I spent yesterday reacquainting myself with Bradgate ready for an RPS Nature Group outing on Saturday. Mostly it was cloudy with occasional showers but later in the afternoon the sun broke through just as the Red Deer congregated close enough to get some images of the stag bellowing and the delicate hinds.
Saturday, October 24, 2020
Friday, October 23, 2020
After the Rain at Cambridge Botanic Gardens
Thursday, October 22, 2020
Edme Factory and Station at Mistley
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Mistley - Robert Adam Designs etc
The first quay was built around 1720 but around about 1770, the quay was enlarged by Richard Rigby and was known as Port of Mistley. At that time, the village of Mistley, then known as Mistleythorn, consisted of warehouses, a granary, a large malting office and new quays.Newcastle ships brought in coal for Essex or Suffolk and corn was stored for the London markets and all the coastal ports. Rigby wanted to turn Mistley into a fashionable spa and Robert Adam was asked to design a saltwater bath by the river. The Swan Pool was the only part constructed plus the unusual church, which had towers at the east and west ends and semi-circular porticoes on the north and south sides.The main body of the church was demolished in 1870. The warehouses and other riverside building are being converted into flats and there is the threat that Edme Mills may leave the village (see next post)
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Birdwatching from Thames Barge Hydrogen
On Sunday, I joined a small group of birdwatchers for a trip up the River Colne to Wivenhoe observing the numerous birds that frequent the mud banks and saltmarshes. The weather was overcast most of the time so difficult for photography but I was pleased to record most of the species we saw. The Avocets were the stars with large flocks in several areas. Ducks included Wigeon and Shelduck, Brent Geese were not as numerous as I expected and then there were the Waders - first image Curlew and three Knot, followed by Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit (Bar-tailed also seen), Redshank and Dunlin. A Cormorant using a convenient perch, single Oystercatcher, immature Gull in flight and the star for many - a Peregrine disobeying the rules (another was seen catching a wader in the distance) completed the line-up.