ONE OF THOSE DAYS (31/07/11)

Now I have never been one to prefabricate……………Prevaricate I meant but today is a slow news day. I post what I shoot so that is that. Yesterday, all sites in Derbyshire were full so I stopped at the Waterloo Inn. Better than a layby but not by a lot.

I actually ate in there, wish I hadn’t but half a roast chicken and salad and chips for £7.50p. Well I’m just being grumpy. The dogs loved the chicken…………..There again they eat sheep shit! The view from fourteen hundred feet this morning……………..Blue Sky Thinking……….I think not.

  I can’t be mistaken here……………Blue Bel…..cancel that………..Harebells. much more betterer than your scruffy Bluebell and rarerer. Much more delicaterer.

The one above was cropped. This one isn’t, or not a lot. Stunning wee things.

Now I've a lady for tea. A barbeque to marinade, the truck to clean, me to clean, the dogs to clean and in the vain hope she’s in the mood, bed sheets to clean….Well, flap about in the wind and put back on. I haven’t a clue where she’s been today, could drag no end of crud in so no worries there. Bit of underarm spray on the pillow. Can’t fail!…Bet I do but I love her.

I met this lass four years ago and tried to be a lothario, she said why do you dribble, you are old enough to be my dad. We cleared that minor problem up..I’ve stopped dribbling……..Now, I just swallow a lot of saliva… as best as I can…………..I had no recollection of  her mums name. That’s all right then.

I must get on………Have a great Sunday evening and….Please!..Wish me the same.

REMEMBER THE FARTHING? (30/07/11)

I really am going down to Derbyshire today. Dogs and I were out, in daylight, but before the first rays of the sun had broken the horizon. It felt freezing.

The Farthing was a British coin worth a quarter of an old penny, in todays money a handful of mud from the canal bank is worth twice as much. The way inflation is going, four times as much next month. Numismatics out there will remember a little bird embossed on the reverse side of this coin.

TAA! RAA!

     The Wren……….now it was hiding in bushes and the sun had just risen……….These images are not pin sharp so I still have more Wrening to do……………I’m like a dog with two tails…………the best I have ever taken of this elusive and lightening quick little bird.

    These images are not cropped………..they are brave little things so getting close isn’t the problem. They just never sit still.

  This one is a bit better…..it has a beak full of breakfast……………that’s my next job.

Enjoy this weather while it lasts and have fun.

A STUDY IN PURPLE (29/07/11)

A dull and overcast morning with nothing around with the exception of a rook or two. So I swapped lenses and decided on a bit of the macro malarkey.

As regular visitors will know my knowledge of flora is abysmal, I’m trying to rectify this state of affairs but it is taking time…………..I’m a bit thick! Is it okay to use this term to describe oneself………definitely not………I’m mentally challenged or possibly, Special Needs. There, I feel better about myself, it’s not nice to be stupid.

I am left with a choice……….only take pictures of what I can identify, this is too limiting, I’ve hit on a new wheeze. If I get in really close then I can only be gainsaid by an expert…….I’ll see how this stratagem plays out.   Indian Balsam……….that’s Indian as in curry and cricket. Not Totem Poles and tomahawks.

See!….. I’m full of confidence because Keith posted a similar plant at HOLDINGMOMENTS. This is what he called it so it’s his fault if it’s something else.

    Good is this…………….Rose Bay Willow Herb………I guessed this all on my own.

This is a closed up one.         

Now I did shoot the full flower but it was a bit windy so it came out all blurry and has gone in the bin.

  Common Knapweed…………the stuff to the left is Meadowsweet. If I’m wrong it doesn’t count because it isn’t purple.

  Neither is this………It’s an Orange/White- -Tailed Bumble Bee collecting pollen in Hedge Bindweed. Now I had a few goes at this, shifting exposure about and thought the Bee has been very patient. I gave it a gentle poke and it turned out to be(e) an ex Bumble Bee. It fell into the hedge bottom and I couldn’t find it so you are spared a focus stacked image of it’s corpse.

Now I think that all went quite well. At this rate I’ll soon be a Bottamist. Have a good weekend.

FAILED (28/07/11)

Now I thought I was on a roll………….NO!….. We were out at the crack of dawn for some wonderful images of a Kingfisher and a Wren. I saw the Kingfisher………out of the corner of one eye so we sat down…..dogs being basically lazy are always ready for a lie down so no worries there. I waited and waited and waited some more…………..YES!.. It flew back I never saw it but heard the sonic boom. They are supposed to be territorial, two hundred yards one way and two hundred the other………………all rubbish! I scoped and scoped every inch of four hundred yards no sign of Fisher or feather. Rubbish is my book on optometry…….perchance I have the wrong book. This is where I saw it.

The second objective, goal, call it what you will was to get a definitive image of a Wren. Little devils they are, our smallest bird…………..if you ignore the two that are even more littler’er……….you are thinking he doesn’t know…….I do!……..Well I know one, Firecrest……and another………just kidding……….it begins with a ‘G’. I may be daft but I’m not stupid. Answer available via my comments but only if you ask.

