Forest Centre Walk from Top End

 

Another Walk; Another Day. However, the destination is simply to visit the top end of the woods that bound the Millennium Park, and to do that I drive further north along the A421, and at the turning towards the station and College, I take the first turning on the right, and park up just before the turnstile to the north end of the park. Since the weather is settled, I remove the camera cover, and simply pocket the two closeup lenses, lock the car and head for the entrance.

Decisions, decisions: which way to go? — Left, or Right? The latter. Sadly, I walked a fair distance, looking right and left, up the bank, and down towards the brook that babbles gently from the recent rains an finally I find reason to switch the camera on, and remove the tethered lens cap, and take my opening shots of the vibrant green coat the tree is sporting, attracted by the curved e-shaped tree trunk that sports an interesting fungus, with a horizontal, similarly coated horizontal bough that forms the Euro symbol. Having never spotted this rich dark maroon and black fungus before, I move closer for a more detailed image before continuing to find similarly moss-clad branches.

One of the most attractive features of Autumn in the woods is that despite the general perception that this season is dominated by browns, albeit with numerous shades, the reality is that the palette is far more diverse, and never more so than when the sun is out. The next leaves I spotted and captured, makes this vividly apparent — in one image, the hero leaves are rich in both green and red, yet beyond are golden yellows, and intensely blue-biased greens. The Autumn spectrum of colours is far from monochromatic shades of brown, and as if to add further emphasis to the colour palette of Autumn, I find a lone, young white flower alongside deep maroon and thorn clad branches and dead and dying fruits.

After passing steep, muddy banks with obvious slithery attempts to climb for better views or to reach good areas from which to fish, I finally find some wooden steps that are safe for me to consider safely to reach the shoreline and get glimpses of the lake beyond. I find a lone gull perched on a small buoy, and beyond, three chimneys of this area’s past history in the Brick industry. This lake and numerous others in Bedfordshire are the reminders of the era when clay was dug to support the brick industry around this area. The county’s lakes now support wildlife, and the leisure activities from boating, sailing, water-skiing and angling to water sports like windsurfing.

Swirling, bubbling water always is attractive in photographs, and the little weir with its trapped bottle, held by the current definitely appealed, as well as affirm the quality of the lens on this camera, my handy LUMIX fz10002.

Naturally I am attracted to the colour I capture, but on walks like this it is the variety of subject matter, and often some of the details, and textures attract my attention, as do patterns that can have been formed by recognised actions, and others that surprise by the sheer oddity or happenstance — for instance the calm water at the boundary to the rippled surface which held the reflection of the chimneys on the water’s surface, and then the lack of fear exhibited by the gull when passed closely by the Grebe. Also, the textures when one part of a branch is covered in its death by new life in the form of coloured fungal growth, or the vibrant reds of berries that appear when the leaves have had their time.

The sunset that closed the day I spent out with the camera was definitely a fitting end to my walk, and to end the day, when I captured the final curtain from outside my house with the silhouette of leafless, tall willows, against the rich colours of the fading sunset.

Marston Lake Sunny Afternoon

I set off to my nearest Anglers' lake, Marston lake to see what life was on the water in the warmth of the afternoon, and spotted some Tufted Ducks, a juvenile Grebe, and a Gull. All at some distance from the shore.
It was therefore lucky that I had decided to use the 60-600mm Sigma Sports lens with the additional 2x Converter, as on this lake, many of the smaller birds stay a good distance from the shore, unlike the Swans.
When I first arrived I met up with the Angler from whom I had learned about the Willington Lakes, and we chatted before I set up the camera a short distance closer to the entrance to the lake, as with the sun so low, the light was at a better angle. I did fire off a few shots at the more distant birds, but they were of no value so do not appear in this small single-page gallery.
Although it was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon in the sunshine, and avoid close contact with others, it was not an exciting group of images, but it was good to see the Grebe stretch its wings, and the swan with its upturned wings as it headed straight for the shore ahead of me, when I realised he seemed likely to be coming ashore, I quickly gathered a handful of Sunflower seeds and threw them for it as a reward, but he seemed disinterested at first though once ashore for a moment did start to pick at the few that I had thrown onto jetty, and later even some of the seeds on the water. I got the impression it was some morsels of bread it would have found more appealing. The last shots I managed before leaving were a couple of Mallard ducks heading for the reeds.

