18 Friday Sep 2020
It was early Tuesday morning and the landscape was muffled by a dense layer of fog but there was magic happening in the fields, amongst the plants, as the power of fog droplets illuminated the industrious efforts of the spider kingdom.
12 Saturday Sep 2020
‘Get up, sweet Slug-a-bed, and see
The dew bespangling herb and tree.’
‘… the childhood of the day has kept,
Against you come, some orient pearls unwept.
Come, and receive them while the light
Hangs on the dew-locks of the night’
~ lines from the poem ‘Corinna’s Going a-Maying’, Robert Herrick, Hesperides
28 Tuesday Apr 2020
My local Jackdaws are excellent weather indicators. If I haven’t already realised how wet it is outside, I have only to glance out my bedroom window to see where they are. If they’re sitting under the eaves on the old-fashioned gutter supports, then I know it must be teaming down.
Sometimes they look really miserable sitting there, each on their own bracket. Other times, they snooze, or use the opportunity for a groom and feather spruce up.
I have to be careful trying to get photos of them, as those alert blue eyes are always aware of what’s happening around them, even when I think they’re not.
16 Sunday Feb 2020
Storm Dennis has dumped a huge amount of rain across Wales this weekend, on to ground already saturated by the rain from Storm Ciara and, sadly, this has led to severe flooding in some south Wales communities. I am fortunate to live in a town which, although by the sea, is mostly built upon the clifftops, between 30 and 70 metres above sea level, so we have escaped with just a little surface flooding. And that, as you can see, can provide some very attractive reflections.
12 Wednesday Feb 2020
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Before you think you’re reading the wrong blog, this is not a weather report!
It’s just that I was surprised during today’s woodland walk (in sunshine, though with a very chilly breeze blowing) to see that smatterings of yesterday’s hail were still lying amongst the vegetation in more sheltered areas.
And, not only that, but there were also two small drifts, a couple of feet across, of the snow that must have fallen on Monday night while I was sleeping. I noticed traces of it on some shady rooftops yesterday but thought it would all have melted away by now.
The fact that both hail and snow have survived is certainly proof, which today’s numb fingertips can confirm, that the temperatures have been much cooler this week.
19 Sunday Jan 2020
We had another very frosty morning, crisper underfoot than yesterday, and I was delighted to find these fungi, covered in beautiful ice crystals.
18 Saturday Jan 2020
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It was minus 2°C this morning, the first time we’ve seen frost this year – indeed, for many weeks – so, of course, I went looking for signs of the touch of Jack Frost’s crisp finger on the vegetation. Here’s what I found …
30 Monday Dec 2019
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The fog was so thick this morning that I could hear the fog horns blasting out their warnings to shipping using the Bristol Channel. So, I figured I’d go for a local wander and see what photos opportunities I could find. Trees in fog it was.
14 Thursday Nov 2019
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, English idioms, Mallard, rain, reflections in water, wet weather
I always thought the expression ‘It’s good weather for ducks’ referred to wet weather: persistent rain leading to the formation of large pools of water that a duck might enjoy swimming in. Turns out I may have been wrong, and it may well have come from comments by the shooters of waterfowl, who find wet weather better for their hunting.
I certainly hope this gorgeous female Mallard doesn’t meet that fate. How could anyone shoot such a beautiful bottom … er, creature?
11 Friday Oct 2019
It’s been a week of almost constant rain and, despite my rain wear, I’ve had several drenchings. Fortunately, one of my cameras is waterproof so I can still take photos in the wet. Today it was the leaves that caught my eye and the incredible spectrum of browns.
