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The Lake District by Car
For committed walkers in Cumbria, there are such wonderful sights to see – I know – been there and done that, but last week (mid September) a short break involved pottering around the area by car. Of course that means the views are from recognised tripod hole spots, but there’s always the chance of a new perspective or some exciting light. We were staying just three nights and the first day involved a gentle drive up, stopping off at Pooley Bridge for a fantastic Sunday lunch at the Sun Inn, followed by a short walk to the shore of Ullswater before dodging a pretty heavy downpour and driving on to…
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Counting the Birds
Last year, I first recorded my garden birds for the RSPB Big Bird Count in January. In 2022, I repeated the exercise. I found I actually had more birds this year, but the distribution of species was quite different. I had more than 20 species visiting in an hour, but the RSPB only display the first ten on the chart. Small Birds The small birds are here in some number and I’m very pleased to see the siskins again, along with bullfinches, which are visiting daily. The dunnocks are showing off to the females. Long tailed tits are in and out before I can get them focussed and an elusive…
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A Long Winter Take 2 -Tudor Style Portraits
An update to my Long Winter blog earlier this month. Occupying my thoughts, for some time, has been my hope to set up a photographic studio permanently in my garage. That won’t be possible just yet, so I am carrying all the lighting equipment up to my living room and setting up there. Before Christmas I decided to make some Tudor clothing for Mike. I would stretch my sewing ability as well as my photography and Photoshop skills. I made a Tudor doublet and a “bonnet” style hat and the look was completed with a lace ruff bought on-line. Amazingly they fit perfectly. The first session of photographs was meant…
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A Long Winter
Landscapes to help me through the long winter.
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Dovestone October 2021
The Dovestone reservoir and valley are favourite haunts in Autumn and, when I visited earlier this week, I realised it has been almost a year to the day since I was here before. As I live in the area, that seems to be quite surprising until you realise just how popular the place has become in the last year and a half, with congested roads, gridlock on the approach to the limited parking area, let alone people lighting BBQs in an already endangered area that was much damaged in the fires of 2018. Even the nearby village of Greenfield has been clogged up with visitors, so I kept to the…
