Category: Photography

Just photos – no particular theme

Autumnal

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hillsLeave a comment

It won’t be September for another two weeks, but there’s an autumnal feel to the quiet lanes around Willey (and it’s much cooler than of late, just 15C). There are blackberries and damsons in great profusion – I don’t think I’ve seen so many at this time of year. Plenty of other sights and smells too – ripening apples, elderberries and sloes, and lots of wild hops. Rub a hop flower between your hands and sniff – who’s for a pint of best bitter?

View OS map in Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=367470&Y=298250&A=Y&Z=120

A Severnside morning

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, WalksLeave a comment

The air’s cool on this bright sunny morning – let’s make the most of it with a pre-lunch wander: down the very quiet Stanley Lane (three walkers, two cyclists) to Lower Severn Hall, then back along the riverside path to the woods of Chestnut Coppice. The uphill stretch (it’s very short, and not very steep) is rewarded with two wonderful fungal growths on dead wood – chicken of the woods and velvet-top fungus (I think!). They’re interesting subjects for the camera, whatever they are, but I certainly wouldn’t want to eat them…

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=372025&Y=296540&A=Y&Z=120

Scattered showers

On By geoffspagesIn NT and EH, Photography, Shropshire hills, WalksLeave a comment

We needed a short leg stretch – where? There was a light shower at home before lunch, and the forecast said “scattered showers”. If we go to Attingham, there’s plenty of shelter. That’s just as well – the rain seemed to focus on the area. Happily we found the expected shelter (a brick arch, the trees) and didn’t get noticeably wet, but we thought our usual longer route, much of it rather open, could be tempting fate. The rain stopped (great timing) just as we left the woods. A mile or so from Attingham, on the shortish drive home, the roads were dry. I’d hoped the garden might have had a drop. No chance! Scattered indeed.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=355280&Y=310145&A=Y&Z=120

Flight!

On By geoffspagesIn NT and EH, PhotographyLeave a comment

Tuesday 4 August: Scotland’s National Museum of Flight is just down the road from Dunbar, at East Fortune’s former WW2 airfield. We’d better pay it a visit!

We’re not experts on things that fly, though we have taken to the air once or twice. Geoffspages’ first flight (and only one in a jet*) was many years ago, from Birmingham to Munich (a school ski-ing trip), in a BAC 1-11 – just like that one over there! Seemed very modern at the time… So did Concorde, a few years later, when it roared overhead during occasional family visits west of Heathrow. There’s one on display here! At the other end of the scale, there’s a home-made plane, based around a VW ‘Beetle’ engine (amazing!) – and just about everything in-between.

* the others: a propeller-powered cross-channel hop, a short spin (not literally) in a 2-seater Cessna, and a helicopter flight over our little corner of Shropshire. I guess I ought to try a hot air balloon one of these days, or maybe a hang-glider? Maybe not…

NMS National Museum of Flight

Windy Sunny Dunny

On By geoffspagesIn Dunbar, PhotographyLeave a comment

Monday 3 August: Dunbar is noted for its summer sunshine. After the early rain has passed, it’s certainly sunny, but with an amber warning for storm Floris and winds gusting to the mid-60mph range, the sunshine isn’t the most obvious aspect of the weather. I’ll take a careful walk out to see if I can capture something of the wind on the camera. Avoiding camera shake could be tricky… There’s a strong wall beside the path which provides some shelter for a few shots of the sea and the waves. Beyond, beside the golf course (no-one playing today!), the wind is picking up loose material from the beach – I’m getting sandblasted (and it won’t be doing the camera any good). I’ll turn my back to the wind and head for home.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=367194&Y=678928&A=Y&Z=120

All’s quiet on the Edge

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, Walks1 Comment

Stretton Westwood and Bourton Westwood: we’ve been here before. The last time was in early spring – there were no leaves on the trees, the hedges were bare and there was no-one else about. Today, the trees are in full leaf, the hedges are laden with blackberries and sloes – and there’s no-one else about. A great afternoon for for a wander in this quiet part of Wenlock Edge – pleasantly warm with a light cooling breeze. Can’t ask for much more at this time of year.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=360205&Y=297680&A=Y&Z=120

By Linley Brook to Nordley Common

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, WalksLeave a comment

A welcome leg stretch on a nondescript late July day… A bit of sunshine, then some cloud, neither warm nor cold, a light breeze – and a lack of colour in the landscape (have I just contradicted myself?). Haven’t walked this way for a while – the path beside the brook can be rather wet, but though there’s always a sticky spot where a spring runs across the path, it’s otherwise dry (and well-suited to limbo dancers). It’s quiet in the fields past the Albynes – and along Stocking Lane and across Nordley Common, where the breeze is just perfect!

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=367935&Y=297520&A=Y&Z=120