A Return Visit to Biddenham

            A visit to Biddenham; the first on my part for some time and, although in the village itself, there were several groups and individuals, once I entered the woods, although I heard voices from elsewhere than the path I had chosen, I only occasionally came across others in my meander through the woods themselves. Early in my walk past the larger houses, I had encountered unusual choices of hedge vegetation species, found more commonly as individual trees; my assumption for the choice was the tall, dense privacy they offered.
            Every so often there were breaks in the enclosing boundaries to the paths, and I was puzzled in one of these gaps, by observing what appeared to be a concreted area that may have been the foundations of an earlier building, but with no indications of walls. Occasionally I would break out into more open areas, and another observation puzzled me — here there was an approximately circular grassy area, suggestive of a golf course’s green, but I spotted no indication of a hole for a flag. I returned to the taking of smaller subjects, such as a ladybirds, small berries, and poppies, then bright and healthy apples.
            In amongst the shafts of dappled sunshine, I found the enticing textures of fresh young leaves, and the early signs of ripening blackberries. I am always attracted to the rippled textures of fresh young leaves, and the symmetries and textures of differing leaf structures. The cast shadows on one hanging branch of leaves suggestive of a squirrel caught my eye, as did a bee on a white-petalled flower, which had been repeatedly damaged by an upturned sharp stick remnant piercing two of the petals numerous times in the breeze with the extra weight of visiting pollinators! I also liked another of the white blooms attempting to be seen beyond the spherical bloom of a Chrysanthemum-like pink flower like the rising sun.

            In the warmth of the sun, bees were making the most of the bonanza of fresh blooms, and I was doing the best to do my own capturing of textures and colours, such as the golden toffee of holly leaves and their rich red stems. If the abundance of red berries is accurate in foretelling harsh winters then I also found that strong message clinging to a mortared stone wall. I was amused by the determined ivy escaping from the fence to reach the life-giving warmth of the sunshine, and I soon spotted its cousin succeeding in its journey to the same life force, framed by the evidence of past adherence to the fence. I felt honoured by the generous lighting I was offered in the capture of the textures and sheen on nearby leaves.
            My observations were not confined to the natural world around me. I spotted a slip-up from a human in a spelling mistake by humans in the preparation of a map for this location — Greay! As I was about to leave this map a couple appeared to view the same notice, so I passed on my discovery; rather than simply keep it to myself! I closed the gallery with the high fair weather clouds, and blue sky, I hope the images encourage others to visit and enjoy this enticing park area.

I Revisit a Park Just North of the A421

          I headed across the A421 to visit the woods beyond. Once parked, I took the soft case from my LUMIX FZ10002, leaving it behind in the car’s boot, and hung the camera around my neck. On this occasion I am travelling light, very light! Not even my monopod. Locking up the car, I take to the long dark tunnel of trees into the open air beyond, occasionally stopping to capture images along the way that caught my eye.
          Currently, the weather seems somewhat unsettled, and slightly less clearly season defined, but I did find metallic green flies, at least three species of butterflies, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, and some others that I could not immediately identify. Variegated leaf colouring and backlit leaves also attracted my interest, as did a fair number of small, or simply young hoverflies. Beyond the woods, in the open area of the park, the wind had picked up, and despite taking several of the paths in hope of further interest, I was disappointed, as nothing much caught my eye, and therefore my camera — the rest of my walk yielded only fair weather clouds, the green winding paths and one long, lightly leaved and bowing branch framing the curving metalled path.
          I had gained the exercise, enjoyed the fresh air, and was impressed yet again by just how versatile this small camera is and fully justifies my decision to purchase it — it does not replace my more expensive kit, but when travelling light, fully earns its place amongst my heavier and pricier cameras.

Harold-Odell Lake Visit

        I pay a visit to the park at Harold-Odell for the first time in a long while; I parked outside the centre, as I wanted to first take a walk down the path that led down to the river as I had not noticed this in the past. I was under-whelmed, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, but I did take a couple of shots for the record.
        It seemed pointless wasting petrol to drive into the car park, so I took my camera with the Sigma 60-600mm mounted on the monopod and walked into the park which was reasonably busy, certainly by the lakeside, with young children with their mothers, excitedly chattering and enjoying the freedom, and the excitement amongst the ducks scrabbling for the bread being provided by one of the dads. One might imagine that the birds fighting for these morsels were starving, but I reckon this is simply a cunning ploy by these birds putting on a show, to ensure a constant supply, and provide enjoyment of the spectacle to these gullible humans; they certainly do not look under-nourished! And certainly, it had the desired effect of ensuring the children were enjoying themselves.
        Just beyond the water’s edge a gull looked on from the vantage of a tall pole close to the shore, perhaps waiting to see some unattended morsels.
        As I walked around the lake, I noticed several new carvings gracing the paths, which I hope inspires others to produce similar works of art. I enjoyed the time I spent roaming the gardens, it inspired me to come again, as there were still several areas I never covered, and I think that some of my family will find a visit rewarding. I hope that some of what I captured will entice others to pay the gardens a visit. I enjoyed capturing some of the swirling shapes created by the everyday activities of the birds on the water.

