Photography Very Much Not Welcome at Audley End

Despite this statement on the web page for Audley End - English Heritage welcomes all photographers to our sites and we hope you will share your pictures with us on Flickr and Facebook - we arrived this afternoon to find that no photography is allowed in the main building except for the very non-photogenic Nursery. There is a small disclaimer at the end that some properties have certain restrictions but we felt that it would be a courtesy to have the photography ban at Audley End prominently displayed on their website page.

We did however spend an enjoyable time photographing the Stables gardens, greenhouses (more later) and cottages.

The horse is a retired racehorse, Jimmy, who lives at Audley End and enjoys taking part in reenactments.

Paxton Pits Update

At last a relatively calm day for a walk at Paxton Pits after all the recent high winds. The usual suspects turned up,Tufted ducks, Gadwall (the male with a damaged eye) Great Crested Grebes who insisted on doing their courtship as far away as possible and in a bush, Black-headed gulls and Cormorants as noisy as ever, lots of Chiffchaffs, first perching Kingfisher at Paxton and squabbling Coots. No Nightingales yet.

High Winds at Wimpole Hall NT Estate

The winds were scheduled to reach 50 mph yesterday - it was certainly very windy for a walk to the lake at Wimpole. I had a 10-stop ND filter with me so tried some moving cloudscapes (and moving treetops!). These are 30sec exposures holding the tripod down firmly on its spikes. The Folly is still being rebuilt - I suspect they will be letting it out for functions when complete but maybe not.

Woofs and Wellies Wandlebury Ring

A wet windy morning did not deter  walkers with or without their dogs from supporting ACT's (Addenbrookes Charitable Trust) first sponsored walk at Wandlebury Woods on Sunday morning. Here is the start of the walk. Unfortunately some of the route markers got blown away so I ended up standing in a part of the wood that  no one passed. Other images on  FlikR Click Here 

Cambridge Rugby Union Football Club win 46-7

On a very windy afternoon with rain, cloud and sunshine alternating, Cambridge demolished Clifton by a margin that could have been much larger without the wind as kicking conversions proved tricky and dangerous for the player supporting the ball.  

First Spring Migrant Sightings at Paxton

Two or three Chiffchaffs were in full song on Tuesday at Paxton Pits in the warm sunshine, while a Squirrel gorged itself on the catkins getting covered in yellow pollen. All the chaffinches that I saw had deformed feet - either  “tassel foot” (papillomatosis)  or “scaly foot” (cnemidocoptosis - small mites). The new Hayden hide is now open at Paxton - a metal construction replacing the wooden one which arsonists destroyed last year. There were lots of Reed Buntings and Tits feeding on the table outside the hide, plus a Wren and Robin. In the taller woods, Green and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers were very active yaffling and drumming.