THE BIRDIES ON THE WING (28/02/11)

Spring is sprung…The grass is ris………I wonder where them birdies is……The birdies on the wing…….That’s absurd…………..The wing is on the bird.

I could go on for ever, a stunning day, we have walked for hours. Not a marathon, just wandered…..got lost wandering. No worries. Got engrossed admiring frog spawn, a Crocus, sheep and light and cloud. So happy have I been I forgot to take pictures. Well there are a few…………….

A view over the very bottom of Eskdale. The gorse is flowering and the sun is shining.

    A crocus is out sorry I was up to my boot tops in sludge and forgot to shove ISO so a wee bit blurry. Excited to see it I was!

     Frog spawn laid in a tractor rut……………no chance….I moved a bit into a nearby pond. Funny it was below freezing here last night and I dredged with my hands around the pond edge but couldn’t find a frog.

This…..whatever it is…is in full bloom. The shrub is about twenty feet tall and the white flowers are chrysanthemum sized. Brilliant whatever it is.

      Just in case you thought I had my sensible head on…………….scrap in the wood.

Have a good week. See you tomorrow.

 

I’M a STAR BAR (27/02 /11)

Now I have to start this post by saying there are thousands of pictures………..mucky as I am they are all off birds…..I’ve come of age! Movies age….We are in the Twenty fist century.

As most regular viewers will know I post and shoot the same day. I do it because I love journalism………the pressure and the immediacy of it. it also cover a multitude of other sins…………syntax being one.

I’ve had a video capable camera for a couple of months, had the software for longer but being a numb nut couldn't’ work either.

As my blog is more a diary and a venture into the visual You will have to tolerate or click out………before you do ……………I know, I myself wince at this. It needs voice over………sorry narrative………I am no dumb cluck. It has taken so long to produce this…..even I can differentiate between time and scene line,and I hope sound track and and narrative.  It will have to wait Yesterday I sussed that bit!. …Another horrendous bag of worms……………It’s beyond me! I have the software but not the ability to work it.

Welcome to the Muppet show…….

birds various

…………….there are some lovely birds. This takes hours to do. Believe me I have chopped twenty two minutes to eight minutes and still am far from a happy Muppet. Video is a nightmare. Mine is HD start at the top and work down. Many thanks to Keith at Holding Moments for giving me the courage to exploit the technology and to John at Midmarsh Jottings for his guidance and total understanding. John you did say it’s a steep curve uphill………….bloody vertical would be more apposite.

I’ll be back tomorrow, hopefully normal. have a good week and sorry the picture is long.

 

BRIGHT AND BREEZY (26/02/11)

We are happy, the sun shone. I was beginning to think that never again would I see anything but fog and rain with a bit of sleet and snow now and again to add variety. We are back in Ravenglass till Friday and the outlook is favourable…………we’ll see.

We had a good walk round the estuary, nothing much about and I forgot the poncho. Tomorrow I’ll take the dogs for a good run early then go out again with the poncho but forget the dogs for an hour or so.

    Two views of a sunny Ravenglass.

    A beautiful day…………..far too many people about but the children go back to school next week so if the weather holds things will look up.

The bird feeder was doing brisk business.

A collared Dove sitting on top of it trying to work out how to get at the seed…….it didn’t have to wait long as a Nuthatch arrived. They only eat the Niger seeds so fire the rest all over the place.

This one is almost tame…………it’s not particularly hungry as it has spent most of the day hiding seed in cracks in the bark of a nearby pine.

        Lot’s of Blue Tits around………………………

         Great Tits…………..I also have Green Finch, Bull Finch, Chaffinch and Sparrows by the dozen, no Woodpeckers and no Siskin so far but with the racket the kids are making it’s not too surprising.

         Hundreds of Oystercatchers down by the river but as usual they are too far away.

All pictures will enlarge should you wish to click them………..I’ll be out again tomorrow. Plenty of light so any lack of quality is down to the man behind the camera.

Enjoy what is left of the weekend.

