Bromham Afternoon Visit

          I had not visited Bromham Lake for some time, and felt it was likely worth a visit, and it was obviously a good spot for visitors to exercise their canine companions, as only when I came across a couple of ladies did I meet anyone without a dog, and on this visit, not a single man. Perhaps the male population is now returning to work, which seemed to be borne out by the large number of male drivers I encountered on my later return trip home, in dense and painfully slow traffic.
          The day was warm, and the sun for the most part was uninterrupted by clouds, except towards the end of my stay within the park, this therefore gave me the opportunity to capture the detailed textures of some of the leaves, from both backlit or textured but oblique front lighting. There were still signs of lush greens as well as rich reds and golds, and once again an abundance of red berries. I also saw ladybirds. However, although I heard the occasional birdsong and fleeting glimpses of birds, they do not feature in this gallery.
          Autumn is here, but in transition, in that there is still an abundance of lush greens to be seen. The day was warm, and the sky bright with some large clouds. The light was strong and clear, offering me the chance to capture the texture of leaf structures, and give shadows to add further depth. I have this fascination for Teazels, because of the conflict of textures, the complexity, intricacy and uniformity of the pattern, set against the freedom of the surrounding skeletal cage of curves and twirls. Beyond the boundary hedge I captured the gantry stark against the blue sky, and the enigmatic orange square symbol surrounded by twin segmented white plastic rings, whose significance eluded me.
          The recent wind and rain means when I am next out in woods, I will see far fewer leaves, and these will carpet the ground beneath these trees, and much that are presently green will be on the turn, and give way to gold.

Another River Gt. Ouse Visit

There are times when Britain defies the idea that all we talk about is our weather, and this day, certainly in Bedfordshire, just had to be one where everywhere I turned everyone simply got on with enjoying it! There were no clouds to be seen from horizon to horizon, just clear blue. I had headed north to a place I had visited on the river that seems to wander in circles around the county, never giving a clue as to where it might be heading. Perhaps the message is: “Forget your compass, just follow me”! I did just that after taking the A421 north until I could get on the A603 and headed to Great Barford. The bridge here tells a story, it has many arches meaning it was built to defy the river and reach beyond its clutches to reach other destinations rather than be contained by its leisurely meanderings. Yes, the river provided water for growing crops, but it also gave the means to reach elsewhere to sell them and to reach higher ground to be safe from its dangers. The bridge not only has many arches, but it has history — a record of being constantly rebuilt stronger and wider over centuries — people here needed the river, and realised it had to be managed.

On this day the river gave over some of its power to the people to be enjoyed, and the sunshine brought them out cheerfully and in relaxed mood, small family groups remained in relaxed isolation, or walked with young families, or exercised with their dogs; older folk sat on some of the benches, at peace, watching others pursue their activities. People individually enjoying both the calm and the exercise in the open fields or on the paths, or on the water, paddling or tending their boats. In the air were birds flying, also with no clearly defined destination; Time appeared to have slowed down in the mild air, and even the young children appeared serene.

I spent some time at the same pace capturing what I saw, before moving elsewhere to see a pair of tractors tilling the ground and raising the dry soil in the slight breeze. I moved elsewhere to capture views of some of the houses and churches and, the ravens and pigeons on the ground or the pollarded trees, and finally I got shots of Spring blossom, fields of golden rapeseed and before leaving the area, I strolled around a lone church which remains consecrated, but like its neighbour buildings seems to be from a bygone era; in retirement.

Marston Moretaine - Thrift Walk

On this occasion, I used my car to reach my start point for a walk around Marston Thrift and Rectory Wood, since once there I would be definitely walking far more than the trip to the entry to the Woods, but to no advantage! I wondered just what changes I would find since my last visit might be. The trees had acquired far more leaf coverage, and although only one car had driven ahead of me to the Car Park, we were the sole vehicles. The other person had taken the path to the right, so I took the left one.

My first images were of fresh new leaves that were heart-shaped, which from my scant knowledge were probably likely to be described as weeds, but to my eye it was their shape that appealed, not whether gardeners would categorise them derogatorily as weeds. It was whilst I was walking along this straight stretch, that I caught sight of a very busy, and unusual flying insect, but it proved to be utterly indefatigable and on the few occasions when it alighted, it barely remained beyond a twenty-fifth of a second, and certainly beyond my chance of getting a shot, but it was not a species I had seen before, so I wasted several minutes in a vain effort to see whether I might get a shot of it — this is my most serious disappointment with this mirrorless camera (the FZ10002), I might at least have had a chance were I using a dSLR. 

My reason for the persistence in using this camera, is that firstly, it is a very capable camera, that I am determined to master; it is vey light, produces excellent quality results, and the fault lies with my difficulty in adapting to its controls. Also, it does not advertise my activities that for some might consider to be nonessential. It is very capable despite its lack of weight, and has rewarded me with some excellent images. The greatest drawback lies in the way it’s operations are arranged via its numerous controls, and the difficulty is also very much related to my age and my brain is not blessed with much available storage space. However in my defence, I do believe that the controls are not ideally laid out, so if I could get someone to set some specific features I need to be immediately accessible I feel it would become indispensable.

I am aware that it is very possible to program the controls to suit differing ways of working, but if I play around I could well make matters worse, without some informed input, so whilst under Lockdown there is little chance of some informed guidance. I have certainly learned some ways to speed some settings, but all too often, if I hit the wrong button, suddenly I lose vital settings, resulting in lost shots!

Overall on this outing, I managed to capture most shots with minimal fuss, from close-ups of insects to landscapes and an overflying light aircraft, fill-in flash to balance contre-jour shots of leaves, and a five-shot handheld panorama. So, not too disgraceful, but having learned deer roam these woods, it is a shame I did not get that opportunity! I did manage low-level close-up shots of bluebells, so definitely not a waste of time for the amount of walking I did to keep fit. And importantly very few contacts with fellow humans.

Wilstone’s Winter Birds

I decided on an afternoon visit to Wilstone, despite the lateness, because the sky was so bright and Blue, I did not expect wildly exciting shots, but I met some very interesting people, and several others were out with their cameras.  As it was afternoon with a low sun, the light was good, but none of us expected really interesting subjects, so the exercise of walking and carrying a heavy tripod and two cameras was the greatest benefit.

The water level was very low, so a lot of the shallower parts of the lake were exposed which did mean the Grey Wagtail was busy at the margin, and I ventured down into the mud which at first was dry and reasonably solid, but as I neared the water’s edge it was decidedly boggy and I had to move back unless I fancied getting embedded, and with so few people around, that was foolhardy. I did find some rocks that gave my tripod some support, so at least I managed some shots of the Wagtail, later back on the bank I also was able to follow a Pied Wagtail in its foraging.

I spotted that one particular Gull spent its time on the water with occasional two-second flights to fish for tiddlers, unlike the majority who would fly and swoop to do their fishing, only landing after long spells in the air.

Later another photographer and myself found ourselves watching the successful landing of a Pike, and the angler certainly worked hard, and considering as he informed us he had both hips replaced, it was interesting to watch,. He had been dragging his catch a considerable distance from where started, so had to walk back to get his landing net before completing the operation, thus not all the afternoon’s images were of birds, as I took the opportunity of recording his labours. Later, though I walked past the corner leading eventually to the woods and the path to the Hide, I turned back without any more pictures till I returned to the promontory with its bench and later watched the evening feeding by numerous Fieldfare darting between two favoured trees laden with berries.

Twice I watched a hovering Kestrel, but I was bitterly disappointed by the poor quality of those particular shots, but overall it was an interesting afternoon’s exercise.

January in the Gardens - Stockwood Discovery Centre

I decided upon a swift visit to the Centre’s Gardens as there was a bright blue sky and it was less cold than the last day of clear bright sun.

I just needed to get an idea of what state had been reached with preparations for the coming season, and it was apparent that a considerable amount of trimming and clearing had gone on, but here and there there were still a few hardy specimens left from the last season, and in the greenhouses had several young flowers being readied or the tropical specimens being stored to protect them from the frost.

I asked whether I could be allowed in one of the smaller greenhouses to record some of these and the reply was positive, so before leaving I took a few more shots and thanked them for their kindness.

It’s always a surprise just how many images can be found when you’re prepared to look; so forty-five images for such a short visit and at this time of year was rewarding.

Bright Sun at Marsworth

After a spell of really dismally grey and blustery days, it was a delight to see blue sky and high clouds and less of a wind, so there was now ay I was going to miss out. Rather than venture in the direction of Hertfordshire, I headed towards Buckinghamshire and the Marsworth Reservoir, taking just the 100-400mm lens on the 5D MkII.

As I walked between the two lakes, I heard the very distinct sound of heavy flapping and over Startops I spotted a lone swan that had just taken off, but it was both too distant, and only glimpsed through branches, but little did I know it then, but it was to be a feature of that afternoon; the swans were definitely restless and spent a good proportion of the time, taking to the air and moving to a different spot. This was noticeably a weekday when those lucky enough to be still off were taking advantage of the sunshine and comparative warmth to exercise their dogs, walk off their Christmas excesses, play with their young families or fish.

I got a call from one of my daughters asking whether I wished to join them with their two over at Towersey and take a walk along the Phoenix way, so I was destined not to be at the reservoir for too long, and the numbers of families out for their constitutionals steadily grew as I returned from the locks towards Bulbourne. On my outward trip I came across a wonderfully vocal robin presumably doing his best to woo a mate, and I am sure he would succeed as his was the most song I have ever heard from a robin, and it was very melodious!

Though I was only there for a short spell, my time was well-rewarded, and it was not long before I was heading towards Thame during which time I received an invitation to London to meet up with my niece and nephew before they both returned to India. Later I was to receive another call, this time to ask whether I was happy to have two different viewings for the house on Saturday; so two nice pieces of news in one afternoon.

Sunny Views of Tower Crane, Harpenden

After the first snow of this winter season just the day before, the sun shone out of a crisp blue sky, so despite the cold breeze I set off for Harpenden Common to capture shots of the tower crane hard at work at the far end of the town, glistening bright white against the rich blue, in the foreground gulls and crows would occasionally swoop into view.

The challenge was to have a foreground that showed the viewpoint, but did not dominate the scene. I needed a high enough shutter speed to ensure the crane and birds were reasonably sharp, but the depth of field was narrow enough that the cars were none too sharp, so you were drawn to the crane in the background, at work in the Jarvis and Toureen Mangan development at the north end of the high street.

Having captured the shots from the common, I then took a few more from the far side of the high street at the entrance to the site to accentuate the rich blue sky beyond, and the stark white of the buildings to the front.