Mayflies at Granchester

A walk in the meadows at Granchester yesterday evening was a delight with warm evening sunshine and hardly any wind. The hot weather after a couple of cold days was ideal conditions for Mayflies to hatch and swarm. I was surprised to have caught them so clearly in this image looking towards the setting sun (shielded by the tall hedge). Will have another attempt - next time choosing manual focus at various distances.
















Adult of Ephemera danica is about 20 mm long excluding the three tail filaments.The adults do not feed and generally live for less than a day. During this brief existence they must mate and lay eggs. The nymphs of Ephemera live and burrow in gravel, sandy or muddy areas of rivers and lakes. Nymphal development may take up to two years, but most mayflies complete their life cycle in one year.
This one has been caught in a spider's web over the water.

Shield Bugs

For those who came to the CCC Nature Group and tried to identify the beautiful small eggs that Stephen had photographed, they have now hatched and revealed themselves as Shield Bugs.

Photo by Stephen Brown

Reflection

Travelodge at Cheltenham reflected in one of the derelict buildings on the Film Studio site. We were there for a weekend called the 'Brilliance of Photography' hosted by the RPS Contemporary Group and it certainly was brilliant with a wide range of excellent speakers.

Head adornments

Having been the photographer for several weddings lately, I was immediately drawn to this Crested Pigeon's amazing head gear - would put many a wedding hat into the shade.

Experiments in Green

Having recently set 'Green' as a category in a club competition because I often don't like it in my images, I thought I would try some all green abstracts.

I particularly like the 'bottom' in the top right image - perhaps a portfolio of human forms in foliage is on the horizon.

Tawny Frogmouth

Some wide angle views of a very confiding Tawny Frogmouth. They are often called Frogmouth owl but are actually related to Nightjars. They are usually nocturnal and have excellent camouflage. The Tawny Frogmouth feeds on rats, mice, cicadas, beetles, frogs and other small prey. They catch their prey with their beaks rather than with their talons, another way in which they are different from owls. The gape is amazing and eyelashes and facial hairs presumably help them to be silent at night. The Frogmouth could see itself in my Fisheye lens and its own eye appeared also to be very convex and may well have 180 degree vision also

Wedding Transport

What Bride doesn't dream of a shining white Rolls for their wedding car complete with ribbons and

sparkling chrome

Sometimes reality is a little different.

Inevitable with all the recent rain that today's posting features very wet flowers. When I looked out of the window this morning, I thought the oriental poppies with Nigella foliage looked wonderful covered in rain drops so I went outside to take a few more shots.
It was not easy as there was not much light and quite a breeze.

I hope it clears up for the wedding that I am photographing later today. Otherwise it will be more umbrella shots.

One of My Favourite Flowers

Classed as a weed in the garden, I love Cow Parsley where it occurs en masse at this time of year. Its local name of Queen Anne's Lace describes how it appears under the chestnut trees here in Toft.

More from Bletchley

Two images of the old huts - it will be a great shame if it all gets tidied up when the site is developed further. However, Health and Safety will probably prevail as there is a high asbestos content in the materials used in the hut construction.

Signs of bewilderment and then the need for a prayer seemed to sum up the early attempts at code breaking.

Windy Sky

Wonderful cloud formations this morning.

Evening in the Bluebells

One more from the Ashridge bluebells - I loved the shadows thrown by the low sun.

Ashridge Bluebells

As expected the bluebells were a little past their best but still a wonderful sight. Lots of children were there after school and several of the uniforms were purple, although there were also some splashes of red. The light was very changeable and fairly low level which was quite a challenge.

Bletchley Park Visit

A guided tour round Bletchley Park was very enjoyable thanks to our informative and amusing Guide. I got very interested in the doorways and staircases on the huts. Here are a couple of the wrought iron staircases.

Strange Light

Very weird light early this morning when I looked out of study window

. Looks as if the world had been converted to monochrome and then split toned!

Oil-seed rape fields

Three more images of the oilseed-rape fields around Toft in Cambridgeshire

Dandelion heads

Taken on my morning walk with my Lumix digital camera and processed from raw using just Lightroom. Very pleased with the result as the Panasonic is great to carry in a pocket but I hadn't previously tested the macro mode. The image on the left is the unadjusted file.

Spring Colours

The fields are looking wonderfully colourful at the moment with the vibrant greens of the new wheat shoots and the trumpetting yellow of the oil-seed rape.

Pasque Flower

This was the best of my images taken on our recent trip to Therfield Heath. I used the 15mm lens on manual focus and tried to estimate where the focus point would be when the lens was at smallest aperture (f22) - needed to use a Hyperfocal distance table to get it right but this isn't far off.

Bluebell Woods

It is that time again when I attempt to photograph bluebell woods. They seem pale this year - perhaps because of the warm dry weather. This photograph was taken at a fairly slow shutter speed so there is movement in the flowers. Today's rain is welcome as it will help prolong their lives.

Our Swallows are Back

Pleased to see 'our' pair of swallows this afternoon on the washing lines - the first ones I've seen anywhere. It will be interesting to see if they build their nest earlier than previous years.

Sunny Southend

In yesterday's sunshine Southend looked very attractive. My photos give the appearance that there weren't any people about but, in fact, the resort was bustling, which is good for the local economy.

Brightlingsea

Abandoned pail and spade in just the right colours!

Perfect weather conditions with sunshine and no wind to spoil the reflections.

Botanic gardens Cambridge

The Botanic Gardens are at their greenest at the moment with all the new leaves.

If you can't beat 'em.............

Decided that as it appears that everyone at weddings now has a camera, I would make a feature of one in a wedding image

Wedding flowers

Been a bit quiet on the Blog front as I have had two weddings to do and process images for within a week - not to be recommended. The weather for the wedding on Friday was good - the morning rain cleared and the afternoon was bright with some sunshine. The flowers in Girton church were outstanding - so much so that most of my shots are in colour in the church rather than the usual monochrome. Here are three images taken during the ceremony that feature the flowers.