Marston Lake — a Second Photo Visit

 

          The day started overcast, that brightened by around ten, but l got involved in relaxation having lain in a dream state before heading to a wash and shave. Breakfast over I decided to head towards the small lay-by I had used on my previous visit, but on this occasion I intended shooting with my heavy Benbo tripod and the 150-600mm Sigma Sports lens.

          Having assembled it, I planned to turn right as  I came to the junction by the lake and walk the short distance to the end of that track, where I met an angler called Andy, who had been there since the morning before. We chatted as I set up the camera, and I learned he had never seen any kingfishers here, which was not the news I had been hoping to hear! He had been to a spot in Germany where there had been several — not the reassurance I was seeking!

          In the course of further conversation, he did however say he would keep an eye out, and let me know if any ever appeared, and where he spotted them, and so I gave him a card should the occasion arise. I was most appreciative of that offer, because he was a frequent visitor and always for longer periods than I could manage, so that was very welcome.

          On my arrival, the cloud cover was almost total, but for a while, it lessened breaking into parallel lines, with pale blue beyond — a pattern I saw just once before earlier in the year, though on this occasion it was less clearly defined, and beyond, in the middle distance, the pattern was repeated but at ninety degrees to the first group! On the water were several small groups of Coots, occasionally chasing each other with gusto, for reasons only they understood, but it just seems Coots are just noisily antisocial as a breed. Of greater interest to me were a fair-sized group of Tufted Ducks, and I glimpsed possibly the same lone Grebe I saw on my last visit.

          I saw that a circling Gull had landed, and I was lucky enough to get a short burst as it took off a short while later. Although Cormorants are not one of my favourite birds, one came just within reach, so I grabbed a few shots as it passed by. Also, the Robin paid us a visit, but despite being offered some fish bait, it kept its distance and was always behind intervening branches, so does not feature in this gallery. The light became too low eventually, so I bade my angler friend farewell, and headed homeward.

Watton at Stone Cricket Team at Bamville

The Cricketers from Watton at Stone visited Harpenden to play against Bamville Cricket Club on Sunday and the weather was warm and close, as was the match that played out in the afternoon with an end that was equally close.

I cannot claim to be writing about the match from a cricketer’s standpoint, I simply try to record what I find of interest from what I can capture, and this is strongly biassed towards my capturing the bails in the air and the stumps ‘akimbo’! That is challenge enough; to capture a fielder catching the ball direct from the batsman requires a thorough recognition of the characteristics of the bowler, the batsman, considerable knowledge of the game and the relative skills of individual fielders – my knowledge of the above can be summed up as limited in the extreme, or more honestly as zilch!

Now that the cataract in my hitherto dominant right eye has been rectified, my skill lies with my eyes and reasonable reactions to what they see and anticipate from my observation of the play. I have a weighty but very steady tripod, so moving around is slightly restricted, and every so often the fielders share my chosen viewpoint thus I have to wait a while before I have a clear line of sight on the batsman, or if they seem rooted to the spot, I have to move and reset the tripod level again. When deciding to follow the action of a bowler, it is well nigh impossible to follow the entire run-up due to the proximity of the umpire, and the batsman at the crease, so that often results in less than tidy images.

If the bowler is powerful, this makes inclusion of the wicket keeper less easy due to the distance he will be from the stumps, so I tend to favour the batsmen as my favoured subjects, and some can be right-handed others left-, so as play within an over progresses, my viewpoint which had one of the batsmen facing me, can change when odd numbers of runs are achieved. I therefore tend to err on the photographic and photogenic aspects, such as from where is the light coming, the composition and any drama that occurs. Crisp shots of the bails in the air and the stumps re-arranged therefore seems like a good measure of whether my photos are a success – I missed two such occasions in this match due to my attempts at concentrating on the bowlers in both instances, but hopefully the batsmen’s play of the ball helps to tell the story of the afternoon alongside the record of their occasional demise due to accurate bowling. My apologies for the total absence of the record of great catches of which ironically I did actually witness two, with my number one eyeball!

Play was interrupted by a friendly Golden Retriever, and I manage to get a few shots of an overflying gull, just to add to the day’s action, and thank you Peter for some sustenance, the end of the day however was less successful and ultimately very costly, I managed to pick up a sharp flint from where I parked my car, and with the air in my tyre only lasting to the far side of Harpenden, my journey home was delayed waiting for the AA, because, the puncture could not be repaired and the rest of the journey was completed using a spacesaver tyre, and the day following necessitated a drive to Luton to replace the tyre, as the damage was right at the very edge of the tyre.