Here's the hero after slaying the evil tree.

Okay, I must have missed something - why was the tree evil? lol

Quite a few of Dengie Marsh at the moment as I've been there twice in a week, this is a farm entrance. It is quite different from anywhere else in the country though so worthy of the coverage.

I think ertrum is being ironic here . It doesn't take courage to chop down a helpless tree, and and is not a clever, brave thing to do.

"Look mum, just one leg".....one of the two plumages of variable oystercatcher at the Smithfield rock pools trying a balancing act.

Mostly I was struck by the similarity of his pose to that of many heroic portraits - leaning on the chainsaw and all.

And the tree wasn't evil, but did need to be removed

Just some flowers beside the river when I was walking there the other day.

Howie: your bird photos are wonderful. May I ask what camera you use? And how close were you to the actual birds?

June being over here, I am putting up the July thread. However the June one will be open a few hours yet for time laggers. Thanks so muchfor the wonderful picturesyou contributed this month.

Only a lower range camera - a Canon PowerShot SX130IS. I was not particularly close to the birds though cannot remember how far away. I had to use the full zoom so was surprised about how well that worked.

Howie: thanks for the info! : )