Ponies 1 - Donkeys 0

The cutest troop of donkeys with a couple of foals were wandering along a track near Deerleap, minding their own business.  Then sound of hooves thundering on the dry ground - New Forest ponies on the warpath. They chased the donkeys off, then calmly resumed grazing again. 

Toddler's world

hand-prints on wall . . . banana face mask . . . multiple poly-cacophonic music . . .buggy to playground . . . swing . . . climb the slide . . . down . . .slither . . . spin the wheel . . . tic - tac - toe . . .sounds great . . .fall asleep in buggy . . . sort the gravel . . .

who needs toys?

Ferns, foxgloves and fritillaries in the forest

The forest, ferns, foxgloves pink and white, silver-washed fritillaries and white admirals. 


I had to identify the fritillaries from online pics, but they fit the description - swooping flight, large, brilliant orange butterflies in sunlit woodland in summer.  Common in the South of England, very local further North.

A silver-washed fritillary pausing briefly

The white admiral was on brambles - a surefire way of distinguishing them from the similar-at-first-glance purple emperors of Fermyn Woods.


The hottest day of the year so far. A sticky five mile walk near the New Forest Wildlife Centre, from Deerleap Car Park.

 for details and map check this link

Whipsnade Zoo

Great views . . .

Tuesday 21 June 2011


Spacious and set in beautiful countryside - enough of the tourist-brochure-speak already!  Celebrating Joseph's first birthday on a deceptively burn-inducing day - not so  much sun as wind.  Just noting this until I upload one or two photos later.

blowin' in the wind

The first things we saw were the flashing colours as (trained) parrots flew free among the trees - no pics from me, it took me an hour or so to get into photo-mode.

photo-call

children's zoo

one of the less exotic species

A pigeon paddled in Berkeley Square.

Thursday 16 June

Peacocks or hens...

Today's unusual sight was a couple of these birds out for a stroll along the Corby Road from Gretton. Luckily for them, the motorist coming up behind them was quite happy to slow down!

No photo - I was driving too.

Eclipse eclipsed by cloud

promises
a blood-red moon
strange portent
totally eclipsed
by clouds


or

a strange portent
promises
a blood-red moon
totally eclipsed
by clouds

Poppies

... are spectacular this year. 

A field  at the top of the hill from Harringworth to Gretton.

Clutter - and what to do about slides?

Why is it so hard to throw things out? Once I'm in the mood, it's easier - been going through old photographic slides from my father's stuff!  I've chucked everything except for the ones with people on. Now how do I make slides visible without a viewer?

Jack in South of France from a slide - attempt 1.

Jack, my dad, in the 1970s, I think  - in which case,  he was in his (early?) fifties.
I did this on an improvised lightbox, with plain white paper as base - slide placed on top.  You can see the texture through the slide. I used my 'normal' lens, not macro.  I shall try tracing paper for my next experiment.

Then I pruned some packs of photos of my mother's - I reckon that when the person who took the photos is dead, the scenery is meaningless.  And if any of the photos are works of art - if the photographer doesn't do something with them, no one else will.
Simplicity before all? In fits and starts.