Marston Moretaine Woods Walk

           Once again, the call from beyond the confines of the house beckons, and the sun has warmed the air and banished any of the possible remnants of frost. In this time of isolation it requires little to tempt me to grab my camera once abluted and breakfasted, and head for the door. Nor is there a need to drive anywhere; I am fortunately blessed with parks and open spaces and I can travel light by selecting the LUMIX camera and my two closeup rings, and head off out..

          Closing my garden gate, I turn left, out towards the main road, and once it is safe to cross it, head off to walk to the edge of the village, where I take the path that skirts the edge of fields with hedgerows either side, and within thirty yards, the camera has found varied colours and shapes of leaves that bear the mixtures of varied Autumn hues from the still remaining greens mixed with elements of the true Season’s bronze and gold. The all important seeds for the coming year are also on show, hanging in anticipation that winds will aid their further dispersal.

          Every so often the sun is momentarily covered by passing clouds, but predominantly the sun is shining and enhancing both the hues and textures that bring joy to artists and photographers. Time passes, and particularly at this time of year the ever-changing angle of the sunlight means our view of the scenes can appear and disappear in instants!

          Luckily for me, there is a bird that shares my joy of these moments and is delighted to let me know and, anyone else within hearing distance, by shrilly sharing these moments by singing its little heart out; an energetic Robin! It even ensured it was able to reach a varied audience by flitting between different vantage points!

Riverside Birds, Bedford

          On this visit to Bedford, I parked very close to the river, and took a gentle stroll back to the bank having already taken the soft case off, and set the zoom and exposure in anticipation of what I might be capturing initially. This turned out to be one of the Greylag geese who looked up towards me in anticipation of my throwing a handful of seed in its general direction. The action of doing so caused others to react more speedily as all were far swifter and more nimble!

          It also attracted the interest of others on the wing, mostly gulls. My interest was in trying to capture some of those in the air, as the LUMIX, my camera on this occasion, is less easy to master in such situations.

          The LUMIX is far less obtrusive than my EOS cameras with the bulky Sigma telephotos, so the Squirrel in the tree felt safe and although it was very much aware of me, it was confident and not threatened, which allowed me to spend quite some time capturing shots of it, both in the tree and on the ground.

Short, Nearby Walk

           Shortly after my walk. begins, an abrupt change in the depth of water has created a miniature waterfall, and beyond, a narrowing causes a fan shaped pattern beyond, and some reeds create bubbles on the surface.

          As I walk further, the banks have clusters of bright contrasting colours of red and golden leaves on fearsome thorned purple stems, set against green leaves pockmarked with smallish brown growths. Clusters of lighter gold thistleheads also share the tops of the raised banks to the stream. The sky in one direction still has some blue beyond the clouds, yet in another now only has shades of grey above the waterlogged fields. This does enhance the lushness of the coming year’s crop.

          In the wooded areas sharing the space amongst the carpet of golden fallen leaves, can be seen what I imagine were once brick based gun emplacements, now sharing the ground with trees intent on reclaiming the space from the relics of a past war. Also a single, taller brick structure on two levels of concrete. As I returned to the main road, leaving a hint of the church tower beyond the tall bushes, I encountered a deep cube cut into the road, and protected by interlocking bright orange plastic barriers  

          This now waterlogged trench with clustered cables presumably awaiting conection to the next pit further along the road.

Sunshine Lake Images

     Recently the sun has been a less common visitor, so the opening image was a pleasant welcome to be captured as my camera and I took a walk, from the almost full Car Park, along the lengthy, tree-lined walk to the open expanses and lakes beyond. As I had noted before with my local wooded area, within these spaces the most frequent grouping were dogs and their owners.
     Other notable visitors flew overhead — small light aircraft with their gentle buzz and beyond, the silent painters of light wispy trails that provide history of their travel with white contrails against the blue of the sky — the high-flying jets of numerous airlines’ passenger jets. As I walked through the expansive green spaces, the afternoon was darkening as the sun lowered and the colour tinted the clouds pale blue against the paler gold of the clouds.
     Against the sky, trees and buildings were silhouetted crisply like Lino cuts. I also selected red berries against a blurred, more diffuse and monochromatic background and verdigris topped vertical poles, as a way to exaggerate the contrast and drama of the season.

            Finally, I have got my act together and got at least the most recent gallery of images up at last! Sorry for the extended delay; hopefully "Normal Service will be resumed as soon as possible!" to steal a quote from the BBC!