The Raph Round-up: April 2026

I love April in Denmark. The spring ephemerals give way to trees, with fresh leaves giving the landscape a vibrancy. It was a great month for photography, and it took me quite a while to cull and process all the photos taken this month.

Spring wildlife 1 (deer)

I also recently acquired a 600mm lens (the Nikon 600mm f/6.3 PF). I’ve always loved wildlife photography, so it’s great to have some glass that can use for it. It’s also quite light for its focal length, at only 1.5 kg! I went to the local deer park to try it out:

Deer 1
© 2026.

Deer kiss.
© 2026.

The rare three-headed deer.
© 2026.

Deer 2
© 2026.

Western roe deer.
© 2026.

Herd.
© 2026.

Spring wildlife 2 (birds)

With the trees waking – and insect numbers increasing, bird activity also rises in April:

Goldcrest (regulus regulus)
© 2026.

Great spotted woodpecker peeking.
© 2026.

Common chaffinch.
© 2026.

Eurasian treecreeper.
© 2026.

Great spotted woodpecker.
© 2026.

Eurasian jackdaw.
© 2026.

Eurasian blue tit.
© 2026.

Fresh spring leaves

For about a week or two, there is a real vibrancy to fresh tree leaves. Most people rave about autumn leaves, but I really love spring leaves – especially when backlit by the sun.

Leaves out, dogs out.
© 2026.

Silhouette.
© 2026.

Vibrant spring leaves 1.
© 2026.

Vibrant spring leaves 2.
© 2026.

Vibrant birch.
© 2026.

Vibrant park.
© 2026.

Three gnarly trees.
© 2026.

Fresh leaves.
© 2026.

Local architecture

With longer and brighter evenings, I’ve also enjoyed getting out and taking photos of the local architecture.

Siloen, Islandsbrygge.
© 2026.

Siloen, from the inside 1.
© 2026.

Siloen, from the inside 2.
© 2026.

Sunset cacti 1.
© 2026.

Sunset cacti 2.
© 2026.

Sunset cacti 3.
© 2026.

Sunset cacti 4.
© 2026.

Sunset cacti 5.
© 2026.

Eyes.
© 2026.

Photo of the month

In the local park. I love the vibrancy of the fresh birch leaves, and the geometry of the brick walls.

Fresh birch leaves.
© 2026.

Interesting things I’ve read/watched

Absolutely excellent resource about ‘AI’: Modern-day Oracles or Bullshit machines? Can’t recommend this enough.

Couple of great posts by Cory: (1) & (2).

Great article about nitrogen, and how biology figured out how to get it from the air. Also an excellent journal article about nitrogen.

Right to repair is important

Video about AI slop. Great write-up by Brian about AI-backlash.

Factory farming 👀. Also related article about people’s perception of how we treat animals vs. the food system that we have in place. Research shows that dairy and meat companies greenwash – surprise surprise.

If you need some catharsis – one of my favourite RATM songs - lyrics are 🔥.