59/365

Spring is on it's way.

58/365

Kashmir Goat on the Great Orme

57/365

Disappointment

56/365

Walker's Epitaph II - a follow on from Trash Talk Tuesday's picture.

55/365

Peace and Harmony - to become so at peace with a place as to become a part of it.

54/365

Barren Beauty

Today provided a grey windswept lunchtime break, not the most inspiring weather to try and fulfil Crow's (@DeForestRanger) brief. I headed out of my comfort zone (the local woods and nature reserve) and off to the bleak estuary of the River Clwyd. In the biting wind I tromped through the mud (much to the amusment of my students when I got back to work) and snapped a few images - not pleased with anything, and reeling from earache with the wind. As I headed back, the patch of flattened grass caught my eye and provided salvation!

53/365

Willow Carr

A (thankfully) forgotten lowland Willow and Alder Carr on the edge of Rhyl. With mechanisation and modern drainage methods, wet woodlands such as this are becoming increasingly rare.

Willow trees, as well as having medicinal uses, can support a staggering number of invertebrates (over 450 species) and lichens (over 160 species) and are second only to old growth Oak Woodland (in the UK). With such an insect profusion, they support large numbers of birds, and the humid atmosphere supports ferns, mosses, sedges and rushes.

52/365

51/365

Alder 'cone', the mature female flower or cone of an Alder, the small seeds are dispersed by wind and water.

A tree of marsh, river and waterlogged areas, the wood doesn't rot in water, hence it was commonly used for piers, docks, troughs, pumps and pipes Most of Venice is apparently built on Alder Wood piles. The charcoal from Alder is the preferred one for making gunpowder, and the bark can be used to dye cloth.

For more information on Alder's see www.british-trees.com

50/365

Y Froyd

Rhyl was initially a small port recorded as far as the 1500's, an probably dates back much further being a deep narrow estuary of the River Clwyd. The town achieved it's peak as an elegant Victorian seaside resort en route from Liverpool to Holyhead. After the Second Wold War there was a large influx of people from the big conurbations of Liverpool and Manchester, and the general decline of UK seaside resorts hit the town hard.

By the 1990's Rhyl suffered from all of the modern ills - high crime, high unemployment, low literacy and poor facilities; the part on the right of the picture has the dubious accolade of one of the poorest wards in Europe. Despite that, there are still gems to be found and relics of bygone eras.

49/365

Yellow - the colour of Comms. Our CAT6 network cables at work.

48/365

Holding On

When the sun came out today it was hard to beleive the arctic winter has only just passed, and before that the Autumn colours came and went. The seasons seem to get faster and faster in their passing - or maybe that is just a reflection of the smaller and smaller fraction of our life each day becomes.

47/365

A lovely Swedish Koasta Boda candle holder from my sister - struggled to capture the detail in the glass, but eventually found this high angle shot helped. The shadow is a bit strong for a 'high key' shot, but does actually help the picture (unlike my now very crumpled white card background which needs replacing).

46/365

Before Computers

I must admit I loved today's @dailyshoot assignment, and if I'd had a bit more time, could have created dozens of images, however in the end the lack of time means I've had to settle for two quite different images.

This one is some of the documents which make up the (old) deeds to the house. When we bought the house, the Solicitors were in the process of digitising all their records. This included all the past papers relating to the purchase of the land (5 acres, 3 roods and 30 perches or thereabouts) and the original maps and tenders for the building works, plus every conveyance document from that point onwards - giving a complete history of the house from 1900 to date. All these were to be thrown out, however we asked if we could have them, and here are but a few.

I tried several images in both black & white, and sepia - but in the end settled for a full colour image.

45/365

Valentines Duck

44/365

A Crying Sky

A savaged lime tree stands against a crying sky - concreted in, pollarded, polluted, nailed and scraped; a scarred lime tree, a hundred years old this year, provides it's ungrateful neighbours with valuable oxygen for their surburban existance.

Manual mode 3.2 seconds @f2.8 ISO80
White balance set to Tungsten
Post processing - layer doubled and blend mode Overlay applied.

43/365

I wonder how many stories this has seen? Lubitel 2's were made between 1955 and 1977 in what was then Leningrad (now St. Petersberg).

On the lens is ЛОМО the Cryllic for LOMO (Leningradskoe Optiko Mechanichesckoe Objedinenie), once one of the largest and most secret companies in the Soviet Union.

42/365

春节
兔

41/365

Seem to have gone a bit abstract today, above 'The Chase', and below 'Shooting the Ink'.

40/365

A Murmuration Musters

A Murmuration of Starlings (Sturus vulgaris) starts to assemble on an electricity pylon. They gather here each evening, as it's a prominent local landwark. Small flocks of starlings follow the river and then along the power lines to gather, waiting for an invisible signal - then, seemingly as one, they head off around Rhyl, performing stunning aerobatics over the rooftops before settling for the night.

I normally resize images before posting, but have left this one full size in case anybody wishes to do a count!! Hopefully I'll re-shoot this in the coming days when a) I haven't got to rush out after work and b) when there is just a bit more light. This was shot at ISO800 and hand held, so not as much detail as I would like. The picture also needs a bit of movelment, ideally as they all take off!

An interesting piece on Starling Murmurations here.

See also Day 35 , Day 17, Day 7 and the "Through the Seasons" page.

39/365

'Another' lunchtime walk picture, today a detail.

38/365

Lunchtime walk around Brickfield Pond.

37/365

To stay true to the blog, above is today's very un-inspiring picture - it was however taken and uploaded today, as it should have been, however the picture below (which was taken just before midnight) very nearly spelled the end of the 365!



After a torrential day of rain (60mm) the garden pond is full and the temperature has shot up into double figures. The freshly filled pond is a live with the first keen frogs, calling away in the dark.

Positioning the camera for a low level shot, the level was a little lower than expected...... this is how a frog looks underwater without an underwater housing!!! Purple flashes on the screen indcated that the Gll and water do not go together well.

The camera was quickly taken indoors, the battery and card removed and dried, and a silica gel sachet stuffed in the battery compartment (I knew it was worth saving). The camera was then left in the airing cupboard overnight.

After 12 hours I couldn't wait any longer, and the camera was re-assembled, and amazingly still works!!!

So far (touch wood), the camera seems to be behaving.

36/365

Release your Inner Pepper.

I was struggling for an idea today, but rescue came whilst preparing tea - in the form of an orange pepper.

35/365

A rush post tonight, as off out - will add description later!

34/365

Seemed appropriate somehow as it describes work quite aptly!

33/365

New Toys :D

I ordered these on Saturday, and today the first two (of 3 parts) arrived. It was difficult not to just rip open the packaging and try it out, but I thought I'd grab a picture first.

On the left is a Gig T Pro 2.4GHz Wireless Timer Remote, and on the right an Integral SDHC Card USB reader. I can't wait to try the remote control, and will let you know how I find it.

I'm waiting for a new SD card, and the plan is to try out the Canon Hack Developers Kit; again, I'll post updates as I go on.

32/365

On the Edge

Aperture Priority f4.5 at 1/320 second, ISO 100 handheld

Taken for today's Daily Shoot project (assignment #443), however it didn't make the cut because I found the water in the bottom of the frame too distracting, however I actually prefer this picture to the one I did submit, as it helps both put the reeds in context, but also gives it movement and vibrancy.

The picture used for the @dailyshoot was this one: