Yellow flag iris abloom
yellow flag
aka: yellow iris, water flag
scientific name: Iris pseudacorus
Blog
Bird on a Wire – Frog on the Floor
Bird on a wire above you!
Got to keep reminding myself to keep looking up and keep looking down when I’m out and about. Of course, with the easing out of lockdown, we’re now able to get out and about a lot more, and more than once a day. Feels good if you can take advantage of this, doesn’t it? So, that means more opportunities to look.
Rhododendron: Devil in Disguise?
Invasive rhododendron ponticum
It has such beautiful, large trusses of purple flowers showing in May-June each year, that it’s near impossible to miss this striking shrub. Rhododendron is a favourite in gardens throughout the UK, as it’s a relatively easy plant to grow, it’s an evergreen, is fairly low maintenance and makes great hedges. It can be bought in most garden centres.
When the Light Breaks Through
When the sun’s light breaks through at Thrunton
Competition for sunlight among trees leads to a remarkably consistent pattern of tree sizes in woodlands. And all sorts of animals and plants that live in the shade of trees are also reliant on the sun breaking through the canopy at some times in order for them to survive.
Bringing Home the Bacon
Bringing home the bacon
idiom
- Supplying material provision or support
- Achieving desired results; having success
Golden-Ringed Dragonfly
Golden-ringed dragonfly: Hepburn Wood
Not in Beanley Wood this time but in Hepburn Wood, a Forestry England managed forest just a few miles east of Lilburn Tower. Out exercising again – and so much to see at this time of the year.
Contrails
What are contrails?
Contrails (a word blended from ‘condensation trails’) are the wispy, cloud-like white lines that zig-zag across the sky in the wake of jets engines. They are made up of water droplets and/or ice crystals.
Beanley’s Wood
Beanley’s wood stacked
wood stack
log pile
logs
chunks
timber
lengths
Chocolate Shadows
Chocolate shadows?
What colour are shadows, actually?
When I was a kid, and the only cameras available used actual film – no such thing as digital cameras then, oh no – you had to shoot in bright light. Well, not strictly true – but if you didn’t have the means to buy an expensive camera and an expensive film that could be used in low light, well, you simply had to shoot in bright light. That’s why so many of us have old black and white photos in our family collections that appear to be over-exposed, burned out or with far too much contrast between the blacks and the whites. Too much contrast and you loose the detail: those subtle textures and structures that lurk in the shadows.