Little Birds in the Breamish Valley
Having been looking up and not failing to notice the larger long-legged herons and the bulky greylags flying over the Breamish Valley, I thought it was time to champion some little birds.
Stretch of the Imagination
Stretch of the imagination
idiom:
Enlarging one’s imagination, forcing oneself to conceive of something beyond normal limits.
Stretches of gorse along the Breamish
I Love Greylags, Me!
Greylags in the valley
Weighing in at 1.5 kg more than a grey heron, it’s the greylag. This bird is the largest goose native to the UK. They are a fairly common sight on the fields along the Breamish Valley and can be seen at both Branton Lakes Nature Reserve and the Hedgeley Lakes.
I Love Herons, Me!
Herons in the Valley (again)
We are so privileged here in the Breamish Valley, as it has an abundance of wildlife. And, if you’ve been looking up, you will most likely, at some point, have seen a majestic, large-winged heron pulling itself effortlessly through the sky.
Sandpiper in the Valley
Common sandpiper in Breamish Valley
I last posted some images of Common Sandpiper on the River Breamish back in June 2015. Not that I haven’t seen them since, only that I haven’t taken the time to photograph them. Anyway, out on my once-a-day exercise a couple of days ago, I saw a few sandpiper along the banks of the River Breamish, along the valley towards Ingram. I’m not really a wildlife photographer, as I don’t have the proper equipment to do it. However, I did manage to get these shots of this fairly small wading bird that can be seen here in Northumberland during the summer months. It typically arrives around March-April each year and then, after breeding, it leaves around July-August.
Nature Connectedness and Meaning in Life Research
Invitation to participate in nature connectedness and meaning in life research
We have received [4 May 2020] the following email communication from Michael Wilson at University of Derby.
Invitation
I am in my final year of doing an MSc in Psychology at the University of Derby, and as part of my degree I am conducting a study into “Nature Connectedness and Meaning in Life in the Northumberland National Park”. While the benefits of being in nature are well known, not a lot of research has been conducted into how being in nature may be linked to ideas about meaning in life. Also, it is possible that different nature settings (e.g., urban parks, allotments, forest school) have a different impact on people using these spaces. Therefore, I am writing to invite you to participate in this research. The project is supervised by Dr Ryan Lumber (ryan.lumber@derby.ac.uk; 01332 597756).
Everything Looks in Black and White
Worse in black and white?
I fell in love with the music of Paul Simon (formerly one half of the folk-rock duo ‘Simon and Garfunkel’) in 1974, when my sister gave me one of his albums: Paul Simon in Concert: Live Rhymin’. I then went out and bought the third of his studio albums: the 1973-released, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. On this album there is a song entitled ‘Kodachrome’. This is named after Kodak’s 35mm format camera film. A main characteristic of this film was that it gave an unnatural colour saturation to the images; so, a photo taken on a dull, overcast day, would look as if it had been taken on a sunny day. Hence the following lines from the chorus:
