Cromer Crab Versus Gull

The children were crabbing off Cromer pier and then releasing them late in the afternoon under the Pier. The gulls lined up to take their pick of the crabs though this young bird seems a bit anxious about about what to do with the pincers! The light was particularly good after a heavy rain storm so I took some time doing portraits of adult Herring Gull plus Blackheaded Gulls

UEA Through a Pinhole

Yesterday I introduced Barry to the 'concrete city' that comprises the University of East Anglia. opened in 1970 it is one of the best examples of Brutalism Architecture in the UK (see blog from last visit). This time I decided to use a pinhole lens for some of the time, which worked well when the sun was shining but not so good in duller light. Here some of the better shots with shutterspeeds from 0.5 to 1/15th second.

Cromer Storm Clouds and Afternoon Light

After a beautiful sunny clear morning on Wednesday, storm clouds gathered at Cromer and we had a heavy rainstorm which cleared to give some very attractive late afternoon light.

Epping Forest Workshop

Yesterday's weather was not kind to our RPS Nature Group workshop on Macro and Focus stacking in Epping Forest with very dull conditions all day. I was using my wide angle set up plus an LED light which proved fine when there was a distant background but rather too contrasty for close backgrounds - a lesson learned I hope! With the increased visitor activity since our last RPS visits to the Forest, large fungi were hard to find but there were plenty of small specimens. Many thanks to Duncan and Qasim for their tuition during the day.

Flies and Fungi

The Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) gets its name from the tradition of using this mushroom as an insecticide. In some European countries, caps are crumbled up and placed in saucers of milk to attract house flies. The flies drink the milk, which contains ibotenic acid that not only attracts flies but also poisons them. Certainly in the field, I haven't seen flies visiting Fly Agarics while other species are a great attraction. Sandy RSPB reserve had abundant fungi yesterday, including some very magnificent Parasols in the large meadow by the house.

Cromer Beach at Low Tide

Yesterday's tide was one of the lowest of the year and coincided with a very sunny warm day (until the rain arrived!). Just right for reflections on the wet sand and interesting foreground details!