The Wren is also territorial but limits aspersions to a few tens of yards. They are hiding their young in all the undergrowt’………….(wash my mouth out with soap)…..I should say fascinating plants on the banks of the canal. I can hear them  but failed to get a shot.

So off I went to Church…………..I was in need of HIS help………….I was Bloody desperate!…… On the way I snapped this………………………….

This wee barge gives free rides at weekends………Has to! Who’s going to pay to sit under a tent on a boat?

The Church on the Hill………St Patricks Crooklands.

I Googled  Saint Patrick and found this gem. If you consider me a slate loose then read THIS………..Please click. It is wonderful, a little frightening as well. The roman catholic church is a source of cheap and easy laughs. So no entertainment there. One thing does worry me, not a lot, so don’t panic. If if all children are born in sin……………Where did the F..king Pope come from?

Off I toddled up the hill to pray and offer a fiver to The Lord of All he Surveys and all he Created. Please make the King fisher sit still with a fish in it’s beak. Waste of a walk he was out and had locked up…….Often the case.

I had fun with the church…………………………

It is not this big really.

It’s this big. too big to be sitting idle.

It has whimsy, precious few use them so they should be taken over for secular use. They are wonderful buildings…………….

    Hedging my bets here. The cross is still visible but it is dreadful. I want to go where Amy Winehouse has gone. There must be more than one heaven………..I could not stand living for eternity without the Amys of this world.

Have fun we are off to Derbyshire tomorrow……………I’ll post when I can.

A WONDERFUL BIRD (27/07/11)

This is about a Grey Heron so if you are not into tall thin birds forget it. I have seen dozens of these but never one as tolerant of the camera, the dogs and me.

      It is just a canal width away, reasonably happy.

       Or so I thought, it thought otherwise and away it went.

       It only went fifty yards and settled, how I can refer to anything making that awful racket as settled is beyond me!

       Still it was happy enough for a good scratch.

         That’s better.

  Not for long. Again it only flew another few yards.

          This time it was happier hiding behind a Thistle.

         If you are not going to leave me alone I’ll have to ignore you and find some breakfast.

      Just promise to keep quiet this is a serious business.

      Got one…………………………………

           And another.

           That will do…………….time to wander off for a bit of peace.

It caught six fish but turned it’s back every time……still I shouldn’t grumble. I had a good hour of it’s company.

I’m sorry about the overkill. I know you proper orthodontists take hundreds of images, I also realize you have the wit not to post them all at once.

These were all shot from a tripod. They are not cropped so will stand a click.

That’s me! Up to Date!

TIME FOR TEA (27/07/11)

Yesterday we went out looking for Dragonflies………..I saw one in the morning but failed on our second trip out.         Alfie fell in the canal………….Again!………He is a daft dog.

            The Water Lilies were in full bloom.

This I’m going to call a Fringed Water Lily.

     A Blue tailed Damsel Fly, not a Dragon Fly but the next best thing.

     A pair of Common Blue Damsel Flies.

       Another pair. Lucky devils!

A Common Blue all on it’s own.

I think this is Common Knapweed…………….it is a perfect time of the year for flowers.

Finally Great Burnet…..No Dragon flies but a satisfying wander before tea time……………Now back to some more editing.

See you soon…………

PASTURES OF PLENTY (27/07/11)

Now I wasn’t too optimistic when I decided to have a look at this place, it’s not half a mile from the M6 motorway. The view from the camper to my left looks out over a coal yard, the view forward is of a diminutive fell called Farleton Fell, the vista to my right provides a stunning view of caravans and the ablutions block. I’m having a wonderful time. I’m snapping away and just can’t keep up. It’s clouding over, it’s noon so I’m going to split todays post into as many as it takes. That way when you get fed up you can ignore the rest………..I’ll go into blogger and ask for a post a page.

Just the other side of the M6 is a truck stop which is open twenty four seven. I can get a paper early. Not that it’s helping with my ability to finish a crossword but it does give us a one mile stroll first thing.

Before I get going I’ll show you a smart camper…..screw your eyes up, put your sunglasses on……………………

It’s so shiny I’ve shown you both sides twice………………..Now all I have to find is a Girl Friday to keep it like this.

Back to the paper mission…………it takes ages for us to get anywhere. the first thing that caught my eye.

Hedge Bindweed.

Lords and Ladies……Tatty Lords and Ladies.

There was a heavy dew last night, I noticed that only Stinging Nettles seemed to collect dew drops.

      A family of Mute Swans…………this looks blown but by the skin of its bill it isn’t.

      This one is blown…………..I prefer the term High Key………….I hate blow out in images.

        The cygnets……………this pair have done well though they are not the most even tempered of birds. Alfie doesn’t help……………he’s found that barking under a bridge gives a most satisfying increase in volume. This was not appreciated by daddy swan…. All good fun at five thirty in the morning.

We were back out after breakfast and we were greeted by a little bird singing his heart out.

For a tiny bird the volume it generates makes Alfie sound positively dumb……………I’m hoping it’s a Dunnock.

Back to editing some more snaps. see you later.