Tag: Nantwich

July Squares: Kingfisher Blue.

David M5 Comments

A contribution to Becky’s July Squares: Blue challenge.

This is a Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) also known as the Eurasian Kingfisher and River Kingfisher. The colour has been described as blue-green upperparts with pale azure-blue back and rump. I have noticed that the blue colours changes depending on quality and direction of the light falling on the bird.

Interestingly enough, the feathers aren’t blue, they contain no pigments. The colour is produced by the fine surfaces of the feathers interfering with the wavelengths of light. That is presumably why the colours can change depending on the light.

Also known as a Eurasian Kingfisher and River Kingfisher.

 

Cosmic Photo Challenge: Street Photography.

David M13 Comments

This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge: Street Photography.

Having copied around two thousand slides over the past couple of years I went through my film archives for some street photography. I picked these shots taken at a period fair on the town square in Nantwich, Cheshire, England in the 1980s.

A South Cheshire Pipe Band drummer at the fair.

Pipe Band drummer.

Emptying the post box on the town square during the fair.

Emptying the postbox.

A couple of the stalls at the fair.

Some fair stalls.

Proving that the underwear matches the period costume at the fair.

Nostalgia at the fair.

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Outdoors.

David M11 Comments

This is my contribution to the Tuesday Photo Challenge: Outdoors.

As someone who is primarily an outdoor photographer I had plenty of photos to pick from but I needed a theme to follow. So I decided to go with as wide a variety of subject matter as possible and to start in the 1970s and end this summer.

One of my earliest photos. The negative for the first version got lost or damaged so I reshot the scene next time there was snow. Trees in snow, Hatherton, Cheshire, England in the mid 1970s.

trees in snow, Hatherton, Cheshire, England.

Entering the start/finish straight at around midnight at the Le Mans 24 hour motorcycle endurance race. Le Mans, France in April 1982.

Night racing

Light beam on a hillside at Loch Arkaig, Scotland in the autumn of 1985.

Sunset light beam.

A Red Fox in a hay field taken in Faddiley, Cheshire, England in the late 1980s.

Hunting Red Fox.

A Borage flower bud photographed in Nantwich, Cheshire, England in the mid 1990s.

Borage plant.

An American White Pelican at Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area, Saskatchewan, Canada in the late 1990s.

breeding adult American White Pelican

Waves and rocks at sunrise on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada in the early 2000s.

Rocks and waves.

Canada Day fireworks from the dock at Colpoy’s Bay. The fireworks are in the town of Wiarton a couple of miles away across the bay. Taken on Canada Day last year.

Fireworks for Canada Day.

Colpoy’s Bay and the Niagara Escarpment at sunrise this summer.

Colpoy's Bay at sunrise.

Nostalgia.

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My contribution to the A Photo a Week Challenge: Nostalgia.

Proving that the underwear matches the costume at a period fair (fayre probably) on the town square, Nantwich, Cheshire, England.

Nostalgia at the fair.

An old tractor competing in the Cheshire Ploughing Match in the 1980s.

Nostalgia at the ploughing match.

A final polish for the brass at the steam rally. I don’t know what health and safety would say about climbing up on the machine when there’s a fire in the firebox.

Nostalgia at the steam rally.

Architectural Arches.

David M2 Comments

My contribution to the COSMIC CURVATURE: ARCHITECTURAL MARVELS Cosmic Photo Challenge.

I decided to go with a selection of photos of St Mary’s Church, Nantwich, Cheshire, England, a 14th century church with a variety of interesting curves.

A monochrome study of the eastern end of the church.

Architectural Arches.

The stained glass window at the western end of the church.

Architectural Arches.

The western end of St Mary’s Church showing the stained glass window from the outside.

St Mary's Church front.

Nantwich Square.

David M8 Comments

The new Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is Architecture.

I thought a quick tour of the centre of my home town would be in order. One of its claims to fame is having one of the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England. The settlement dates back to Roman times when it produced salt for the Roman garrisons at Chester and Stoke-on-trent.

St Mary’s Church stands to the east of the town square. The oldest surviving building in the town, it dates back to the 14th century. One of the few buildings to survive a fire in December 1583 which destroyed most of the town to the east of the River Weaver.

The front of St Mary’s Church.

St Mary's Church front.

The Nantwich War Memorial on the town square with St Mary’s Church in the background.

Nantwich War Memorial.

Part of the square and some of the old buildings around it. St Mary’s Church is on the left side of the photo.

Town Square, Nantwich, Cheshire.

Mistle Thrush eating a windfall apple.

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Throwback Thursday continues a recent theme of birds eating windfall apples in the winter.

This is a Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus) eating a windfall apple in an orchard. The Mistle Thrush gets its name from its liking of Mistletoe berries. Apparently Mistle is an old English name for the plant.

This individual was photographed in Cheshire, England in the late 1980s. In the U.K. they are a year round resident.

A Mistle Thrush in an orchard.