London - August Birds St James Park

Walking through St James Park to and from work, plenty of birds on the lake

 

Grey Heron hiding on a coot's nest

Coot delicately feeding its young.  Who would have thought that the coot has a dark side when bringing up their young, only feeding the stronger of its brood?



Three photos of a Black Headed Gull in non-breeding plumage (winter) taken from the bridge





 

The yellow of a Cormorant's throat

London - Shoreditch Graffiti

I had a walk around Shoreditch one lunchtime earlier in the year and was amazed by the graffiti.  Not to everybody's taste, but it kept me interested.

 

Simplicity of design.

A modern twist to Rene Magritte?



"Art is a lie that makes realise the truth" Picasso

Detail of stickers on a door



I missed plenty as can be seen if you google "Shoreditch Graffiti".  Another walk when I am in the area.

Grey Heron in Flight and Fishing

Photos of Grey Herons this summer.

 

One June morning this adult flew over me as I walked the canal bank.

Normally they change direction if they are flying towards you, but this waited until the last moment.



 

A juvenile with a small fish.  I claim no fieldcraft skills as this bird was skulking in the shadows by the bank right next to the footbridge in St James Park in central London as tourists passed close by on a sunny day this month.

London - Ammonite in lift floor

Travelling in a lift in a London City office block, I noticed that there appeared to be a fossil in the stone tiles of the floor.  On closer inspection, to my layman's eyes it was an Ammonite.  A quick google search showed that the rock was not marble as I had originally thought. This is because the original limestone that is metamorphosed under high pressure has been altered too much for fossils to be preserved in a recognisable form. Fossils do occur but this is extremely rare and tend to be small.  More likely to be polished limestone which retains its fossils

 

This Ammonite fossil was about 10cms across.

 

The strange mauve blue was cast by the lighting in the lift.  Where my shadow fell at the bottom was more like the natural colour of the stone.  It is a bit clearer when I converted the snap to monochrome.

 

Who would have thought that when this ammonite died and fell to the bottom of the sea millions of years ago (amonites were around 400 to 65 million years ago), it would be travelling up and down in London City lift.



Ivinghoe Beacon - June Insects and Weather

A few photographs from a walk on Ivinghoe Beacon a couple of years ago

 

The caterpillar of a Burnet Moth (probably the 6 Spot as I have not seen others varieties here) with a Scabious coming into flower.

 

A moody sky with shafts of sunlight breaking through the clouds

 

Ox-eye Daisy with a Gall Fly

London - Wall Art or Burglary?

Spotted on a walk through Shoreditch looking for graffiti, I spotted this scene, which raised a couple of questions.

 

Had the man just finished the wall art? ....

 

....or was he acting as a lookout for a man on the roof?

 

PS. Unusual place for a tube train?

Lee Valley - Rye Meads RSPB Reserve Birds

I have not been able to take any photos of the countryside recently, and thought that a few photos of birds taken two years ago during May on a morning's visit to the RSPB Reserve at Rye Meads would fill the gap.  Whilst I was unable to take any photos of rare birds (and there are a few), I did get a few  photos which I thought were of interest

A Mallard with a Moorhen's reflection

A Heron spreading it's wings to break before landing with little disturbance to the water

A Common Tern.  Not as sharp as I would have wanted but a beautiful and elegant shape

Scotland - Geese in Flight

Photographs taken in Scotland at the end of September last year.  Skeins of Geese were flying in south on a couple of occasions this day.  They were too far away or high to identify, although I suspect they were the native Grey Lag that frequent these parts or Pink Footed? 

Above the clouds shrouding Beinn Ghobhlach taken from the far side of  Little Loch Broom above Badcaul.

Flying overhead at Gruinard Bay

Geese with photoshop 

London - Liverpool Street Station

Photos from a couple of walks around and about Liverpool Street Station.  I seem to be into Black & White at the moment when it comes to urban subjects.

The East entrance early in the morning.

The roof above the concourse.  I was asked to stop taking photos after this by security and couldn't take all the angles I wanted.

The platform from Exchange Square (sadly through glass with reflections in the top).  Would have been great with steam trains with smoke billowing around.

The Gherkin from outside on a grey day

A man in danger of being crushed should the reclining figure decide to roll over.  The impressive and imposing work of Fernando Botero in Exchange Square.

London - Cutty Sark at night

An evenings stroll from North Greenwich ended at the recently Cutty Sark which has been completely renovated following a serious fire.  The hull and the dry dock is now completely sealed with a glass canopy.  Certainly not everybody likes this architectural feature, but is allows for some interesting photographs taken from outside. 

This particular evening there was a music recital down in the depths of the refurbished dock

The new canopy hiding the bow when viewed from the outside (it is my angle of the camera that is causing the list)

The geometric shapes of the canopy, and hull and support bracing makes an interesting view (pity about the entrance on the left that spoils the overall effect)

The Beauty of Feathers

Macro photos of feathers reveal their beauty.

A Green Parrots feather picked up off the floor of my local vet.

A blue and brown feather picked up on the towpath of the canal.

Patterns in a pheasant's feather

Self-Portrait

A bit of fun with photoshop

I am not sure if the photo counts as a 'selfie', but it was done on the timer on the camera, as I ran around the front.

Scotland - Balnakeil Bay - Dog discovers Strange Phenomenon on Beach

A walk on the beach at Balnakeil Bay near the NW tip of Scotland in September last year (see earlier photos of bay on Blog)

Our dog found a small spring rising out of the beach sand.  We were concerned that it was quicksand, but the dog had no qualms as can be seen in the video.

A video of one of the sand bubbles (my description - I am sure there is a technical term), undisturbed by the dog.  The bubbles moved and disappeared, only to re-emerge nearby in the stream bed.  Presumably, they were caused by water running over the rocks under the beach, emerging to the surface under pressure.

The beautiful beach were this excitement occurred. The stream can just be seen as the dark line in the sand in front of the dunes in the right of the photo.

London - Hammersmith And Thames Rowers

A lunchtime walk on a cold sunny day in November at Hammersmith

The strong lines of the wrought iron chains of Hammersmith Suspension Bridge built in 1887

Scullers with a crab from the bridge

An interesting angle of the bridge

A rowing eight at the about the halfway point of the course used by the Oxford Cambridge Boat Race

Some of the boat houses on this reach of the Thames with scullers in the background 

Scotland - Views across Loch Gairloch

More photos from our trip to NW Scotland.  2 views across the sea Loch looking S from the coast road North of Gairloch 

 

A calm day with a fishing boat in the loch with clouds nestling on the hills on the other side.

 

Black & White from a slightly different viewpoint

Scotland - Loch Broom

More photos from my visit to North West Scotland in late September last Year.

 

Yacht and fishing boat silhouettes in Ullapool harbour

 

Reflections of Ardindrean in a quiet Loch Broom

A lochside house near Ardindrean



London Birds

A few photos of some birds in London this year

 

A Harris Hawk.  I was lucky enough to get close to this american bird resting on it's hawker's arm (I presume he is is not a falconer, as this is not a falcon) after it had finished chasing off the pigeons around Euston Station.

Urban Canada Geese on the wing above Hammersmith



 

Winter plumage Black Headed Gull having a stretch