Oil on Water

Thursday is the Freshers practical evening at CCC so I have been trying out oil on water photography and discovered that it is not as easy as I thought and also very messy. I tried olive and sunflower oil but the droplets tend to coalesce quickly. Adding a bit of detergent slowed this down and produced a dish full of aliens.

Sadie in the sunshine

I have been on child-minding duty this weekend so a couple of images of Sadie on a sunny Sunday in the garden. Being the daughter and grandaughter of photographers, she is very relaxed and will pose when asked. Don't suppose this will last.

Wildfowl Trust Competition

I entered the following three images in the Wildfowl and Wetlands winter competition. There is a popular choice winner so if you feel like voting for my images that would be great. I have provided a link to the relevant page Welney in Winter in LandscapesWinter Wonderland in People and wildlife
Whoopers landing on Ice in Wildlife section

Derelict Farm Cottage

It is amazing how quickly trees and bushes reclaim a property once it is no longer lived in. This derelict cottage was on our walk on Saturday.

The Railway People

We spent yesterday on the Keighley Worth Valley railway in the company of Alastair, Bev and Rowan - great to meet up. The first trains of the day are diesel so we travelled to Haworth on a Waggon Und Maschinenbau single coach railbus unit M79964, built in Germany in 1958. Rowan is busy watching the approaching steam train at the Damems Loop where the single track becomes double to allow passing. We then had a muddy walk to Oxenhope - well all except Phil who travelled on the train. This is his train, the British Railways Ivatt Tank No. 41241. It was built at Crewe in 1949 and ended service at Skipton in 1965. The locomotive hauled the train at the reopening of the branch line in 1968 and has been working ever since. We all travelled back on the 41241

Swaledale

We travelled from Richmond to Keighley yesterday via Muker - thanks for the suggested route Ian. The weather deteriorated during the morning but we had time for a few images of Swaledale, including the barns and stone walls.

Richmond Yorkshire

We had an enjoyable walk around Richmond yesterday. Certainly not a place to retire with the steep hills and steps but the market and family grocers are very appealing.

Visiting Cleethorpes

The last visit I made to Cleethorpes was in October 2010 on an unseasonably warm Autumn day. Today was very different though the skies made up for the cold wind.

Welney Frosty Scenes

Completing Saturday's frost series, here are some images from the Lazy Otter on the way to Welney and a series showing the Washes in the grip of winter. The hoar frost was one of the thickest I have seen. The penultimate image shows all the Bewick swans congregated on the open water of the Bedford river. I liked the fish-eye shot from the Welney main hide