Garden Bugs

At last it has stopped raining so took a walk round the garden with the macro to see what was lurking in the foliage. The dandelions attracted two very attractive species of solitary bee and there were lots of nursery spiders warming themselves in the sun.

Orange Tip, Nightingale and Snail

 Some images taken in the rain over the last two days. The Orange Tip was in the garden on a scabious. The first is natural light while the second has a bit of ring flash to allow smaller aperture. The Nightingale and the snail were shot at Paxton Pits this morning in the rain.

Ampthill Rainbow

I stopped to admire a wonderful rainbow on the way to lecture at Ampthill Camera Club last night. The football match continued on a dandelion-covered pitch under leaden skies. The young man in red scored twice from this spot outside the box while I was watching.

 I had some fun in the adjacent poplar wood moving the camera to distort the shapes. The flag of Finland arrived in one of the images

Drought ...What Drought?

I know that we would need much more rain to refill reservoirs but it was not really the best timing to receive this leaflet this morning after almost 48 hours continuous heavy rain.

Meredith Comes Home

Meredith had to stay in intensive care for a few days because of jaundice but came home on Sunday afternonn  and yesterday she had her first bath helped by Sadie.

Busy Weekend

It has been a very busy weekend starting with Frances and Christopher's wedding to photograph on Saturday. The weather was definitely April showers but, kindly, the sun shone for the outside photographs.

London Salon Entries

Phew- just made it in time for my entry for this year's London Salon . On-line entry closes this weekend (22nd) but also time to enter manually and the prints have to get there by 27th April. The prints are designed to go side-by-side and that is what took the time!! I am influenced by ancient Chinese paintings where perspective is very different to Western art. They do not have single point, linear perspective but  the perspective points shift as the viewer's eye moves through the landscape. So a scene may include a lake shore, above which tower mountains; yet both the lake and the mountaintop pavilion will seem to be at eye level.

Newest Family Member

Grandaughter number two, Meredith, was born yesterday (18th April)and looks amazingly similar to Sadie as a new born.

 I visited the National Trust Landscape gardens at Claremont on my way to talk at Epsom Camera Club - thanks for your hospitality and especially Rosemary for the meal before the meeting. The gardens have features from leading historic landscape gardeners including John Vanburgh and Capability Brown but are somwhat spoilt for me by the masses of rhododendrons blocking the vistas. Two birds that don't feature in our local gardens - the Ring-necked Parakeet and the Mistle Thrush were making a lot of noise in the trees. An obliging Heron kept moving ahead of me round the lake.

Cambridge on a Stormy Sunday

 Walked round Cambridge on Sunday morning showing Charles and Janet some of the photographic gems. The weather was very varied from sun to hail. Occasionally the light was right for the scene.

Our Swallow is back

A male swallow was perched on our conservatory door this morning - the first seen this year (6th and 7th last two years)and looking decidedly tatty. We have closed the garage this year and opened a side shed door. I do hope they take to the new quarters - we have too much good stuff stored in the garage to have droppings everywhere.

The Law Faculty Cambridge

As part of our Camera Clubs annual Points of View competition, we were able to photograph in the Law Faculty. I loved the shapes and colours. The building was designed by Norman Foster and  completed in 1995/ It contains the Squire Law Library, five auditoriums, offices and several seminar rooms. It is four stories high, with a further two stories below ground.

Still No Nightingales

Visited Paxton Pits today hoping that the Nightingales would have arrived (6th April last year) but no sign of them on the Heron Trail (one had been sighted/heard in Rory's Wood). Here are some of the species that we did see so very much not a wasted visit - Great Crested Grebe, Common Tern, Greylag Geese, Chiffchaff, Cormorant, Robin, Heron, Tufted Duck, Black Headed Gull. I hope that the Nightingales will return in their usual number (30 males recorded singing last year).