A Marston Thrift Sunshine Visit

It was obviously very noticeable just how much effect the warm sunshine had on the Public’s desire to escape the confines of their homes, because this visit of mine encountered a full Car Park where around a week ago, only one other car entered to park when I arrived and when I came to leave on that occasion, mine was the only vehicle remaining.

In the main straight path, numerous small family groups passed me, as well as lone cyclists and a few singletons, in the main because having walked this route only recently, there were far less subjects of interest, so I was looking more closely for new subjects. Once I had completed the long tunnel of overarching trees and come out into the open, I chose the sinuous path that parallels the stream to see whether I might catch sight of the Squirrel I had encountered on earlier visits, but despite staying by its home tree for several minutes, I was not graced by its presence. 

I decided I would return via a parallel path to the small reed bed close to where I had left the wooded path earlier. I soon spotted a dragonfly darting from one of the taller reeds, and here was a subject that I definitely enjoyed trying to capture, also it was not a kind I had photographed before, and it was frequently on the move, so it meant the backgrounds would vary, as would the angle it would present itself to me.

The dragonfly soon grew bored of this area, and headed off elsewhere, and although I waited awhile in case others came along, seemingly that was it, so I moved on. Whilst I was walking alongside the grassy bank I spotted an intriguing plant for which I can find no name, so currently I have put out a call to my horticultural guru to learn whether she can enlighten me as to what it might be. I recognised the two stages in its life cycle due to its stem which I describe to myself as boxes, which stack themselves up along the central stem closed then when they have stacked enough they all then open to produce an abundance of fine green ‘hairs’ like a feather duster (on this occasion, Google was unable to elicit an answer for a name from my description!)

I was far more successful with this description for the butterfly whose name temporarily escaped me and so I entered the following description: ‘brown and orange winged butterfly with bifurcated wings’ — as soon as it came up, I realised that the name that had eluded me was one I would have known instantly normally, due to its link to punctuation — Comma! I am now trying to remove the inane grin from my face as I continue to complete this narrative!

One of the last images I took I have included was because I took advantage of the recently restored swing from a tree that I had decided to relax in; whilst I sat there I tried to capture the makeshift bridge, and due to the fading light the exposure was around one second, I then tried to create an attractive end result, and the third exposure is one that appealed! The swing had a habit of twisting, which gave quite that pleasing result.

Afternoon Sunshine and Waterlogged Fields

On this afternoon the early clear skies after the rain tempted me to consider getting out and doing some photography; I was hoping for some birds, ideally kingfishers, but that was not to be. I headed first to Biddenham in that there seemed to be a possibility of reaching a stretch of river with trees along its banks, but that proved to be of no luck. On the journey to my next village, I saw a vast open, low-lying field that had succumbed to the recent rains so I parked up just beyond and returned to the viewpoint from which I felt I could take a series of images and create a panorama within Adobe Lightroom, the program I use for my galleries. (The subsequent image is not as wide as I had hoped because of the positioning of one of the young saplings in the foreground).

  I returned to the car and headed for Bromham and where I parked a short walk from one of its bridges having found a suitable slot and took out my camera, popped another couple of lenses into a camera bag and slung that over my shoulder and walked back to where I had seen the Mill, choosing that as a start point with its fast rushing waters, that created interesting eddies swirling past its piers.

A little later I walked across one of the bridges to the small riverside park where some of the trees had recently been cut down, and where I met and chatted to a lady taking her young dog for a walk, during which I asked about spots that I might catch sight of kingfishers. It was during our conversation she showed me images she had on her phone and she mentioned the name of a photographer called Alan Goodger. I told her that I was certain that his was the name of a man I had met a few years back, and when I did a search using Google, I not only found his name, but just a few entries further my blog came up, as I had noted his name in the narrative of a trip to Woburn Park where we met!

The shots I took here were to be the last of the afternoon as the sun was going down, and I was lucky as I left the park to capture the church at Oakley, bathed in warm low sun, with even its reflection in a puddle in the road. I imagine my next photos will be of members of my extended family over the Christmas holiday period.

Reconnaissance Trip Ending at Great Barford

I have an apology to make for anyone early who attempted to search for these images - I slipped up - Sorry,

They are now properly linked. So, do try again!

The early afternoon sky showed signs of the sun breaking through the overcast, so I gathered potential camera gear for trip to take a look at a lake that apparently according to a couple of anglers I had met at Marston Lake offered possibilities of seeing kingfishers, so I decided a visit was worthwhile to see the lay of the land, as I had taken a look using Google Earth and it was not too far away. The Lake was at Willington, but the only way is for me to locate the local Bailliff for access.

  I set off despite there seeming to be few opportunities to park up nearby, and that proved to be the case, so I travelled a short distance further to Great Barford and after an extended wait at traffic lights, set off over the bridge and after turning right on the far side, parked up close to the Anchor Public House. The siting of this pub and its bridge in the milky sunlight made choosing the EOS 5D and 24-70mm with macro lens the ideal choice, and I put the 35mm f/1.4 in my pocket as a possible addition, and locking the car, crossed the road and entered the riverside field beyond via a kissing gate.

  Only a stretch at the river’s edge is public; the field itself belongs to the private house beyond a smaller bridge to the owner’s garden. The view of the main, long bridge over the Great Ouse was bathed in the soft light from the wintry sun, and almost immediately I saw the chance of choosing a a spot from which to take a series of shots handheld to create a panorama. Adobe Lightroom has an excellent feature for this using Raw files, so selecting the best position, I carefully checked the necessary exposure, then set this on the camera and made this as my fixed exposure and manual focus and holding the camera vertically took eleven consecutive images from the left to the right extremities of the bridge, hoping to complete later the single image of its length. The resulting stitched image heads this piece.

I then reset the camera to Aperture Priority and continued taking photos from this side of the bridge, before returning to the kissing gate, and taking to the same side of the river, but on the other side of the bridge. The light persisted for most of my walk along the path and up to the weir and its lock, where I took a walk over the bridge and along the far side, before retracing my steps and returning across the far less inspiring bridge, where I got talking to a lone man who showed an interest in what photos I was taking. It was during this brief chat I asked him about where he had seen kingfishers and he mentioned Blunham, so this went into my notes of a further visit I should be making.

  On my return walk I began taking shots of the developing seeds of Ivy along the hedgerow, and finally, shots of the The Anchor’s signage and its environs. The completed panorama which stitched with only my shadow and an errant branch being retouched acts as the end piece to the gallery, so I headed homeward to process all the pictures I had been lucky to capture.