A Trip Out – Cut Short

The intention was to choose a different venue to take my walk, and to avoid others, however, I soon learned that on this occasion I was less successful. I had assumed as I was at the furthest point from the Main Entrance of the Millennium Park that it would be less frequented; I found I was entirely wrong in this assumption! I had been deceived by the total lack of cars in this short road to some industrial units, where in the past I had often observed numerous parked vehicles.
It was noticeable for the large proportion of cyclists both singly and in small groups compared to the numbers I was used to at the southern end of the outer path. I had also left it late, as from past observations, by late afternoon, many had returned home, however on this occasion I was wrong on every point.
I decided that at this time, to venture further meant I would encounter more such groups, so after taking a few shots of a lone pigeon preening itself, I decided that to return was a good idea. I went to another lake, the one at Stewartby, the Quest Pit, where I took a series of images to create a panorama, then headed for home, even though this spot was entirely bereft of people, there was little sign of any birdlife.
It was the least successful escape from the house to date, as the gallery of images only offered the chance of some preening shots of a pigeon and a handheld Panorama image of the Quest Pit Lake.

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.

Stewartby Lake Walk

In the past I have often tried to capture the patchwork fields of Oilseed Rape as an early sign of the end of Winter and the burgeoning flourish of colour to the fields and this has been a year when I have not taken any notice of  these cloths of gold, so when a chance came to go out and see whether there were some such fields, I found myself thwarted. There are few hills to give some height to view from, and in this part of Bedfordshire, the crop seems rare, but it had been my intention on this journey with my camera.

I did spot a singular large field, but it was not particularly accessible, and it was in very flat land, so at most would provide a slit of yellow against green and brown, with no undulations and the sky was boringly clear of clouds against the sky. Plan B beckoned. I parked the car by an entrance to the circular path around Stewartby Lake, where I thought there might be some activity on the water from those celebrating the Easter break, but the lake was a serene calm, so of no interest to the sailors of dinghies, so after a quick reconnaissance, I selected my 24-70mm lens and took a walk along the path, widdershins to essentially capture the Spring blossom and the young leaves which lined the way.

Occasionally, there were a few small white butterflies with a flash of orange, an abundance of midges that would find my exhaled breath an attraction, the brief sighting of small birds just darting across my field of view and a small hovering furry insect that defied my ability to record its presence, all around the songs of birds was ever present, but they were largely out of sight. I wandered slowly along keen to capture the small indications of red against the whites of Spring blooms, the textures of sunlight on the wrinkled young leaves and sprigs of blossom against the pale blue sky. The discarded bricks at the water’s edge that defines the foreshore of this vast wound where clay had been extracted for the brickworks whose signature four tall chimneys still stand in the derelict expanse that remains from that time.

It did provide me a small glimpse of a landscape –  in a  scene that caught my eye; a lone swan in the mirror-like calm of still water with a distant stand of tall trees, sadly with an arc of discarded cans in the shallow water, but a picture nonetheless. During the walk I was passed by a couple of cyclists and runners doing laps of the lake and two of those, exercising their dogs alongside for company. Altogether a not too disappointing gallery of images from the short trip.