Author: cpadmin

Our local Polecat

By cpadmin

Our local Polecat. Before 0900 this morning we noticed that our tomcat had climbed to the top of one of the poles that hold up the washing line. We are not really sure why he did this. The only explanation that comes to mind is that every year some pigeons build a nest in the crook of a nearby houses satellite dish. As the crow flies the washing line pole is quite near to the nest. It’s a wooden pole so he could get his claws in to help himself up. Getting down was not as easy though.

Gale fetched the step ladder, but of course you can guess what happened. He slithered down the post as she approached. I now know why someone wrote a book called, “That darned cat”. Naturally, my first thought was to nip back for my camera, whilst Gale fetched the step ladder! Two images of our local polecat are shown below.

See more images of Ernie’s adventures on our website

More of our images can be seen on our website https://www.compassphotography.co.uk

Polecat
Polecat 2
Get me down
Pole cat 1

Before the rains came

By cpadmin

Before the rains came we have had almost five weeks of sunshine. The temperature has varied from cool to very hot and back. The forecast said several days of rain and before it came I spent time capturing images of the plants growing in the garden.

The weigela looked particularly outstanding. The pink and white flowers were showing as buds and/or full blooms. The colours always remind me of raspberry ripple ice cream, one of my favourites. The variegated leaves are attractive too. The plant send it flowers out in arching stems on which the growth of the flowers extend. One shot shows a high stem crossing the washing line!

The passion flower plant was sending wispy tentacles out over the top of the fence. They remind me of the tentacle of the creatures in HG Wells War of the Worlds.

Three images are shown below, eight images from this series can be seen on our website by using this link https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/before-the-rain-came/

  • Wispy tentacles
    The wispy tentacles of the passion flower
  • before the rains came
    Raspbery ripple flowers of the weigela
  • Before the rains came
    Close up of red Aquilegia
Three of the eight images in “before the rains came”

Lock down photographs

By cpadmin

Lock down photographs. With lock down comes the question “What do I do with my time”. One of the photographers in team Essex posted a picture of pigeon with the caption “I’m getting desperate!” I understand that. However, flowers are breaking bud, leaves are forming and there are things in the garden which can be played with to create images. Many of the images are ones that we would not necessarily seek to capture in normal times.

For example, I have been using my macro lens for the first time in three years. I also managed to capture images of the moon with my 600mm lens. I was surprised at the quality of the moon images. The craters are clearly visible on the edge of the image. This post contains two of the lock down photographs. Click on the link to go to our website and see some of the others in the latest images section.Lock down images – 1

  • Lock down images
    The moon, with craters visible
  • Aquilegia breaking bud

The moon’s a balloon!

By cpadmin
  • The moon's a balloon
    The moon’s a balloon
  • The moon's a balloon
    The moon captured from our garden

The moon’s a balloon! We not quite in these images. Sunday night saw a lovely clear sky and the moon was almost full. I took the opportunity to go to the bottom of the garden and point the camera at the moon. The results using the 600mm Tamron lens are really amazing. I have never tried to do this before, so I don’t know how much is due to the atmosphere being clear of jet trails and the gases that go with them. It is amazing to see the craters and marks left by the impacts of asteroids crashing into the moon.

For anyone with a long memory “The moon’s a balloon” was the title of the first part of David Niven’s autobiography.

It is a super moon tonight. The moon is supposed to be larger and offer better photographs and the weather people say that it may be clear. So here’s hoping! Have a look at the other images on our website.

See more of our images by visiting our website “https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/”

All creatures macro and small

By cpadmin
  • Knotty view
    5mm diameter knot on post
  • All creatures macro and small
    Ladybird showing a leg
  • All creatures macro and small
    Unfurled tulip with added greenfly

All creatures macro and small, three images attached. Being at home this week means that photography has been limited to the garden. I have entered a competition to photograph textures and have been playing in the garden with my macro lens. It is amazing how different textures look when you take a really close view of them.

I wanted to capture the texture of a tulip flower. I tried one that was out and then tried one that was unfurled. The text is nice and smooth, however the image also shows an aphid standing on the side of the flower looking at me. I presume it a green fly, but a bit early for them.

Another ladybird offered itself for a close up. I find them so attractive. A friend tells me it’s a seven spotted one, which is common! Still I like the image of the ladybird on the dwarf conifer. It was also well behaved and stayed put whilst I fiddled with the camera! Smooth texture on the ladybird and furry texture on the conifer.

The third shot is from a post in the garden. Put in the ground 30 years ago, it has weathered and suffered from a lack of preservative. I wanted to catch the image of the knot, which I did. The knot in real life is 5mm across! What I had not appreciated, again, until bringing the image on to the computer was that there was a distinct cross shape in the wood as well.

See more of our images by visiting our website “https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/”

Ladybirds in the sun

By cpadmin

Ladybirds in the sun. Spent most of the morning today in the garden as there was nowhere to go today! Just finished mowing the lawn and I noticed this ladybird on a fence post in the garden. So I nipped in and got the camera, fitted the macro lens and grabbed the tripod.

Getting the close up shot was not as easy as it could have been. The two ladybirds were sunning themselves on a post next to a bale of hay. I had to fight uneven ground to set the tripod on, the bush in the way and the angle of the sun to get an image or two.

I was just lining up a shot of the two together when one of them beetled off! Still, I’m pleased with these and might have another go tomorrow setting the camera on a pile of bricks instead! I hope you enjoy looking at Ladybirds in the sun.

