Tag: summer

Norfolk in summer

By cpadmin

Norfolk in the summer brings lots of photographic opportunities. Our visit was in July 2021, with facemasks, distancing and limits of the number of people allowed in shops.

Weeting

Summer in Norfolk
The row at Weeting, built before 1777

Weeting was one of the first places we stopped. It is an old village with the remains of a castle nearby. “The Row” on the village green is a row of thatched cottages build before 1777. No one is sure exactly when, the records have been lost! The compass photography website has a page with 14 images of Norfolk in the summer including Thetford Priory and Wells-next-the-sea, which is a great base for travelling around the county.

Gooderstone Water Gardens

Norfolk in summer
Weeping Willows overhang one of the ponds at Gooderstone Water Gardens, Norfolk

The image above is of the still waters at Gooderstone Watergardens. Here the willows weep over the water and the empty rowing boat. They reflect in the water making a gentle, very English scene.

Norfolk has some wonderful village names. The page includes images of Great Snoring and secondly Little Snoring. Both villages have remarkable village signs. Great Snoring’s sign is shown, reflecting agriculture and the village’s position in the Stiffkey valley, whereas Little Snoring’s sign is dilapidated.

Great Snoring
The village sign at Great Snoring, Norfolk

The image from Little Snoring shows its church with the separate round tower. One opportunity not to be missed, was capturing images from the top of Blakeney Church. Despite of the long climb up the tower the view was marvellous. Here an image of the windmill at Cley-next-the-sea is shown along with the sea in the background.

Beeston Bump is a hill just east of Sheringham. The views from the top undoubtedly make the climb worthwhile. Besides the sea views you can see Sheringham to the west and Cromer to the east.

Summer will be here soon

By cpadmin

We all hope summer will be here soon and this wretched wind will blow away. The image below shows the field just over the road from Papermill Lock in between Danbury and Boreham in Essex. Papermill Lock is on the River Chelmer and it forms part of the Chelmer and Blackwater navigation. It connects Maldon and Chelmsford. Additionally, a great attraction here is the teashop, called Papermill Lock Tearooms. As well as that you can walk along the towpath and look at the boats, even feed the ducks and swans. Finally, of course you can sit and have tea and cake and watch the world go by.

Summer will be here soon
Buttercup field in full bloom

On the day of my visit the field opposite Papermill Lock was full of buttercups. The yellow dots of the flowers went as far as the eye could see. Tall rye grass is also poking up in the front of the image. The sky was blue, with hardly a cloud to be seen. Summer will be here soon and I am sure we will get days like this one from 2019. To reach the Lock you go from Danbury down the Ridge and North Hill. From Boreham you travel along Mowden Hall Lane and North Hill.

To view more images of Essex click on this link and see the Great Places to go in Essex

Alternative sunflowers

By cpadmin

Alternative sunflowers. 2020 has been a good year for sunflowers in my garden. Most of the ones I have grown have dwarf varieties, Little Leo and Teddy Bear. I could not get out to buy packets of tall sunflower seeds due to lockdown. Both varieties grow approximately three feet high. Little Leo is a classic sunflower with long yellow petals, just like the sun’s rays. Teddy bear has a pompom head. It works by starting the flowers as a fringe on the outside and working towards the centre to complete the pompom.

  • Alternative sunflowers
    A pompom sunflower “Teddy Bear”
  • Alternative sunflowers
    Sunflower pot through the lens ball

The weather also brought some great opportunities for photographing the sunflowers. one of my birthday presents was a lens ball. I decided to experiment with it and the sunflowers were the first subject. A lens ball is a glass sphere which can be used to capture images. The process of refraction turns the image upside down. You have to use software to correct that afterwards. Two images are attached. One showing the “Teddy bear” variety. The lens ball captures the second image. I hope you like the images of alternative sunflowers. This web page has more images of my sunflowers.

I do have some tall sunflowers, these are self-set ones!

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!

Smallest of dwarf sunflowers

By cpadmin

Smallest of dwarf sunflowers

This is the smallest of dwarf sunflowers. This variety of sunflower should grow to three feet high. All of the others from the packet are now that high. The bright yellow flowers are coming out in the garden making a nice show

Smallest of dwarf sunflowers

Accidental small dwarf sunflower

By Accident

I didn’t notice this one when I was potting the rest of them on. So it stayed in the greenhouse in its small pot and has grown even up even smaller. As the flower bloomed I brought it inside and it is sitting happily making a nice contrast with the plum coloured carpet. Next year I think that I will do this again with three or four dwarf sunflowers to have some spectacular colour inside our house! I will try and organise a better pot though!

Have a look at more of our sunflower images from previous years in our garden galleries by using this link.

Our website has many other great images. Go to www.compassphotography.co.uk

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65, Tamron 16-300 lens, f6.3 1/125 ISO 100