Hyde Hall Open again

1st June 20201st June 2020 By cpadmin

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

21st May 202021st May 2020 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 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

12th May 202012th May 2020 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 — Delicate flowers of the Hawthorn

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!

Before the rains came

29th April 202029th April 2020 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/

before the rains came — The wispy tentacles of the passion flower

Ladybirds in the sun

22nd March 202022nd March 2020 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

Carpets of Yellow

16th March 202016th March 2020 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.

Daffodils over the hedge
Daffodils everywhere
Daffodil slopes
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

Sparkly day at Abberton Reservoir

4th March 20204th March 2020 By cpadmin

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 26^th 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

Batty guest photographer

19th February 202019th February 2020 By cpadmin

Compass Photography has a Batty guest photographer on its website from today for a while. John Dobson has allowed us to show 10 of his wildlife image including several of bats. One of the images is really fascinating. The sleeping bats are covered with condensation droplets. Its quite normal apparently but strange to the rest of us who know nothing about bats and probably would not seek them out in caves to photograph! The image below has a lovely purple sheen. You can also clearly see the fingers hanging on to the wall.

Please look on the site and see John’s images and read his biographical notes which tell you more about him. You could also look up the Essex bat group’s website. John is not really a Batty guest photographer though

Stormy Seas – Competition successes!

15th February 202015th February 2020 By cpadmin

Stormy Seas – Competition successes! These three images have just received prizes in the same international competition. The theme of the competition was “Capture the Wind”. With storm Dennis which is here today, these images will resonate. The one with the hooked wave came 11^th out of 500 and the other one came 74^th out of 500. The wave rolling in came 200^th out of 500!

The first image was captured at Ramsgate on the first Sunday of January 2018. The weather had been bad. I was fed up of being cooped up inside, I definitely needed to get out. The south coast was my destination. The sea along the beach at Ramsgate was foaming. In addition, when I got to the harbour around lunchtime there were some giant waves. Very dramatic!

The power of the sea, Ramsgate — The power of the sea

Broardstairs is the location for the second image. It’s not far from Ramsgate. People had parked cars on the quay whilst the tide was out and as it came in, the tide washed the cards. I have often wondered if the cars started after their soaking. Some daft folk were also dodging in and out of the spray.

Stormy seas — Washing the cars at Broadstairs!

The third image shows a wave at Dunbar in Scotland last year. It is one of a burst of seven images. It was windy and the wind was blowing against the spray and driving it back over the waves. I spent quite a few minutes capturing shots here.

Hope you like “Stormy Seas – Competition successes!” See images at the Compass Photography Website. WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk

Sunny Wednesday at Hyde Hall

14th February 202014th February 2020 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.

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.

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

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