 

SHADES OF GREY (20/02/11)

This is a very boring picture day, we walked for three hours round the slopes of Ingleborough. Fought with sheep over their new delivery of sugar beets, tramped through ankle deep sludge, skidded and skated. Despite bone chilling cold. This bone numbing cold is more a reflection on my age than an accurate description of the weather and actual wind chill.

I did think of converting all images to black and white, that would be tampering with the reality that the camera records………….would I ever do that…….YES!

Today I'll break the habit. yes I have done my best, shot through a BW filter , humped a tripod used cable release, ………BW filters………….I could buy a camera for the price of one of these. A seventy two millimetre bit  of glass, mounted in a screw mount. ….£80.00p. One never finds them  second hand…………..They are the business…………frightening price……..the dogs bits of filters.*

Here are the pictures from today.

   A Rock in a Hard Place.

      The start of the limestone pavement. This stone originates as bits of sea shell compressed over a few years…a million or two, then the acid rain erodes it.

Brilliant it is…………..It can grow trees and Harts Tongue Fern……..even I know this plant, it survives freezing, drought, inundation.

The green bit is one. How it survives is beyond me.

           Limestone pavement……………….It looks almost volcanic but it’s limestone and rain erosion.

        Brilliant stuff. It allows plants to survive in an environment that would be otherwise too hostile…….what do I know, beggar all! Feel free to educate me.

     Ma Braithwaites Hole…Possibly the biggest sink hole ever.  Sixty feet deep or thereabouts, normally Shake or Sink holes are a about six feet deep. Sink/Shake Holes are water access to the warren of underground caves and caverns. They were blocked by sludge,  Having walked today I can sympathise.

      There are some that refuse to disappear.

The place is a muck hole but I keep coming back.

The images are just high contrast .  Done my best. Slag me off not the camera. It did it’s best.

I think it did well, we have a fog cutter of a camera.

That’s all for today.

IS IT ME? (19/02/11)

Is it me or does this rock look like an elephant? If it doesn’t I’m signing the pledge.

    It could well be me…………..or the falling down and talking gibberish water. I’ve been here several times before and never noticed it. All these pictures taken at Tan Hill.

   Not The Famous Grouse but the Red Grouse. There are lots of these as they are bred for shooting. It’s a pity they are a handsome bird……..noisy and handsome. There are, I’m told, Black Grouse down the hill near the tree line. We went for a look but didn’t see any.

It’s snowing and we are moving further into the hills so will be without internet on a regular basis for the next fortnight.

I’ll leave you with a nice warm fire.

Have a good weekend, I’ll be back soon.

BITS OF THIS BITS OF THAT (17/02/11)

I never got round to posting yesterday. I fell among thieves. After four pints it is impossible to edit pictures. The thieves I fell amongst were optimists. Digiscoping birds…………now that is brave.  I know people do it but it must be a nightmare of a job.

We drove up to the Tan Hill Inn, glad I got the new tyres, very slippery were the last five miles, narrow twisty and slidey. I parked up in brilliant sunshine but we were just at the snow line and it doesn’t get much higher round here. Still a gorgeous day, unlike today, it’s foggy………….Back to normal then.

All pictures will enlarge with a click should you so desire.

A couple of stitched panoramas…….the first looking northish the second south west or thereabouts. Shot with a two stop graduated filter and contrast boosted……….virtually the view from the van.

   The Tan Hill Inn, this is the highest pub in the UK sitting 1732 feet above sea level.

The important bit……..yes that is my beer.

    Were it not so remote the landylady and all the staff would have been taken away in straight jackets years ago.

  I love this place………….in all weathers but it is better on days like today.

     This small Tor lies just in front of the camper and just behind the Inn. It has some interesting graffiti.

As I say, all images will enlarge,  memorials for the most part they suit the place.

        The road to the left goes to the village of Keld in Swaledale. Plenty of snow on the horizon. I’m guessing it’s Round Hill.

        A sprinkling of snow outside our window.

                    We walked along the Pennine Way hoping for a sunset to end a smashing day…………it was not to be. Still a day to lift my spirits.

Not much chance of pictures today but time will tell.

