Yearly Spring Markers

Every year around March 21st, I record the flowers open in our garden to get a comparison with previous years - bit late this year. Mostly this year is comparable with previous years. Most spring flowers have a long flowering period so primrose, helleborine, ground ivy are always in bloom at this time plus daffodils. However, there are no flowers yet on the plum tree or buds on the kingcups as last year - an average year rather than last year's earlier one here in Cambridgeshire. It is not as late as in 2013 when snow was on the ground on March 21st, Spring Markers 2013

CCC Start to Finish Creative Day

We enjoyed an enjoyable day at Sylvie's today trying out various creative techniques including closeups of glycerine drops on moss capsules and multiexposure in the camera of subject and texture.

Playing with Shutterspeed etc at The Strid

Thursday was the best day weatherwise of my trip so I decided on a walk at Bolton Abbey up to the cascades at The Strid. I had a 10-stop ND filter with me so tried various long exposures; eg. images 3 and 5 1/4 second, images 4 and 6 30 secs). In some cases, I took several different shots at the same settings and then used the HDR mode in LR to combine them to give a softer image (eg image 7 which is four 1/4 second exposures)

Rest in Peace?

I am staying near Leeds/Bradford Airport for the week and took a walk up to the local cemetery which lies under the flight path of the airplanes. I had my small infrared camera with me which I felt worked well for the subject

 

Lotherton Hall and Chapel

In continuous occupation since the 7th century, the farmlands surrounding the hall were purchased by John Gascoigne to form part of his newly acquired Parlington Estate in the 1540s. The Hall itself did not become the property of the family until 1825. Colonel Frederick Gascoigne, who inherited the property in 1893 transformed the hall to its present form.  After his death in 1937 the estates passed to his son, who retired here in 1953 after an active diplomatic career. In 1968 they presented the Hall to the City of Leeds, together with its park, garden and art collections.

The Chapel is 11th Century with Norman arches and a simple interior full of memorials to the Gascoigne family.

Exotic Birds Near Leeds

Lothbury Hall, part of Leeds Museums, has a house and chapel to explore (blog post to follow) and gardens including a bird garden.With over 480 individual birds, from more than 130 different species, the Bird Garden is a premier collection of rare and endangered birdlife. Here a few of the residents. The Great Grey and Burrowing Owls were particularly active.