hi all ,Not a lot of posting of late,have been finishing off some late orders,Last one posted to Ireland today,so got some more time now,Also been tying a set of Irish patterns for a swap with a friend in the states ,Looking forward to the flies he is going to send ,So if you would like to do a swap and increase my fly collection then feel free to contact me ,I will have to start getting prepared for the show season ,Looking forward to tying for the first time at the Dutch fly fair this year ,only 7 weeks away,My partner and i are having a couple of days in Amsterdam first then up to the show,so looking forward to the break,Also not long to the BFFI, So the next few months are looking better already
john

hi all ,i haven't posted for a while due to work etc,I had a great day tying at the welsh fly fair on march 3rd ,lots of great tyers and lots of visitors, in between tying and chatting to people i managed to increase my materials stock a little with some real nice turkey tails and even managed to get some Argus pheasant from Steve cooper,have been doing a little tying in between pheasant plucking [ seriously ] and other sorting out.
i tied this pattern which i seen on Monte Smiths site ,have modified it a little as the Amherst that i have needs washing and steaming to improve it [ more on this later ]. The original pattern can be seen here http://nwflytyer.wordpress.com/, [ have a look around his blog ,as you will see he is a superb tyer ]
anyway here is my version

 The recipe is as follows
Alec Jackson spey hook 3/0
Tag  silver oval
Tail  golden pheasant crest and light blue hen fibres
Butt  black wool
Body  silver tinsel and purple seal
Rib large gold oval
Hackle purple schlappen
Throat  light blue hen saddle
Wings dark grey turkey
Cheeks  Jc

I apologise for the dark photo but my skills in that department need alot of improvement,I will have to do some research
Also been tying another 'set' of flies - Red wings / Red wing heron, I'll post them all when i finish but here is the first one ,it is tied on a partridge HE2 blind eye

Best regards john

hi all,I decided today to sort out my tying room ,I had quite a few 'forgot i had those 'moments,I can't really believe how much tying material we collect over the years,but some how we never seem to have the correct shade of material that we want for a pattern but obviously that then goes on the 'must get at the next show' shopping list and so the material stocks get bigger.
After having a sort out i had some spare time so decided to give the dog an early walk and maybe do some tying later ,well what a sun set

anyway,did get some tying done ,just tied a dee fly ,the Dunt ,changed a couple materials on it but i dont think it effects the pattern too much,here it is

It is tied on a 3/0 Alec Jackson spey hook , The pattern is as follows
Tag, silver oval and light blue floss
Tail, topping and teal
Body, yellow, orange and fiery brown seals fur /mohair
Rib, silver tinsel followed by silver oval
Body Hackle, black heron from fiery brown
Throat, teal
Wings, very dark turkey
Cheeks, jungle cock [dropping]
Head, black
There are a few different patterns for this fly ,you can check them out here which is a fantastic site for anyone into dee or spey flies  http://www.feathersfliesandphantoms.co.uk/index.html keep a couple of hours spare if it's your first visit

Hi all, Welcome to my blog,thought i'd better jump on the band wagon and start one,It's my first go so hopefully you will be a little patient, It will be mainly about fly tying [ the title gives you an idea ], but i will also be putting up product reviews etc ,always open to constructive critisism
best regards john