Priory Park Walk

  Priory Park in Bedford is quite varied in content, and ideal in which to walk, yet feel quite alone in the open space I find. On this visit, I was unsure whether I would find subjects for my camera, after parking my car at my destination, so initially made the decision to walk the route sans camera. that was less than ideal as it turned out as the point at which I entered the park was one long and less than exciting straight path. having walked its length, I decided I should reconsider that decision, so turned around and headed back. On a day with such oppressive heat, this was definitely a poor start, and wasted a considerable amount of energy and time!

I returned to the car and made a new decision, I would take my light rucksack and add food and flask, as well as my camera; in this instance the Lumix FZ10002 once again. Then I headed back along the recently walked path with its proven lack of interest to go deeper to see what I might find. The first item of interest I feel sure was a jackdaw feather – Its condition was pristine, which I found to be surprising for such a well-developed feather.

Early in my walk, I came across a lone Coot, that’s feeding from a part of a currently dry weir, and it seemed totally oblivious of my presence, so rather than take up a large part of the gallery of general images, I have created a standalone gallery that covers the bird’s activity as a separate entity.

The direction I later took was beneath one of the bridges along the river, which displayed considerable colourful graffiti and across the water from me, a group of youngsters set fire to something then stood around watching it envelope in flames. On my side, I spotted a partially full bottle I supposed was a lager, on a ledge, little realising that one amongst that number of kids a moment later was to appear on the same side as myself and pick it up, and wantonly throw it to the ground, smashing it. Sadly as a lone witness to his vandalism, there was little point in remonstrating since in total, the group possibly numbered around ten youths, so I just recorded more graffiti and took a shot of more civilised and relaxed behaviour beyond.

The road above my chosen path was carried in a curve around these various waters with some very interesting architecture of a far more recent bridge, which had far greater appeal, since much of my career had been spent photographing varied aspects of architecture in and around London and further afield.

As my walk continued I found myself recording bees, butterflies and cygnets and then I left the river to return to my car, and spotted an overflow of luxurious grapes hanging beyond the bounds of the house offering a bounty for passing walkers when they are ripe! Alongside also some very young acorns caught my eye, as did the skies that greeted me on my return home.  I should add also, that the route I took to leave the park was foolishly chosen beyond the bounds of the park and made the journey back to the car even longer than the walk within!

In terms of satisfaction, the shots beneath the road bridge gave me the most pleasure on this jaunt as I appreciated its curves and structure.

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.

Another Marston Thrift Visit

I am very aware that the isolation rules are vital for everyone's ultimate survival and safety, so I limit my trips out and specifically do not venture out every day, and often not even every other day. I am careful not to flaunt the guidelines so, on those few times that I do venture out into the countryside nearby, I carefully choose areas that are not popular with the general Public, thus the few other humans I do come across are generally those exercising their dogs. The choice is easy because I am trying to seek out those spots where humans do not disturb the wildlife!
Yesterday was the most recent day I ventured out, and I left it late in the day specifically so that most will have considered heading back; this has a secondary result it means that the day following is definitely going to be one spent sitting in front of a computer, going through the images to weed out any failures, duplicates, or even the boring. As anyone who reads the narratives that I post on my blog will be aware, I am trying hard to understand the very different handling of mirrorless digital cameras to try to bring the success rate closer to that of the Single-lens Reflex cameras I have been using to date. Even though I have devoted a not inconsiderable time with initially a Canon EOS R mirrorless camera, I am now working with a very different beast – a Lumix FZ10002 which sports a Leica lens; the difficulty stems from the firmware being very different from my Canon cameras. Why then have I changed?
The purchase came about by pure happenstance, and it has proved very fortuitous as with the current lockdown, there is no way I could lug around my normal very heavy gear that requires the use of a seriously heavy tripod, unless I happened to live right on top of one of my normal venues. This little camera sports a permanently attached long range zoom lens, is completely portable, and produces very good quality images. I hope that when this lock-down is over I can still remember how to handle my Canon equipment.
I do have to own up to the main reason I have difficulty with this recent camera, and that is down to my age – it is far more difficult for me to learn the new intricacies, and I fear I am glimpsing a different future when this pandemic is over; going back to my Canon gear is going to be equally hard!
Upon my arrival at the Car Park at the entrance to the woods, there was no other car present, yet I could hear distant voices, so those must be others who walked, so most likely they were dog-walkers. Having parked, a family group whom I had passed along the road came in and took the right hand path, so I was happy with that as I had intended using the other. It was close on twenty minutes before I saw anyone along my chosen route and I was by then in open ground, and ironically I did not have to deviate from my chosen route, all those I saw chose different paths. I only came close to one person when I was at the very edge of the Park area at the island beyond, that had a splendid Weeping Willow at its water's edge.
I was luckier on this visit to have got some better shots of the grey squirrel I had seen on an earlier visit, I also got a brief glimpse of a lone Comma butterfly, only my second of this year, and a lonely Robin singing hopefully for a mate!

Grand Union Canal at Hunton Bridge

An angler had mentioned that kingfishers were in abundance along the canal around Hunton Bridge, and I thought he mentioned Mary Capel’s Wharf, but maybe that was a failing of my memory, as search as I might online, I found nothing beyond who she was and her connection to Cassiobury Park and her marriage to the owner, the Earl of Essex. However on my return from a long walk in both directions from Hunton Bridge, I used the phrase Lady Capel’s Wharf, and realised I had all but arrived there when I came to the White Bridge, which gave onto the Grove.

The gallery of images depicting my journey along the towpath, initially cover the distance towards Hemel Hempstead, before returning to Hunton Bridge and setting off in the opposite direction towards Watford. Rhodadendrons were just coming into bloom on the far side from where I joined the path. much of the journey was within the tunnel of overhanging trees, but in the sunlight beyond I first spotted a comma butterfly i the hedgerow, then just beyond I spotted a snake swimming leisurely from the far side, asking those I met what species it was, proved to be fruitless and despite an angler’s insistence it was an adder, it turned out to be a grass snake!

At a fork in the canal, a family of swans had settled with its cygnets, and then beyond the towpath alongside a lake was an amiable dinosaur, followed by a crane and a heron, the crane being of the species ‘mechanica’, and one I recognised from my time photographing progress work at the Foresters Development in Harpenden over the last eighteen months.

A robin was gorging itself on a worm; though spotting wings, maybe this mouthful was not for itself but possibly for its offspring. A recent set of apartments along the far bank looked extremely appealing in the pleasant sunshine, and the repetitive shapes of the flyover supports I found fascinating as I passed beneath. The locks, the curves of the canal’s travel and the bridges also have charm as do the manicured lawns of some of the private dwellings along the route, but it does disappoint me to see so much discarded rubbish alongside such amenities and I felt this was epitomised by the plastic throne in the undergrowth by the ashes of a small fire and crushed lager cans. How is it difficult to bring back lightweight empty cans when it was so easy to carry weighty full ones?