Tag: Nature

A Killerton evening

Posted on Posted in Devon, England, Nature, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , 14 Comments

Would you give away your family home for your political beliefs? Sir Richard Acland did  in 1944 with Killerton, his 6400 acre estate just a few miles outside Exeter, handing it to the National Trust. The estate includes 20 farms and 200-plus cottages, many miles of footpaths and woodlands to walk, and the main house that is open to the public. A walk that has long been a favourite of mine and my children when they were growing up, is at Daneswood, great for an hours pootling. Here are some of the sights  in and views from the wood this misty, late summer evening.

 

Lazy Poets Thursday Tanka

Posted on Posted in Elephants, Photography, PoetryTagged , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments

My Dartmoor series continues with some contented locals.

Sheep

 Shelter beside rocks

grazing in peace without fear

Scotch black-faced ram sheep

shaggy fleece hangs soft and pale

soon they’ll fetch you for the shear.

The lazy poet is as much about words as photography, hence the image is small. You can click to see a larger version if you want. 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus

Posted on Posted in Nature, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , 28 Comments

Cheri Lucas Rowlands tells us about the basics of depth of field and aperture and compares the effects of using a shallow depth of field to a a greater one. She asks that we :-

  • Snap a photo of something or someone in focus, against a blurred background.
  • Share a panorama or landscape in sharp focus, in which you can see details far away.
  • Use a camera app to force focus (or blur) in an experimental way.
  • Take multiple photos of the same scene or subject using different aperture settings and publishing the results.

Do you agree that my first photo is rather dull, whereas the second is okay?

Leaves 1

Leaves 2

Can you post some photos that show the effect of changing apertures? Join in at http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/weekly-photo-challenge-focus/

The Meon Valley Trail

Posted on Posted in England, Nature, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , 14 Comments

The Meon Valley trail wends its way through around thirty miles of Hampshire countryside on a disused railway branch line that ran from Alton to Knowle until Mr Beeching closed it down in the 1960’s. It’s now a lovely walk used as a footpath, cycle and bridle path. On Sunday my daughter and I walked for an hour giving baby Scarlett some fresh air.

There is an abundance of flora and fauna, we saw

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a privet hawk moth which grows to 85mm and had a vicious looking horn on its rear end.

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a Harlequin ladybird, an invasive variety that is a predator to our native ones

IMG_3568and a common frog.

The walk was lovely, come along with me.

Enjoy a ride

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Pick some nuts

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and plan your next walk

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I hope you enjoyed it!

Sicilia, Flora and Fauna

Posted on Posted in Flowers, Photography, TravelTagged , , , , , , 18 Comments

I’ve just spent a week in Sicily and as you can imagine I have lots of photos to share.  Where to begin? I thought I would post some shots of the flowers and plants, they are lovely and some, like the soapwort, are brave little things bursting their way through the soil that is always recovering from Etna’s eruptions. Click on any one to see a larger image.

Wild Woodbury Orchids

Posted on Posted in Devon, England, Flowers, Photography, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , 24 Comments

Woodbury common is an area of heathland a few miles east of Exeter, with an ancient hill fort known as Woodbury Castle and stunning views of the sea and abundant wildlife. If you know the right place to look and the right time you may just get lucky and see these!

Wild Orchids – Dactylorhiza Maculata or Dactylorhiza Fuchsii – Can anyone clarify?

This is a scheduled post, see you soon!