All the very best from us.

 

CURMUDGEONLY MAN AND CANDLE (15/02/11)

Today has been a day of stock up, clean, wash and mend. Most important it was shopping day…….we are moving into the hills and it’s snowing up there. Here it is only rain and sleet…………well whoopee for that!

Whilst in Sainsbury, a supermarket, I came across magical candles. these candles can do almost anything……

 They burn and shed light in bottles of whiskey….To be safe I lit this first then dropped it in……………My immediate thought for a title was ‘Fun with Candles’ but there are children in New Zealand read this blog………….Children! Don’t drop candles into flammable liquids….It is a waste of alcohol……Daddy will be cross!… Sorry about the bubbles this is an illusion it’s cold tea. Should have tapped the bottle and waited………..time is of the essence here, we shoot and post the same day. Busier than the Telegraph news room am I.

For the grown ups. They will even polarise and twinkle…….it’s done by introducing perfect little silicon prisms into the wick……………..Only jesting, it was done by me messing around…………Messing around? I’m an artist!……….An artist what writes this blog for your delectation.

Finally………a day late…  Forgot!  ….but one for the ladies………Oh! all right and gentlemen of that persuasion………….

This was inspired by Monica at DAWN TREADERS PICTURE BOOK . She does kaleidoscopes properly. Gets them symmetrical, Lord knows how. I had the devils own job with this…………The colour shifts are random and free with Sainsbury's Magical Candles………..Cheap too. You get six for a pound…………..Now what to do with the other five? 

Free to a good home, they are regular paraffin wax jobs, after yesterday I am now a ‘Tommy Two Gen. Sets ‘so light should not be a problem.

That’s all for today……tomorrow is driving rain and snow at a thousand feet. Or crystal clear light and gorgeous panoramas………….We’ll see.

THE GROCKLE SHELL IS BACK (14/02/11)

Today the camper has been for a full service, an exhaust system, a tyre, the wipers wanted seeing to and the on board generator has been acting up. I’ve been hunting high and low for someone that can lift the thing and do the job at a reasonable price. It is basically just a big Fiat van. Now I know that Ferraris are basically Fiat but the prices I’ve been quoted for this work have been more Ferrari than Fiat. On local recommendation I took it to Skip Bridge Garage just outside Darlington. Okay they lack the finer points of the main dealers…..no espresso coffee, no magazines, no waiting room, no free courtesy car.  They do however know their job and are very down to earth. The bill was a pleasant surprise……….pleasant by about one hundred percent on previous estimates and I got everything done and more. She drives like a dream…………..A Grockle Shell is a derogatory term used by folk in the far South West of England for camper vans and caravans………Poor blighters are to be pitied not castigated….last new blood stock they saw were Spanish sailors wrecked during the Armada.

I was lent a car for the day so went out in search of pictures………….The day was sunny but the results weren’t. Trees, sun, locked doors all conspired against me. I did on Trevor’s advice, also purchase a camouflaged poncho, he will also know what a Grockle is! He’s at……..he has so many blogs I’m unsure which to link to, A&T BIRDING I’ll go for this one. Thanks Trevor, what I saved on the truck I’ve spent on a Poncho.

The Church of St John the Baptist at Low Dinsdale…………..I’ll get back to this place and do a job that would warrant removing trees and power lines.

 The lane outside which leads to this bridge over the Tees………………………….

   I thought at the time the light on this rather peculiar structure was good. it could be pushed and shoved a bit but it will never make an image.

After a slip slimy wander up the river we came back to Hurworth. this is the church of All Saints. again I’ll have to come back.

 This is a bit of Hurworth village hall gorgeous brick work ruined by the philistine that replaced the door. Again a return is warranted.

That’s it for today……………..not a bad one. We didn’t get wet……………it was a close run thing though.

The forecast is vile but I am half thinking of paying a visit to Tan Hill. We will be back here at the weekend and then the lakes the week after.

I apologise for the pictures………should have raided the archives. No! They should not lock churches. Humping a tripod around is no fun specially when churches doors is locked.