Category: Garden

Hyde Hall Open again

By cpadmin
  • Hyde Hall open again
    Purple Allium
  • Hyde Hall open again
    Digitalis – foxglove
  • Hyde Hall open again
    Yellow water lily
Images from RHS Hyde Hall today

RHS Hyde Hall is open again. There is a great display of yellows and purples amongst the flowers. Today was the first day of opening after the lock down. Three of the images captured today are shown above, there are another six on our website under the heading “latest images”

The Purple Alliums are mostly past their best, however the one shown here was in the shade and had more colour. Moving up and round to the pond in the Hill Harden there were some bright yellow water lilies. Foxgloves (digitalis) were present in abundance. One of my images shows the patterns inside the foxglove petal.

To gain entry to Hyde Hall you need to go on line and book a time slot for entry at the website. Remember to take water with you. The one thing I missed after my walk round was the cup of tea!

To look at more of the images from Hyde Hall open again click here

Todays Floral display

By cpadmin

Todays floral display shows three of the six images on our website page “Six of the best”. All of these images were captured in the garden over the last 24 hours. Fortunately the lockdown has been accompanied by good weather. It has been possible to capture images of the flowers that are daily coming into bloom.

  • Three red roses
    Three red roses
  • Six of the best
    White rose petals and yellow stamen
  • Rock rose - cistus
    Purple petals of the rock rose
Three of the six images captured

Three red roses growing at head height on the trellis. They form a nice pattern and have been cut into a square image to make the most of the natural positioning of the roses.

The white rose has grown out from below the graft of the red trailing rose. It’s growing amongst the red rose on the trellis and makes a nice contrast. Additionally, I like the clarity of the yellow stamen in this image. and the random fly in this image.

The rock rose (cistus) was pruned earlier this year and the flowers seem to be a much deeper purple. The image shown has a red mason bee working on the flower.

Click here to go to the website page and see all of the images included in the “six of the best” of todays floral display

Not for hay fever sufferers

By cpadmin

This post is not for hay fever sufferers. The white May blossom is lovely to look at from a distance as the trees and bushes become covered in delicate white and creamy coloured flowers. It’s even better to get close up and see the shape of the flowers that make up the blossom. If you suffer from hay fever you will disagree with me. Some flowers, particularly the hawthorn have a strong smell. The smell also gets through to the back of your throat and makes you want to sneeze and cough!

Blossom from three different plants, trees and bushes are shown below. Firstly the Hawthorn Bush which produces some very delicate clusters of white flowers. The flowers will eventually turn into red berries.

  • Hawthorn blossom
    Delicate flowers of the Hawthorn
  • prunus padus watereri AGM Bird Cherry Tree
    Horizontal cylinders (prunus padus watereri AGM Bird Cherry Tree)
  • Cow Parsley blossoming
    Cow Parsley blossoming
May Blossom

Secondly there are images of the cylinder shaped blossom of a cherry tree with a very long name. It’s called “prunus padus watereri AGM Bird Cherry Tree”. These flowers are creamy rather than pure white.

Lastly there is the “common as muck” Cow Parsley, Latin name Anthriscus sylvestris. The umbrella like clusters appear all over our fields in May and June. They are summer itself, but not for hay fever sufferers! They can’t wait for the early summer to pass.

See more of these images on our May Blossom page

Just to confirm all of these images were captured on my daily walks during lockdown!

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”

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/”

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

Sunny Wednesday at Hyde Hall

By cpadmin

Image of the week focuses on Hyde Hall

A sunny Wednesday at Hyde Hall. Another sunny day before another storm! I was able to capture lovely images at Hyde Hall. Two image of the ones captured are shown below.

colourful clover hill
Colourful beds on Clover Hill

Clover Hill

The grass on clover hill was very green, there were nice bends to see on the bank. There were layers of colour in the flower beds. White grasses were waving in the wind and the yellow and deep red cornus (Dogwood) plants were providing striking displays. The image as you see it has different layers of colour as you look up and down it.

sunny wednesday at Hyde Hall
Daffodils catch the sun

Daffodils

A sunny Wednesday at Hyde Hall and the daffodils are out! I managed to get a close up of one in the Hilltop Garden. In the image shown the daffodil flute bows its head down. Other flowers are out and coming out behind it. Since Wednesday we have a daffodil out in our garden. I hope they all survive storm Dennis!

There is lots to see at Hyde Hall at the moment so take a trip there after the storm. The roses are starting to bud! Visit Hyde Hall’s website

See more of our images at WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk