Wondering Where to Wander

The sun was out, it was warm, and I needed the exercise; since there seemed to at least be some wind, I headed for the lake at Brogborough. The gate to the Windsurfers area was locked, so that ruled out any potential activity there, but I parked up and locking the car behind me, I crossed the road and entered the lakeside area favoured by anglers. The view that greeted me at the second swim was of a lake bereft of any aquatic birdlife, but the view off to the left was excluded from here, so I ventured further, but found the situation was just as unpromising.

Returning to the car, I drove on and took the road into Lidlington and uphill beyond and onto the A507, I had gone but a short distance before seeing that in the valley deer were there in large numbers, I pulled off the main road, and fortunately the road widened in the first few yards, affording me a handy and safe parking spot. I locked up and grabbed my camera and crossed the main road. Not only was there a clear view of the fields below and beyond, but there was a handy reinforced concrete block to prevent vehicle access to the field, but it offered a raised platform to give me added height should I need it!

This spot allowed me a wide uninterrupted view up the hill to the left, across and below to the front and off to the right to some farm buildings and further fields and woods. I spent a relaxing and rewarding time photographing abundant and ever-increasing numbers of deer entering from my left in the main and coming downhill, but every so often some chose to venture back higher. Almost all the deer present spent their time on the move, making the most of the warmth and occasionally feeding. My presence had no adverse effect on their behaviour, and some ventured closer to me by the hedge, for a spell.

The general flow was downhill and from left to right, and as time passed this did deplete their numbers and eventually brought an end to my time there, but I was very pleased by this unexpected happenstance, and came away grateful for the opportunity I had been afforded; I had shots of a red kite and interesting cloud structures and pleasing landscape images, altogether a very rewarding afternoon.

Bedfordshire Outing in Excellent Light

Warm sunshine and crystal clear blue sky was ideal weather to spend an afternoon taking photographs, so I was easily tempted, and I found an abundance of different subjects to make it worth my while and create a gallery with a span of interests. It also proved to be a day with my meeting and chatting to several others, a couple of other photographers and villagers with whom I encountered along the way.

The verges along the country roads I travelled were all well-covered by having grown fast due to recent rainfall and a distinct improvement in the weather thereafter, which meant it was not easy to pick a spot to park as any potential hazards were hidden, so with no place to park when I wanted to take my first shots, I pulled into a farm to see whether I could stop for a few moments. This action proved to be fortuitous as it was the location of a car repair facility with a specialist spray booth, and in speaking to the only man present, he said the boss was not around, but if I was quick he was sure that would be fine. It looked a very professional outfit, and so I enquired whether there were possibilities of photographing their work and I left a card for the owner’s return.

As it so happened, my return trip took me past the same location, and I was able to meet the owner, and there does seem there might be possibilities; it turns out he was for several years employed by the Maclaren team, and I had a promising chat when meeting him.

The first shots were of a splendid house and its surroundings alongside a road that dropped from a hill down a dip before rising. Later I spotted signs to a village which might have been named in a romantic novel: Newton Blossomville, and I had met the name before, but never visited the village, so I put that right. On the way I spotted a pair of very ramshackle roofless cottages, and decided they were worth capturing, and I actually met the guardian and had a lengthy chat with hime and learned a bit of their history, and it would seem that after lengthy processes will finally be replaced and let.

The rest of the trip was spent in several locations involving shots of a vast field filled entirely with solar panel arrays, and another area of energy production; a series of Wind Turbines, set against young Oilseed Rape fields, and finally I parked in Newton Blossomville and spent the rest of my time with varied subjects from buildings, flowers, walls, knotted wood, to birds – altogether a very enjoyable afternoon of photography.

An Afternoon around Stagsden

It seems a while since I took this group of pictures, but life got in the way, with a few tribulations that involved a boiler sparking out, however that is now behind me, so I have now set myself the task of trying to write up what happened on that weekend.

It was a day that began with the typical early morning mist that signifies Autumn, but warmed up remarkably quickly to present blue skies and puffy white Cumulus clouds which gave Hay Lane a full appreciation of its name, this was the Big Country, largely flat, though with hills rising and falling along a largely straight road, so I pulled over to capture the hill itself and later, the small hamlet that had grown up around a farm and small pond. I wandered with my long lens into the undergrowth beyond the pond on the offchance there might be some wildlife lurking in the scrub or thicket, and did catch a fleeting sight of a dragonfly and a butterfly, and noted the raindrops still on the long grass from the night before. I soon wandered back to the edge of the pond where I was pleasantly surprised by the clarity of the water and the numbers of small fish.

As I wandered back towards my car, I fell into conversation with one of the hamlet’s inhabitants who said I might be interested in capturing one of his sunflowers which had started life with just one flower head, but as the summer progressed had developed green towards its centre and then its edge to produce a total of four flower heads all conjoined. He invited me to see other flowers and also apparently a cluster of twenty four self-set sunflowers. It turns out he had been a Seed Merchant’s lorry driver before retiring to this quiet rural spot miles from anywhere. After a stroll through his garden chatting and my taking pictures, he set off with his wife and I continued to Stagsden which if I understand the sign I saw had once been known as Stachedene.

As I wandered around its church I noted that when the clouds drew across the sun, the angle was very well suited to capturing the building lit and some trees in shadow, but also the clouds were gathering more and so the chances of getting a shot were steadily diminishing. I did succeed in the end.

I then headed back out into the countryside and spotted a dried up pond with a large Weeping Willow, well that is the wrong order – I spotted the Willow and the depression and assumed a pond, but found it dried up. I drove then to the weak bridges at Oakley and the weir on the The Great Ouse, and it was there that I heard the distinctive sound of an older engine and just managed to grab a shot of this red car with its horizontally-opposed twin engine.  I completed this trip by wandering quietly along a path and under a fallen tree towards the weir. It was interesting to note it had obviously been decided to leave the tree over the path, which probably gave great entertainment to children playing here.

Goodwood Revival 2012

Cars and Aircraft

This year I went to the Revival Meeting with my younger daughter who is carrying my next grandchild, so the pace was somewhat more leisurely; I had to be mindful of how much walking was involved.

We arrived in glorious sunshine and just high level clouds, and since we had set off later than many times before, and met traffic – the crowds had already amassed. 

Coming from the Car Park you walk through a multitude of vintage cars, a Funfare and an area of marquees selling memorabilia, games, clothes, you name it. Yet you have not yet ventured past the main entrance; I am sure many people spend hours in just this one area, and surprisingly, not everything at these stalls is at a premium.

The atmosphere was as it has always been at Goodwood’s events, one of joy and ease. There is always far too much to see in just one day, but everyone is happy, polite and patient, you never feel jostled.

The roar of engines for the first race was underway, and already aircraft were in the sky displaying their skills above our heads. One of my first port of calls was to say thank you personally to Jo Willitts for my tickets, but although I managed to enter the Richmond Viewing Area, she was not around, so had to leave a message with someone else instead.

I also made a call to a friend who was down for all three days, but the Friday had been too much, he and his girlfriend had overdone the day before, and were still at the nearby farm. We did however meet up much later at the banking beyond Madgwick, what a splendid couple they made – Toby with his pith helmet and white jacket, and Jo with her wide-brimmed straw hat - charmingly Colonial!

Sunny Day after the Storm

It is a week since I took these shots, and sadly the North of England has since suffered the heaviest single downfall of rain on record, with massive losses to their local houses and businesses, and the tragic loss of a policeman from a bridge collapse at Workington.

The Lake District has a powerful pull on tourists for its beauty, I do hope that those that visit in the near future will remember that such beauty can hide the awful tragedy wrought by the power of all that water. We need to fully realise and plan for our defence from the awesome power of Nature.

In the South, and in inland areas beyond the flood plains, we need to appreciate just how lucky we can be to not suffer from such cataclysmic forces. We suffered just a few tree branches blown down, but in Cumbria they lost livelihoods.

The sun was out early down here in the Home Counties, and blue skies prevailed with little hint of the destruction of the night before and what was to follow just a short week later, up North. I decided that work I had to do could wait, whilst I went out and took advantage of the warmth and sunshine to capture what was left of beauty in the nearby countryside.

I was lucky to be photographing a landscape when a rustling nearby turned out to be a badger! My camera was on a tripod, so I only managed to catch this fleeting glimpse of Brock in daylight. Its home turned out to be beneath the bole of the tree right in front of where I stood, shielded by ferns.

There were still signs of autumn colour, and a few hardy flowers, with even some optimistic buds that I managed to capture, as I and numerous others, took advantage of this brief spell of warmth and sunshine. I dedicate these images to those less fortunate.