When is spring? We have a friendly debate in our house about when spring begins. Meteorological spring begins in September in the Southern hemisphere but my birthday is in August and I refuse to have a winter birthday. To suit my purposes I go with biological signs as my marker for spring. As a child the blooming prunus trees were a sign that my birthday was imminent. Once the trees burst into bloom and the paddocks are full of spring lambs and calves how can it possibly still be winter?

One thing that seems clear is that the trees are blooming earlier and earlier. The Taiwan cherries on my drive to work were erupting already in July so I will need to be careful with my definition as July is definitely still winter!

Judging by the florid blooms this past week “we are well into spring” and it was good to get out photographing Tūī in the cherry trees. It is a a messy environment full of branches making decent backgrounds hard to find. The birds are in constant movement so opportunities are everywhere and with some planning, patience and luck usable opportunities can happen.

The brief flush of flowers is a good reminder to grab the opportunities that arise while they are there. As birthdays accumulate it is hard not to wonder how many are left leaving a sense of urgency to grab every moment. It was a delight to go out with the family on my birthday to see the flowers and birds and spend some time photographing with Edin.

Photos with Nikon Z8 and Nikkor Z 400mm f4.5 VR S with 1.4x teleconverter. This is a lovely, light and sharp rig that reminds me of using my Nikon D500 with 300mm f4PF.