Final Venue for Cambridge Night Photography

After our visit to the Fair, we walked via St Andrews Street, Sidney Street and Bridge Street to Magdalene Bridge  and back via Trinity Street etc taking long-exposure/live-composite images. Petty Cury was empty except for one person in a wheel chair and a lot of rubbish bags. Yaseen Uasyf asked for some photos of himself on the bridge.

Polar Fair in Cambridge

Our second venue for night photography in Cambridge on Sunday was the Polar Fair - very busy generally but found a few quieter spots to record the kaleidoscope of colours and shapes. Last couple moving the camera during Live Composite mode (ie camera is taking 1sec exposure continuously - I don't think it records how many shots)

Cambridge Christmas Build-Up

Some images from Cambridge Camera Club trip on Sunday and what more appropriate for Christmas in Cambridge than a punt full of Choir members singing carols! We spent the first hour around the Market and King's Parade as the light faded and gradually the sky brightness matches the light below (so called Blue hour). At this time, there is less dynamic range so easier to capture images with even lighting and less harsh shadows, which makes it especially flattering for portraits etc. I was also playing with the Live Composite mode on my Olympus camera which continuously adds anything lighter to the image - usually used on a tripod (very good for water reflections and light trails) but can also be used 'on the move'. Last image not quite what I wanted - need the phone on a tripod as well as the camera but like the way the lighter areas bleed into the phone image.

Wetland Birds Count

Paxton Pits along with other wetland reserves carry out a monthly count of the birds on the Pits  (WeBS). Beautiful morning for our December count though difficult for ID etc against the light. The most prominent birds for our route round Rudd, Cloudy and Weedy Lakes were the 40 or so Canada Geese plus this one Canada GooseXGreylag hybrid. Looking it up they appear quite common and very consistent in marking with just the head, neck length and beak revealing the Greylag parentage. All the usual Ducks plus a solitary Grey heron. Couldn't resist photographing the Long-tailed Tit at the end of the walk.

Hardwick Wood Coppicing etc

 Any Saturday through the winter months that I am free, I join a conservation party in Hardwick Wood to do a bit of coppicing (contact for details of Saturday and Sunday work parties in Cambridge area info@ccv.org.uk). I first started coppicing in 1962 at Hayley Wood so have had a bit of practise over the years. I walk up and back from the wood - about a 3 mile round trip so plenty of exercise. Coppicing is a traditional woodland management technique that dates back to the Stone Age involving cutting branches at their base to create a ‘stool’ where new shoots will grow - best suited to hazel, but can be applied to sweet chestnut, ash and lime. The original use of coppicing is still maintained in Hardwick  producing firewood and long straight poles for fencing, building and in the garden as bean poles. Coppicing is also thought to improve the biodiversity of a woodland area by opening it up to the sunlight and allowing a wider range of plants to grow. 

Here some images on my walk (including a distant Addenbrookes site!!), of the coppicing area at the start of the process and of the ancient woodland areas (with hundreds of Ash seedlings (reaction to Ash die-back?).  The tall single hazel shoots in the image will be laid into adjacent bare areas to sprout and fill the gaps in the hazel regrowth).