It’s hard work being a lion at Colcester Zoo. You can snooze in the spring sun, get up for a stretch when you feel like it and wait for the next meal to be brought to you. This male coluld be miserable though. Both his mates have died recently. I have been to the zoo twice this spring, both on bright sunny days and captured some marvelous images. One of my favourites is the Elephant walking straight towards me and looking right at the camera. The elphants are so large, yet they seem so gentle and stoic.

The flamingos are a really nice deep pink colour. I captured an image of one with its beak in the water and concentric circles are rippling from the point of entry. A second one shows a flamingo gingerly making its way down the slope to the water using its great webbed feet. This was the first time I have seen the bear close up. Just like in the Jungle Book it was licking the insects off the tree bark. On this day the penguins were near to where we stood and one little fellah stood like a sentinal and let me get a close up. 

The Compass Photogrphy website has more images from my springtime visits to Colchester Zoo. Click here to see them. Click here to go to Colchester Zoo’s website

January Sunrise shows three images from a series captured on the River Crouch in Essex on January 6th 2022. The Crouch is a tidal river that runs from the North Sea at Burnham on Crouch to Battlesbridge. The first image shows that a flock of birds has been disturbed in the distance. The birds are silhouetted against the orange sky in addition to the walkers. The sun continues upwards and now clears the hill to show the whole globe. Next we move the focal length back. The sun becomes diffused in the clouds and it also reflects in the mudflats of the creek. Its low tide and its possible to see the extent of the river as a shallow bowl carved out of the land by the water.

The final image shows fields that lie between the inlet that is Clements Green fen and the River Crouch 400 yards behind it. The mist has also congregated in lines across the landscape here. The fields are low lying land and additionally have water on both sides of them. The image has long fingers of mist across it. The sun gives the mist in both of these images a lovely yellow tint. January sunrise over the Crouch was well worth getting up early for. Click this link to see more of this series of images on the Compass Photography website

Well worth the climb! Earlier this week I was given permission to climb the tower of Holy Trinity Church in Rayleigh, accompanied by people from the church. The view from the top of the church tower was well worth the climb. I was able to capture a number of images from this vantage point. The image below shows the nearby Rayleigh Windmill with its lovely sails and brickwork. Cutting this landscape image to square emphasises the dominant position of the windmill in the image. The windmill is set against the trees of Rayleigh Mount.

Walking around the top of the tower you can see the river Thames and Kent. The water tower at Cold Norton and All Saints Church at Rettendon also clearly stand out as does the Ford water tower and many of the industrial buildings. From here Southend is a collection of high rise buildings, with the airport just being visible. Its also clear that the land north of Rayleigh is in a valley or a bowl, probably due to the River Crouch.

A link to Holy Trinity Church website is here. A link to the Rayleigh Windmill website is here

So, all in all its well worth the climb!

Sunflower reflections shows some small sunflowers in a pot behind a table. The glass topped patio table has a covering of rainwater from the recent shower. This allows the reflections of the sunflowers to appear in the rainwater. Deliberately planted late, in an attempt to bring them in to flower in August, the poor weather delayed flowering until the first week of September. The variety of sunflower is “Little Leo”. These plants normally grow three feet tall and the ones in this pot may just reach that height. Just above the table top!

I first noticed the reflections through the French windows from our lounge. In a break between the showers I set up the tripod in the lounge and played with the location of the flowers to get a decent reflection on the table. The table is covered with a green patterned film and the black edging keeps the rain on the table top.

I had to turn the pot round 180 degrees to face the house. The sunflowers, of course will follow the sun, which is away from the house. Its amazing how clear the sunflower reflections are in the thin layer of water on the table top. For more garden images have a look at our garden galleries

Undoubtedly, the glory of Chartwell was apparent on a warm September day. Chartwell was the home of Sir Winston Churchill for many years. The estate was bought for the nation by friends of Churchill in 1947. A plaque on the side of the building commemorates this purchase. The first image shows the house on the hill from across the lake below it. There are many trees on the far side of the lake and it was necessary to hunt for a gap to capture an image. The trees in the image below frame this the house which is built on the hill above the lake.

The front view of the house suggests a long thin building, whereas the second image tells a different story! The front view of the house in on our website page.

A close up of the house from the side shows that Chartwell has a number of stories. Additionally there is greater depth to the house than is at first apparent. These multi-faceted features are not apparent when you view the building from the front.

 

To find out more about the glory of Chartwell view the page on our website contains ten images. Alternatively, or visit the National Trust Website.

