DANDELIONS AND DAISIES (27/04/11)

It is another glorious day. We were out at six thirty this morning on a Goosander hunt. We saw a Buzzard trying to raid a rookery. By the time this blogger got the camera up it had gone behind the trees. I assume the buzzard has young to feed, though it seems a little early. They are not usually so brave.

  A little mist rising from the Tees.

The Goosander was nesting in the bushes on the left. I didn’t get too close but could see no sign of her………..or him. So it was back to the van for breakfast.

Out again an hour later……..well nine o’clock. It takes me an age to eat soggy Wheetabix and a yoghurt. Oh! and half a banana. The other half was rotten. Never mind, it’s shopping and dog haircut tomorrow.

Dandelions and daisies…………..I know it’s silly but spring is magical to me. I laid down and………got up again! That was not magical it was a miracle.

I know they are common but I have to get at least one Dandelion seed head a year. It’s why they are common they have got reproduction down to a fine art.

A beautiful carpet of these in the shade under the trees………….I’ve mislaid my flower book so haven’t a clue what they are……………..I know what this is or at least I hope I do………….

It’s Giant Hogweed. Invasive but a superb plant. I was hoping they would be bigger. They grow to six or nine feet tall. They are worse than STD. Your naughty bits fall off…………you go blind…………your body becomes a suppurating mass of puss……and they can achieve all that if you get within three feet.  Beware the Giant Hogweed!! Having said that it’s little cousin Angelica is crystallised cut up and used on sticky buns.

Now to the Nerdy bit…………..click out now…….or be bored .Silly me; you’ve nodded off already…….I had elevenses and went out again. You HDR folk if you were just being polite then be bored and stick with this…………..it took me a couple of hours. Worse still I learnt… S.D all!….or next to nothing! All the following are small but compressed to a thousand pixels wide and will enlarge with a click. This is for folk that wear anoraks with a bit of fur trim and ride a Vespa Scooter. Health and Sanity warning over. Here they are.

Before I start I found the Goosander. Not one! I found  ten including mum. I had a 60mm lens on so it is not the best of pictures………..it’s also cropped.

  My first Goosanderlings ever………….I’m well pleased.

Right back to Nerdy.

The Bridge at Croft just taken………………………..Second with a two stop Grad filter.

Photomatix HDR default five images with two stop increment………and pushed to within a gnats whisker of haloing.

Processed in Photoshop Elements 9. Full Photoshop may be better. Don’t know…………I haven’t got it ……..YET!

John at MIDMARSH JOTTINGS Sent me an e-mail yesterday. It got deleted. Sorry John. I read it and used layers and masking to produce this, with no great expertise and less skill.

it’s okay but for my taste needs a good push and shove. If you would like the words and music then e-mail John. He’s not as daft as me and can no doubt give you the link.

Finally Saint Peters Church Croft. It was locked but it still got HDR’d

That’s all for today………Thank God I hear you cry. Have fun. Like a full time job is this being retired.