Welney - Swans at Sunset and Floodlit

We were hoping for a colourful sunset at Welney yesterday but a bank of clouds dulled the colours. However, there were still enough colour to giver interesting images and after the floodlights went on, the water took on a deep blue hue.

Welney Wildfowl Trust

The sunny weather continued for our visit to Welney. The bright light certainly showed off the plumage of the ducks well including Mallard (feeding, preening and mating), Tufted, Pochard and an escapee Collared Teal. Swans (to follow) were more difficult until the light levels dropped.

Short-Eared Owls on Burwell Fen

We wondered what the Owls made of the unseasonably warm sunshine yesterday - they certainly weren't put off hunting on a beautiful golden evening. A Kestrel waited around hoping to steal any catch and a grumpy heron sat among the Konig ponies. 

Estonia - Rummu Quarry and Abandonned Aircraft

From 1938, the quarry was an open mining system for limestone and Vasalemma marble, a specific kind of limestone resembling marble. 

When the pumps were turned off in the 1990s, the quarry quickly filled with groundwater, forming a lake, immersing some of the utility buildings and machinery. Next to the lake is the Vasalemma spoil tip (slag heap). Over time, the spoil tip assumed a lunar appearance through erosion by water.

Since 2015, Architecture students from Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA) have been discussing ideas and drafting several possible sketches and proposals of what the abandoned area of the quarry could become in the future. As of 2017, the owners of the property are planning a technology park.

 In 1988, this An-12 Soviet transport plane was donated to the Keila Model Flying Club. It performed its last flight from Lvov to Tallinn airport where it was partially disassembled, transfered to Keila by road and reassembled again at the current location.

Estonia - Murru Prison

The second area we visited on Saturday was the Murru prison and quarry established around 1930. The prisoners had to work in the quarry and the prison was notorious for human rights infringements. Every year at least one person died “in an accident” and this prison became well known after the prisoners went on a hunger strike demanding more humane treatment. When Estonia regained independence in 1991, times changed and the works at the quarry stopped. The prison was only closed in 2012. Here a few images from the prison wall, guard huts and buildings (quarry images to follow).