Bedford — River Gt. Ouse - walk with Camera

        Combining a trip to the Supermarket for food, and an afternoon along the river seemed like an excellent way to mix essential travel with exercise and time spent with a camera covering some of Bedford’s wildlife.
        Although I had experienced a few drops of rain on the outward journey, and there were still some dark clouds, the weather held for the entire time I was out, and very few people were in the park — notably, young mothers with pre-school children and retired people singly and in pairs, taking exercise, sometimes with their dogs. Once again, I had only my monopod to support my camera, which gave me freedom in terms of weight without limiting my ability to have a stable platform. Only occasionally was the light low enough to limit my exposure. I did learn that on occasion I had failed to take this into account, so will take greater care in future to keep a check on exposure settings.
         I did observe both butterflies and dragonflies, but none settled long enough for me to take any photos despite several vain attempts, the sunshine presumably kept their energy fully replenished, as I barely had time to frame them before they flit elsewhere, but I made the attempt on several occasions, and overall their numbers were low. Whilst on the subject of observations, once again, I spotted discarded face masks, so I feel perhaps, I will arm myself with a thin rubber glove and a small polythene bag, but this thoughtless behaviour is so selfish, since these open spaces make no charges, and will be lost to us all if this continues.
         I gather we are due more sunshine, so I hope to be able to travel further afield for my exercise and mental therapy. 

At Last - Busy Brogborough Lake!

        As the numbers of fully vaccinated adults has risen, there is a relaxation on gatherings; couple this with a reasonable strength wind, and the numbers attracted to the lake for windsurfing activity rose. I therefore gathered my camera and lenses and, loading the car with both a tripod and my monopod, I headed out of the village to Brogborough. I had little doubt, I would not be the earliest to arrive. I was not disappointed, but I noted that as the wind was forecast for the full day, there was no rush to the water. There was the buzz that the day would not disappoint, so haste was unnecessary, and so everyone chatted and took their time to prepare at leisure. 
        There was therefore no pressing need for me set up in haste, I also decided that with a reasonable wind, and light, I could work with my long Sigma Zoom mounted on the monopod. Once I had seen that a few sailors had completed preparations and were heading for the lake, I readied the EOS R6 with the Sigma 60-600mm lens mounted on the monopod, and strolled to the water’s edge, I took a few shots of some of the early sailors, but also the family of Canada Geese and a lone, small butterfly, after a while shooting from th jetty, I headed for the path in the woods which on occasion doubles as a cycle track, and got down to the lake shore for a different viewpoint.

        I also headed even further round the lake, but that proved worthless, beyond witnessing one lady who was having difficulty getting out of the small cove facing the wind making it difficult to return to the jetty. So I made my way back through the woods towards the sailors assembly area and jetty. I was returning fast to alert others of her predicament, but fortunately passed her husband who was heading to reach her. This trek of mine served little purpose overall beyond giving me exercise in fast walking! Most of the meaningful shots were from the area where the geese have attempted reclaiming, by putting down a deposit, as their way of saying our geese families like the area you vacated whilst under lockdown!

In the Back Garden…

            I had initially intended a trip to the River Great Ouse, but because I needed several food items and it meant some needed to be brought back to my freezer and fridge, I decided to forego a further car journey. I am very fortunate to have a Buddleia in the back Garden and Butterflies consider the florettes irresistible, and their recent arrival meant I could simply walk into the back garden and enjoy photographing them. 
            I therefore initially put the 60-600mm Sigma lens on the EOS R6 body as this gave me some distance, to avoid my being a threat, but to ensure some stability, and manage the weight, I mounted the camera and lens on a monopod. I later used two other lenses purely hand held, the 24-70mm and the 100mm Macro Canon lenses.
            All three lenses are in frequent use, and invariably accompany me for trips to local woods and lakes. Sadly of late, another of my favourites, the 12-24mm Sigma wide-angle zoom has seen less use as it is my favourite for recording architectural and city scenes, and I have not been frequenting towns and cities of late. However as Lockdown eases and the threat lessens, I may well visit London and give it an airing.
            This proved to be a pleasant way to relax in warm sunshine and unlike my trip to Brogborough, the processing of the images was completed the same day as the shooting, so there was no pressure involved in getting the gallery up on the blog.

Life and Windsurfers Return to BrogLake

        Finally, the lake opens to admit visitors and sailors. By the time I arrived, there was plenty of activity, on shore and on the water. I headed for the jetty and set up the tripod, camera and my long zoom, the Sigma 60-600mm, which allows me to capture from the shore to the distant banks to my left and right. The first observation, was that Sam was no longer the lone Kite Surfer, nor was this an exclusively male activity.
        The light was good, and on occasions the clouds provided me with a few more images to my stock of sky scenes, as they make good backgrounds when creating cards to celebrate birthdays and other memorable dates. The wind and the recent introduction of inflatable wing sails was adding variety to the actions I was able to capture. This afternoon was a day that was a celebration of differing skill and experience levels, a day for enjoyment, and for me a real chance to use my new mirrorless camera body, and gain experience of the differences to getting sequences. I welcomed the fast action that kept me on my toes.
        There is a downside — my file sizes are large, and this gives me more images to sort through, and in some instances whilst keeping my finger on the release in anticipation of say, a jump, I consume so much time later, that I do not cull as many shots, as this delays getting the pictures up whilst there is the interest from those participating. I hope that the very long delay on this occasion does not spoil the enjoyment of recalling the activity of that weekend.
        I thoroughly enjoyed doing my best to capture the activity, and I hope there is more to come now that restrictions are beginning to be relaxed; I really hope that we can get back to some form of normality in what remains of this year. I hope that all those taking part in the action can enjoy reliving some of what I captured.