in your story’s world?
Minding my own business! I'd be able to survive just by doing that. To be fair, it's a dog eat dog galaxy. You have to do what you can to remain amongst the living. I'd probably be a tarot reader on the street, catching coin / credits whenever I can. I'm a medium, so it fits. You need to get in contact with your lost loved ones? Come talk to me, for a price.
Me: *sees something shady happening*
Me: *minds my own business and leaves*
Me: I didn't see a thing, officer. Sorry.
#WritingCommunity #StarWars #ShadowsOfDesire #DarkRomance #Romance #ScienceFiction #Worldbuilding #AmWriting

#amwriting #worldbuilding #sciencefiction #romance #darkromance #shadowsofdesire
Spooky Panda 🏳️‍🌈 @[email protected] · 2025-03-11 · 18:04 UTC

#WordWeavers 3.11 — What’s your most useful skill that could help you in your story’s world?
Minding my own business! I'd be able to survive just by doing that. To be fair, it's a dog eat dog galaxy. You have to do what you can to remain amongst the living. I'd probably be a tarot reader on the street, catching coin / credits whenever I can. I'm a medium, so it fits. You need to get in contact with your lost loved ones? Come talk to me, for a price.
Me: *sees something shady happening*
Me: *minds my own business and leaves*
Me: I didn't see a thing, officer. Sorry.
#WritingCommunity #StarWars #ShadowsOfDesire #DarkRomance #Romance #ScienceFiction #Worldbuilding #AmWriting

#wordweavers #writingcommunity #starwars #shadowsofdesire #darkromance #romance
Dark By Design @[email protected] · 2026-05-10 · 06:23 UTC

The Strange History of Mourning Jewelry
Ordinary objects. Disturbing origins. Jewelry is usually associated with beauty. Luxury. Romance. Celebration. But during the Victorian era, some jewelry carried something far more personal. Human hair from the dead. Locks of hair were woven into rings, necklaces, bracelets, and brooches as a way to remember lost loved ones. And for many people at the time, it wasn’t considered strange. It was considered comforting. Grief Worn in Public During the 19th century, mourning rituals […]
https://darkbydesign7.wordpress.com/2026/05/10/the-strange-history-of-mourning-jewelry/

#victorian #mourning #disturbing #death #darkhistory
Sean @[email protected] · 2022-11-12 · 04:01 UTC

@sarahfoil I’m hoping to make up for lost time over the next 9 days while I’m at #20BooksVegas … we’ll see how that plan works out. I only managed 530 words today due to work.

#20booksvegas
Sean @[email protected] · 2022-11-12 · 04:01 UTC

@sarahfoil I’m hoping to make up for lost time over the next 9 days while I’m at #20BooksVegas … we’ll see how that plan works out. I only managed 530 words today due to work.

#20booksvegas
Sean @[email protected] · 2022-11-12 · 04:01 UTC

@sarahfoil I’m hoping to make up for lost time over the next 9 days while I’m at #20BooksVegas … we’ll see how that plan works out. I only managed 530 words today due to work.

#20booksvegas
Sean @[email protected] · 2022-11-12 · 04:01 UTC

@sarahfoil I’m hoping to make up for lost time over the next 9 days while I’m at #20BooksVegas … we’ll see how that plan works out. I only managed 530 words today due to work.

#20booksvegas
Randolph Karter @[email protected] · 2026-05-11 · 13:48 UTC

il était sympa ce "the lost boys". j'étais passé à coté.
#vampires #horrormovie #80s #serieb

#vampires #horrormovie #80s #serieb
Randolph Karter @[email protected] · 2026-05-11 · 13:48 UTC

il était sympa ce "the lost boys". j'étais passé à coté.
#vampires #horrormovie #80s #serieb

#serieb #80s #horrormovie #vampires
Coleman Laing @[email protected] · 2026-05-07 · 09:12 UTC

https://www.tnaflix.com/hd-videos/Cale%27s-lost-Growth-Giantess-Paech-video/video4258181
A GTS growth video with an actual height tracker, not many videos like this.
Perhaps future video makers will make GTS growth videos with a height trackers, show their eye for detail.
Do you think everything in this video is size accurate to Peach?
#Giantess #Growth #PrincessPeach #SuperMario #NSFW

#giantess #growth #princesspeach #supermario #nsfw