30 Days of Wildness – Day 14 – A little bit of Macro

I set out on the 30 Day Challenge tonight on my own with an eye to do a bit of macro photography. I also took along my little tripod to get a steady shot if the light was not good.

On the way to a nice wild spot in the village this little trap passed me by and when I got to my spot the first thing I tripped over was a pheasant.

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Heading out

The area I was going to photograph is on a piece of waste ground near our old British Legion building here in Bramley. There is always some teasel growing here and I managed to get a lovely shot of this one backlit by the sun. The two pictures on the right are of speedwell and brooklime. Both of the flowers were tiny so I used my lens extensions to zoom in and my tripod to try and get a steady shot.

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From big to tiny

I was having a look at the oxeye daisies when I came across this little chap. He was raising his front legs every now and then to ward off the lens.

The bottom two flowers are forget-me-not and stichwort, both very dainty and beautiful. I love how you can see the shadows from the stamens on the stichwort.

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Fine detail

I decided to have a play around getting some shots of the seed heads of some grasses and was pretty happy with the results. The vetch and the down feather were less of a success as I could not get the depth of field to focus on everything (I need a course on this).

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Points and curves

The hairs on the oxeye caught my attention as they were lit up by the sun but I was really taken with the herb robert in the two pictures at the bottom. I was impressed that I could make out the individual pollen grains.

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A little bit of pollen

My last picture of the night was of a lonely little snail tucked up in the nook of a nettle leaf.

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Snuggled in

Really enjoyed getting down to the macro level again.

Cheers

George

30 Days of Wildness – Day 4 – Bramley Bimbles

What a cracking day it has been. I had no problem getting out and about for the thirty day challenge as it was such a lovely day.

We popped out to Clift Meadow here in Bramley for the ‘Big Lunch‘ – my wife Alison had organised an excellent picnic for us. This is a one-day get together for neighbours to meet up and chat over a spot of lunch.

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Picnic time

My son Finlay was off playing with his friends so after our picnic my daughter Catherine and I went off in hunt of some insects. We went to one of our favourite ponds that is full of Yellow Iris and Brooklime – a perfect attraction for insects.

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Sit spot

We were hoping to spot some Mayflies but it was not to be. We did though spot some bees on the flowers on the way and at the pond itself a cricket and a small moth on the Brooklime.

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Our spots

Later on in the afternoon we jumped on our bikes and headed out to our local woods.

After hiding the bikes we spotted lots of deer tracks and had some fun on the old bridges.

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Woodland wanders

The main reason to go to this spot was to look for some of the Common Spotted Orchids I know grow here. After a quick recce we soon found them.

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Orchid hunting

It was soon time for dinner so we headed back for the bikes. On the way back we spotted a pigeon kill site. I had a look at the quills and none of them had been ripped off so I imagine it was a bird of prey that had its dinner here.

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The journey home

All in all a great day with the family.

Cheers

George

Bramley Bimble – 16th May 14

The 16th of May was a perfect day for a bimble around the village with the kids. They decided to take the scooters and even managed to keep them going on the rough woodland tracks.

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Bimbling with my kids

Looking good now is the common bistort and the yellow iris. I found the large sow thistle up near the Clift Pavilion.

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Bistort, Iris and Sow Thistle

I passed by many dandelion seed heads but this one caught the light just perfectly.

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Dandelion seed head

The meadow by Lane End proved a good place to explore.

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Chilling in the sun

The wild strawberry leaves and flowers are well out around the whole village but I saw my first buttercups and red clover this week.

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Wild Strawberry, Red Clover and Buttercup

This large horse chestnut is one of the trees I am monitoring for the whole year. The sun looked nice as it shone through it. The blossom is still looking good on the horse chestnut and at the foot of it I found these ferns uncurling.

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Horse Chestnut and unfurling Ferns

We had a good look around the meadow but there are not too many plants flowering yet.

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Cuddles

I did spot that the cherry tree near the pond is starting to produce its fruit now. Catherine and Finlay were also on the lookout for tracks (this one is deer) and tadpoles.

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Cherry fruit, Deer slots and Tadpoles

One of my favourite snacks while out foraging is the pignut. I found that they had just started to flower in our area now.

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Pignut flowers and leaves

I do not really know my birds but Catherine and Finlay took some time out to lie back and see what flew over them.

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Watching the sky

The orchids in the Frith are still hanging in there but I expect to see them disappear over the next few weeks. In the damp ground we did find a pheasant track and spotted that the Brooklime was appearing now.

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Orchids, Pheasant print and Brooklime

The bluebells have started to die back now but still make a beautiful sight. The stichwort and mayweed are looking at their finest though at the moment.

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Bluebells, Stitchwort and Mayweed

The kids had soon had enough of lying about and started scrambling over the alder and willow trees.

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The Catherine Shuffle

The ash is finally out: it must be one of the last trees to burst into life in the Bramley area. Out near the playground by the new estate the white campion is in full bloom and in the Frith we spotted what looked like a badger print, deep in the wood well away from dog walking tracks.

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Ash, White Campion and possible Badger print

Still to be found there are the lovely yellow wood avens and blue forget-me-nots, and the grass seed heads are standing tall.

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Wood Aven, Forget-Me-Nots and Grass Seed head

Needless to say Finlay needed to get in on the tree climbing act.

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The Finlay Shuffle

I found what looks like a water hemlock by the stream next to our house. Beautiful but deadly.

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Water Hemlock

Last picture is of a couple of tracks from I have no idea what animal: any ideas?

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Unknown print?

This was an excellent bimble around Bramley and I am now looking forward to seeing all the early summer flowers that will soon be appearing.

Cheers

George