Hello from Ilford.

Hi to all. I'm Mike, from East London. A retired full time wedding photographer and videographer. A life long bird watcher. I regularly drive up to Scotland, where my daughter currently lives.

Welcome to the forum Mike, look forward to your input.:)

Hi, Mike! A warm welcome from me too!:)

Look forward to your bird photos/videos - but just don't make them TOO good as it will show up amateurs like me too much!;)

(Nice to have someone else on board with a Scottish connection too, having just moved down here from Ayr in 2007.:))

Thanks for the welcomes. LOL. Please don't expect too much though. It is a whole lot easier to photograph brides, than birds, anytime. My daughter deeply coveted my D200, and used to run off with it, whenever we went out for a drive. That is, until she 'out Nikoned' me, by recently buying a D300.
And Catherine. Why would anyone possibly want to leave Scotland, to live south of the border?

ER....Did I offend somebody, or write something inappropriate? I see that my 2nd post in this thread, never saw the light of day

Don't know the answer to your last post, Mike, but I'm sure you never offended anyone here. Maybe Rolf will be able to answer that one!

Re. the question on the post before - well, as it seems to be to you, family is important to us, and son (Mike!), daughter-in-law and two lovely grandchildren are 'down here'! We're now on the edge of The New Forest, so it's not such a bad swap!:) (Anyway, we had stayed more than 60 years in Scotland - and we didn't want to be too selfish!;))

No. It's OK. I feel rather foolish now, as my post appeared overnight. We know and love the New forest very well, as my parents moved down to Verwood, just beyond, several years ago.
My daughter now lives in Scotland simply because my ex wife, who lived in Callander, passed away, 2 years ago, and our 2 children inherited her house. It was a bit of an impulse, her moving up there, beautiful as it is. But there is no work up there, so she may have to move to Lincolnshire with us, when we eventually go.

Incidently, I saw my very first Dartford Warblers, in the New forest

Reference the post which didn't appear Mike, to protect the forum from spammers, there are certain keywords which will place posts in a moderation queue, a message will have flashed up after you posted it, but many members miss it.

Unfortunately, if you post when there are no mods or admin online, then it won't get approved until we are back. Last time I turned this function off, we were flooded with link infested posts the following morning.

I understand. Just couldn't think what i had done.

Welcome Mike, I hope that you enjoy your time here - sorry for the delay, but I've been' Absent With Out Leave'.. so I expect to get my wrist slapped by everyone :)
Full Time Wedding photographer? Scary! I love shooting people though - just did a shoot in my spare room of a 9mnth old. It was cramped :)

Thankyou Louise, and Hi. I haven't been in for a while, as I've been up in Scotland, visiting my daughter.

:-hide Sorry for being so late but nevertheless: Welcome to the forum, Mike!:)

being so late but nevertheless: Welcome to the f