Kerria Japonica is a straggly plant that grows bright yellow pompoms as it flowers. The plant is also known as the double Japanese rose. We inherited the plant when we moved into the house. Every year it provides an abundance of the bright yellow, almost tangerine pompom flowers. Despite the bright colour it is an untidy plant. The long green stalks grow up to six feet in length. They branch off at an angle in a haphazard way. Branches cross in front of each other and get tangled together One of the comforts I take from my plant is that the plants at RHS Hyde Hall are just as untidy looking as mine are!

When you select this plant you must select it for the bright yellow pompoms and ignore the untidiness. From a distance the green and yellow of the plant and the dark brown fence go well together.

The RHS website says that “Kerria are deciduous shrubs with green young shoots bearing simple, toothed leaves and rose-like, solitary 5-petalled flowers in mid-spring”. There is also more information on this site about the plant. Previously, I have taken close ups of the pompoms. However to do that you need a day when the wind is not blowing like it is today!

Have a look at more of the garden images on our website

Close up images of daffodils in detail show the bright colours and the detail of the flower. The back border of our garden is the location for these images. Additionally, the close up focus on the flower heads makes the dark brown fence behind the flowers appear black.

Firstly we see an image of two and a half flower heads. The lined texture of the petals is clearly visible on them. They are so delicate. Unfortunately so straggly bits of passion from stalks have crept into the image. In this image of daffodils in detail you can see right into the trumpet shaped flower bowl. The trumpet loos diagonally across the second image. It emphasises the frills on the front edge of the flower bowl. Its not until we get really close to the daffodils in detail that we can appreciate the complex nature of the flowers. The daffodil flower heads face downwards. This means that getting a close up shot looking into the trumpet requires the camera to be below the flower. It helped that the flower bed banked up from the lawn! The third shot shows a lone daffodil on the edge of the clump looking from the left

See more images captured in our garden by using this link

Gulls and swans at Hightide on the River Crouch at South Woodham Ferrers. These images were captured on two days when it was warm at the end of February 2021. On the first day I had taken some bread with me and sat on a bench. It was tricky to both throw the bread and then capture images of the black headed gulls as they piled in after the bread. I needed a second person with me for throwing. Nevertheless, good images were captured as the noisy varmints wheeled and turned before they dived for the bread. The gulls have no regard or anyone else and that includes the much larger swans.

Swans are so majestic. Unlike the gulls, the swans sit patiently like battleships in the water waiting for the bread and let the gulls scavenge around them. The image below shows a swan which may be asleep as it floats by. A closer look reveals a beady eye watching the bank though. Two or three swans adopted this pose during the time I as there. To see the gulls and swans at hightide on the river makes me feel like I am on holiday there.

• 

• 

A page on the Compass Photography website has ten of the images capture at the river at high tide on the two days in question. Click on this link to see them

Knitting for Christmas shows of examples of knitting with a Christmas Theme. One image shows a nativity scene complete with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. The wise men offer gifts of Gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus. The shepherds are present, though the sheep won’t stand up. The donkey is there too. The baby Jesus is the most important part of the scene. He lies quietly asleep in the manger oblivious of all of the action around him.

Moving on, a carol singer holds her hymn book and sings her heart out. Nice red, blue and green colours here.

Next up is Brigit the Octopus with a nice smile and lots of legs. Green and silver tinsel top off Brigit’s outfit.

The final contribution is Clarence the Christmas Post Box. Snow has settled on top of Clarence, as has a Robin. To keep him from getting cold, Clarence has a natty green and orange scarf.

Gale my wife knitted all of these items. Each year we get a new one. We also have a string of Christmas lights and some colourful knitted paper decorations draped over the wall.

Have a look at more of our images of all sorts of things on WWW.compassphotography.co.uk

The start of September finds us in the last days of summer. These three images show flowers in our garden at the end of August or on the first two days of September. More images of the last days of summer can be seen on the page on our website https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/last-days-of-summer/

• 

• 

• 

The sunflowers are lasting well. To keep them looking good it is necessary to cut off dying heads.  The pompom “teddy bear” variety are really lasting well as the image shows. There is an image of a “Little Leo” sunflower shedding its petals. Another image shows the pollen spilling out on to the sunflower’s leaves. Both varieties are dwarf sunflowers growing about three feet high.

The slideshow includes an unusual image of a passion flower. It occurred to me that it would be interesting to see the flower sideways on. This way it is possible to see the ten petals and sepals and above them the radial filaments. These can number 100 and are delicate shades of blue, white and purple. Next we see the ovary and receptacle. Highest of all are the three stigmas and five anthers. All flowers have these components. Viewed from this angle the display of the passionflower is very striking. Lets enjoy the last days of summer whilst they last.

Use this link to look at more of our images https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/