The National Geographic for kids website says that “There are about 5,000 different species of ladybirds in the world. These much loved critters are also known as lady beetles or ladybugs, and in many cultures they’re considered good luck. They come in many different colours and patterns, but the most familiar in the UK is the seven-spot ladybird, which has a shiny, red-and-black body”. Got to the website by clicking here.

See more of our images by visiting our website www.compassphotography.co.uk

  • Climbing the post
    Climbing the post
  • Ladybird from above
    Following the grain
  • Ladybirds in the sun
    Looking straight at the Ladybird

Carpets of Yellow

By cpadmin

Carpets of yellow

There were carpets of yellow at Warley Place Nature Reserve in Essex today. I have never seen so many daffodils in one place. It was amazing that there were several “fields” full of them as you walked round the nature reserve. We have not been to this place before and only realized what there was to see there from a Facebook post by a friend in the Team Essex Photography Group. Wendy saw a Woodpecker as well, but we were not that lucky.

  • carpets of yellow
    Daffodils over the hedge
  • Profusion of yellow
    Daffodils everywhere
  • Daffodil slopes
    Daffodil slopes
  • Daffodil corner
    Daffodil corner

You will have to be quick to see the carpets of yellow, as the daffodils will finish soon.

I image that the country park has bluebells too. I can’t wait to re-visit at the appropriate time and see them. BUT, given the government’s announcement today I wonder if that will be in 2020?

Warley Place Nature Reserve is run by Essex Wildlife Trust, it is open every day during daylight hours. This 25 acre reserve is the site of a house and once famous Edwardian gardens belonging to Ellen Willmott. Click here to link to the Warley Place Nature Reserve website

See more of our images by visiting our website www.compassphotography.co.uk

Self-isolating

By cpadmin

Self-isolating is not new. Self-isolating is one of key actions that lots of people are taking to avoid the spread of Coronavirus today. Many people seem not to know the story of Eyam in Derbyshire? Eyam is 20 miles from where I was brought up in Derbyshire. We were told the story of the elf sacrifice of the people of Eyam in 1665/1666 at School and Sunday school. I don’t think we expected the need to self-isolate would return in the 21st century!

The text below is from the Eyam Museum website.

“In 1665 a tailor from Eyam ordered a box of materials relating to his trade from London, that he was to make into clothes for the villagers. He unwittingly triggering a chain of events that led to 260 Eyam villagers dying from bubonic plague – more than double the mortality rate suffered by the citizens of London in the Great Plague.

Between the first death and the last, the villagers set an extraordinary and enduring example of self-sacrifice by sealing off the village from the surrounding areas to prevent the disease spreading.” So self-isolating is not new.

Eyam Museum https://www.eyam-museum.org.uk/

BBC website https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-350640710046a3

We normally publish our photographs on our posts, however we thought that this might be of interest too. the two images below are free to uses ones from Google images. WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk

  • Eyam Churchyard
    Eyam Churchyard
  • self-isolating in 1665
    A notice at the house of a plague victim

Sunny in Suffolk

By cpadmin

Sunny in Suffolk

Friday was sunny in Suffolk, a good day for taking photographs. My first port of call was the beautiful church of All Saints at Crowfield. The church is now in the middle of nowhere, a mile or two from the village. Presumably at one stage there was a settlement nearby. The church has the only timber-framed chancel in Suffolk. It really is unique. You approach the building down a lane behind a long pink cottage, which was once the manor house. For more information have a look at the Suffolk Churches Website. http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/crowfield.htm

I then set out to go across country to Orford. This cross-country drive is a real joy, though there was lots of evidence of excess water in the fields and running on to the road. Along the way there are lots of winding lanes and thatched cottages to look at. Two cottages caught my eye. They were both in Easton and both were small round, thatched cottages. They were not next to each other but along the same road.

  • Sunny in Suffolk
    Half timbered chancel – All Saints Crowfield
  • Cottage at Easton, Suffolk
    Cottage at Easton, Suffolk
  • Orford Castle
    The path leading to Orford Castle
  • Chappel Railway Viaduct
    Chappel Railway Viaduct – Essex
  • East Anglian Railway Museum
    Steam up – East Anglian Railway Museum

My final port of call was back in Essex at Chappel to photograph the railway viaduct and call in at the East Anglian Railway Museum!

I hope you enjoy the images from sunny in Suffolk. More images from this trip can be found in the latest images section on our website. See more of our images at WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk

Sparkly day at Abberton Reservoir

By cpadmin
Sparkly day at Abberton Reservoir
Sparkly day at Abberton Reservoir

Sparkly day at Abberton Reservoir shows the sun shining through the clouds onto the water and making it “sparkle”. The sunlight picks up the choppy nature of the water and creates the white and grey contrasts. The sun is shining from the right hand side of the image. The clouds in the distance are multi-coloured, even dark and foreboding. The wind is turning the wind turbines slowly in the background. The unusual lighting from the clouds creates a silhouette. The wind turbines, the bare winter trees and even the fence posts all stand proud from the slope above the water.

Abberton Reservoir is located south of Colchester near the village of Layer de la Haye, north of the Blackwater opposite Bradwell. Essex and Suffolk water own the reservoir. Essex Wildlife Trust manage the nature reserve at the reservoir Use this link to see their website

Just below the visitors centre there is a hide by the water’s edge. I was inside the hide when I captured this image, looking south. The image was captured just before lunchtime on Wednesday 26th February. This was undoubtedly one of the few nice days, in a week which once again has started and ended with a storm. See more of our images at WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk