Category: Video

An unusual visitor

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Video1 Comment

There’s a fairly large buddleia bush just outside the house – and, before we set out for a walk on Sunday evening, I paused to study the numerous peacocks, red admirals and painted ladies – butterflies like buddleias! But what’s that? At first slight it’s a very small bird, hovering beside the flower heads – but it’s not. It’s a hummingbird hawk-moth: never landing, it hovers briefly at each bloom to suck at the nectar through its long proboscis. Watch it briefly coil up and straighten in the last seconds of the short video clip.
It’s not easy to photograph, rarely still on a breezy day, but it was there once more this afternoon so that I could try again…

Keep off the rocks!

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Skye, VideoLeave a comment

25 May (we’re still on Skye): It’s been blowing hard all day, the showers coming thick and fast – and heavy. To get caught in one would be to get soaked. Then, late in the afternoon, there’s a bigger break in the cloud – might it stay dry for a while? Let’s chance it – a leg stretch from the village hall down to Camas Mor, where the waves on the rocks could be fun… After an enjoyable half-hour or so, clouds begin to obscure the sun – there’s another big shower coming. If we walk quickly, will we stay dry?

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=137039&Y=870788&A=Y&Z=120

Garden visitor

On By geoffspagesIn VideoLeave a comment

I was thinking of doing some gardening. Surveying the scene, I heard a rustle. There he was, bold as brass! He had a snooze while I fetched the camera… I thought he was going to crawl over my feet, then he sniffed the air, changed his mind, and left to visit next-door’s garden. Hope they appreciate his presence.

Bang!

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, Video2 Comments

Sorry – it’s hardly original. The eagle-eyed will have spotted one or two not-very-cryptic photo captions relating to Ironbridge power station, which operated for the last time just over four years ago. Since then, it has been decommissioned, and now is undergoing demolition. So far, such work has not been obvious, but this morning, at 11am, the towers came down. They were so big that they always seemed to be nearer than they were – the closest was about 2/3 of a mile away from our vantage point, the furthest not far short of a mile. Just before 11, we heard warning sirens – and then the towers began to fall. The boom of the explosive charges, like the crack of thunder following a nearby bolt of lightning, came when the towers were well on their way down. Yes, we know why, but the laws of physics can easily be forgotten in a moment of excitement.

Now they’re history. The intentionally salmon-pink towers were quite an icon in this part of the world, and it was a sad sight to see them being reduced to rubble (and an awful lot of dust!). However, the Severn Gorge already looks more rural, like it did in the early 60s, and when the chimney and turbine halls have gone, the riverside here will look completely different, in closer accord with a greener future.

Lord Dowding

On By geoffspagesIn Photography, Railways..., VideoLeave a comment

34052 “Lord Dowding” (he’s really 34046 “Braunton”), in action this morning near All Stretton. He’s hauling the “Welsh Marches Express” from Crewe to Cardiff, and going well. The train left Shrewsbury 4 minutes late, but by Marshbrook, just a few miles to my south, it was on time. No diesel on the back either. Sunshine, steam on – great!

Northern Mill Engines

On By geoffspagesIn VideoLeave a comment

Friday 28 December: it’s a “get away from the turkey” day out, to the Northern Mill Engine Society’s museum in Bolton, Lancs (I should say “Greater Manchester”). It’s open to visitors on Wednesdays and Saturdays throughout the year – and has five two-day steaming events such as this one. It’s a magnificent collection of machines which, in motion, are quite mesmeric – it’s a real pleasure just to watch and listen. So instead of photos, here’s a video compilation of preserved steam-powered northern mill engines in action.

Northern Mill Engine Society: Bolton Steam Museum

Watermills in border country

On By geoffspagesIn NT and EH, Photography, Video1 Comment

A good day out – the steam-hauled “Welsh Marches Express” (see “Steaming through Stokesay” for more pictures and video), followed by visits to Herefordshire and Shropshire watermills, open to the public on “National Mills Weekend”. We’ll have lunch out too, in the black-and-white village of Pembridge.

The mills are:
Staunton Mill, at Staunton on Arrow (Herefordshire)
Court of Noke Mill nearby (with mill-wheel turning)
Wrickton Mill, near Neenton, Shropshire (also with a turning wheel)
Charlcotte iron furnace, near Neenton (no, not a mill, though its bellows were water-powered – many years ago…)

National Mills Weekend

Video on Youtube: Court of Noke and Wrickton mills