Tag: Hatherton

Candle.

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Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire, England sometime in the mid 1970s.

In fact so far back I’m not sure which camera the photo was taken with. It could either be a Zenit E, my first serious camera, or the Olympus OM1 that replaced the Zenit. I’m pretty sure I was still in school and not studying photography at art school.

There must have been a power outage because I remember photographing this candle on the mantle piece of the fireplace in the living room of my parents house.

The circle of light to the left of the flame is the candles reflection on the wall above the mantle piece.

Candle flame.

Eye of frog.

David M10 Comments

I know that the title sounds like part of a recipe being prepared in a cauldron to put a spell on someone but the latest Wits End Weekly Photo Challenge is Eyes so the title was to hard to resist.

A Common Frog (Rana temporaria) hiding in the pondweed in a garden pond in Cheshire, England.

Eye of the frog.

Sunbathing Dunnock.

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The new Wits End Weekly Photo Challenge is Comfortable and Cozy.

I had my post almost finished before changing my mind about which photo I was going to use and starting again. The only part of the first version to survive is the opening sentence with the link to the Weekly Photo Challenge.

Thinking about the challenge a second time got me thinking about summer, warmer weather and the sun, probably because we had been under snow squall warnings and extreme cold warnings for a lot of last week. That made me think of this photo of a sunbathing Dunnock (Prunella modularis) in Cheshire, England.

The bird is obviously comfortable and cozy in the warm sun.

Sunbathing Dunnock.

If you’re wondering what my initial pick for this challenge was it was this photo.

 

Common Starling eating a windfall apple.

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Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire in the early 1990s. The Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is also known as the European Starling or, in the U.K., simply as a Starling.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a female Blackcap feeding on a windfall apple in the winter. A Common Starling eating windfall apple isn’t as noteworthy but it’s still an interesting observation adding to the list of species that feed on windfall apples in the winter in the U.K.

European Starling in winter.

Repeating patterns in London Pride.

David M6 Comments

The current Wits End Weekly Photo Challenge is Repeating Patterns.

My first thought was snow on evergreen branches as I have taken a few shots that would work recently. However, patterns in nature is something that I have photographed over the years and I had a selection to pick from.

In the end I went with a photo of London Pride, a fairly common garden plant in the U.K. I find the toothed leaves interesting and the red centre to the rosette of leaves add to the pattern. The red centres are where the plant is starting to flower.

London Pride plant.

Hoarfrost covered Oak tree.

David M6 Comments

Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire, England in the early 1980s. I’m saying the early 1980s as I seem to remember setting down my then fairly new Tenba camera bag in the snow.

I remember being surprised that I had paid so much for a camera bag. Little did I know that 35 years later I would still be using the bag occasionally. I ended up with two more of those Tenba bags in different sizes over the next decade. I still have all three and use them at times.

This hoarfrost covered Oak tree is in the hedgerow of a field opposite the house I grew up in.

Hoarfrost and snow covered Oak tree.
Hoarfrost covered Oak tree, Hatherton, Cheshire, England.

 

Redwing eating a Holly berry.

David M1 Comment

Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire, England in the mid 1980s.

The Redwing (Turdus iliacus) is a member of the Thrush family. They are winter visitors to Britain arriving in the autumn after breeding in northern regions of Europe and Asia. Wintering birds sometimes form loose flocks numbering up to 200 birds but I seem to remember this being a solitary bird. It’s feeding on a berry of a Holly (Ilex aquifolium) tree.

The photo was taken from a bedroom window so I was slightly higher than the bird but not enough for the angle to look odd. It was used in a field guide to garden wildlife and it was taken in a garden unlike some of my other photos used in the book.

A Redwing in a Holly tree.