Goodbye

Unfortunately my holiday in Devon only lasted a couple of days as I had to return when my mother was taken into hospital. As I left our cottage, the cows obviously wished to say goodbye. I particularly like the elegant legs on the second image.

Westward Ho

A few pictures from Friday's visit to Westard Ho. The Bathing pool is the one where I learnt to swim as a 5 year old and hasn't changed that much over the years.

I think I prefer the pebble and round pool picture with fewer clouds in the sky - I have many versions of the scene but this is the only one with a relatively straight horizon.

The matching of the sky and the pebbles attracted me in the third image.

Budleigh Salterton

A couple of images for the Wider View Series.
They need the horizons straightened. I think I prefer the vertical framing for the second image.
While drinking a mug of tea sitting at one of the tables, I noticed several dolphins playing around the buoys in the bay. I mentioned it to a local and there was great excitement as, contrary to my belief, they very rarely observe dolphins there.

Lyme Regis

Four images from Lyme Regis yesterday evening after all the rain had passed through. The large ammonite in the rock sets the location.

Butterfly from Slimbridge

Help needed to identify this blue butterfly photographed at Slimbridge on Monday. Looking at images on the web, the nearest is the Large Blue (though my specimen appears a bit faded compared with the published photos). There were a lot of red ants in the meadow where I found this - discovered this when kneeling to photograph the butterflies.

The Large Blue is not listed for Slimbridge so I am puzzled.

Someone has suggested that it is a very faded Common Blue so better go with that.

Bath

A couple of pictures taken in the gardens in Bath after a busy time at the RPS Visual Arts' Assessment Day. Congratulations to Neil for being recommended for an ARPS with his panel of mountain pictures. Very well done.

Another Kingfisher

While downloading and sorting yesterdays 'snaps', I found this one that is a little clearer than the other one I have posted.


And this is the one that got away

Slimbridge

The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust headquarters at Slimbridge has changed a lot since I last visited. They have a very large collection of ducks and geese from round the world but I concentrated on the wild species - in particular, the Kingfishers and Herons. The kingfishers are onto their second brood and the young from the first were around along the river chasing each other. I wished I had a really long lenses as there were some great action shots. This one perched close enough for a reasonable shot.





The Heron spent a long while staring into the water but, unfortuately, didn't catch anything.

















Thunderstorms arrived over the Welsh hills later in the afternoon giving sone atmospheric skies.

Wicken Fen

Out of sequence, but here are a couple of images from the RPS Nature Group outing to Wicken Fen on Saturday. The weather was a bit dull early but it warmed up around lunch time and then the 4-spotted chasers became active. I liked the shape of the dead reed and waited for the chaser to arrive. Fortunately they keep coming back to the same perch.

Visiting Gloucester

I stopped in Gloucester for a while this afternoon and took a ride on the Big Wheel. The view was impressive - the Historic Docks are being rennovated with lots of Retail outlets but the area was pretty quiet for a fine Sunday.

May Bumps Cambridge

The weather forecast was fairly pessimistic for Thursday evening but I decided to visit the Bumps on the Cam anyway. In fact the light was fantastic with dark clouds and sunny intervals.
The first picture shows one of the women's crews rowing pass Fen Ditton Church up to the start point at Bate Bite's Lock. It is an event peculiar to Cambridge - first of all, the May Bumps, like May Balls occur in June. The boats go off at regular intervals and the aim is to 'bump' the boat in front. This normally takes place on the corners. In the second photo a 'Bump' is about to occur.

If this happens, the front Cox raises a hand and both boats retire to the bank. The victorious crew decorate themselves with greenery from the trees along the river while the losing team can find the long journey back very tiring. The two boats will swap positions in the next line up.

Norfolk Poppies

It is odd why just one field of rape seed should produce such a wonderful display of poppies while similar fields around have just a few red patches.

This one near Swaffham is one of the best I have seen and was just at its peak yesterday.






Although the hairs show up best on a sunny day, yesterday's dull conditions worked OK with backlighting and there weren't the usual bright shiny areas to detract.

Brancaster Beach

Arrived a bit early for giving talk to Brancaster Camera Club and went down to the beach. It was a great moment to arrive with rain clouds gathering and the tide just filling the pools around the posts. I am looking forward to trying a monochrome print to accentuate the lighting and texture.

Thanks to Brancaster CC and, particularly Jill and Jim for their hospitality.

Shades of Green

It is amazing how quickly the fields change colour at this time of the year. The wheat already has large ears of corn although the plants are less than a foot high. The rape fields have turned a silver colour.

Great to see a lot of bees around this year.

Poppy Time Again

Noticed some very red fields around Cambridge already - these are from last year but will have to get shooting the poppies again.

Hunstanton Cliffs

A reminder when it is a typical grey summer day just how beautiful the light can be in England.

Facing west on the East coast

An image from Hunstanton at six o'clock on Friday evening as the sun was going down and most of the people had left the beach. It always seems wrong that an East coast resort can face West but here is proof that it does.

Feeble Attempts at Flying Dragonflies

Using Servo autofocus, it was probably a full hour till I managed to get one in the frame and press the shutter. This first attempt is as one of the numerous four-spotted chasers took off from a perch with its legs dangling. Persevered for further hour and managed the second image of chaser against grass. I then decided to switch to manual focus and just press whenever a chaser came into the frame - most often pursued by another. I was using 1250th second but there is still movement in body and wings. Plenty of scope for hours more experimentation!!

Mayflies at Granchester

A walk in the meadows at Granchester yesterday evening was a delight with warm evening sunshine and hardly any wind. The hot weather after a couple of cold days was ideal conditions for Mayflies to hatch and swarm. I was surprised to have caught them so clearly in this image looking towards the setting sun (shielded by the tall hedge). Will have another attempt - next time choosing manual focus at various distances.
















Adult of Ephemera danica is about 20 mm long excluding the three tail filaments.The adults do not feed and generally live for less than a day. During this brief existence they must mate and lay eggs. The nymphs of Ephemera live and burrow in gravel, sandy or muddy areas of rivers and lakes. Nymphal development may take up to two years, but most mayflies complete their life cycle in one year.
This one has been caught in a spider's web over the water.

Shield Bugs

For those who came to the CCC Nature Group and tried to identify the beautiful small eggs that Stephen had photographed, they have now hatched and revealed themselves as Shield Bugs.

Photo by Stephen Brown

Reflection

Travelodge at Cheltenham reflected in one of the derelict buildings on the Film Studio site. We were there for a weekend called the 'Brilliance of Photography' hosted by the RPS Contemporary Group and it certainly was brilliant with a wide range of excellent speakers.

Head adornments

Having been the photographer for several weddings lately, I was immediately drawn to this Crested Pigeon's amazing head gear - would put many a wedding hat into the shade.

Experiments in Green

Having recently set 'Green' as a category in a club competition because I often don't like it in my images, I thought I would try some all green abstracts.

I particularly like the 'bottom' in the top right image - perhaps a portfolio of human forms in foliage is on the horizon.