Above Small Water

Stopped off in the Far Eastern Lakes on an extended route back from Newcastle having stopped at Hadrian’s Wall first near Haltwhistle (pictures from there and the stay in Newcastle will follow). This is the area from the end of Haweswater Reservoir – Initially a smaller natural lake, Mardale valley was dammed and flooded in…

Watching the watcher…

This was taken on an early morning dog walk along the quayside in Newcastle during a recent trip to the city to see our daughter. While walking back towards the hotel, I spotted this chap underneath the swing bridge watching the sunrise over the River Tyne. Glorious colours and great reflections! Shot taken with a…

Bassenthwaite Lake

On a recent and all to brief visit to the Lake District, I took this six shot, handheld panorama from the edge of Bassenthwaite Lake a short distance from Keswick – I had come from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, having got our daughter settled in her accommodation at the University and stopped off near Steel Rigg on Hadrians…

Walk – Burford to the Barringtons

A few pictures from a walk I did with Sparky on Saturday – a nice walk, mostly along roads, but these were quiet – Walked from Burford along the Windrush Valley to the edge of Little Barrington, then up to Great Barrington and back via the road to Little Barrington to return to Burford –…

Partial Solar Eclipse – June 2021

As so often seems to happen with celestial events, it was cloudy here today, but the clouds did break momentarily and I managed to take this photograph of the sun – not taken at the time of the maximum (for us this would have been around 20% of the sun covered), but not too long…

Bluebells in the Wychwood Forest

A photograph that was taken yesterday while walking the dog on a route that took in the edge of the Wychwood Forest (part of the Cornbury Park estate) – plenty of bluebells under the trees, but I particularly liked these dainty little white flowers along with the bluebells here, along side the path. #2021 #Cotswolds…

Cygnet on the River Windrush

A photograph that was taken while on a long circular walk from Swinbrook – part of this was along the river Windrush, where there was a swan on the river – beyond the next bend in the river was this cygnet – not far off fully grown from its size, but still showing the grey…

Orion Star Count

In the UK, The Countryside Charity (CPRE) is asking people to participate in the annual star count (Feb 6th-14th 2021) – this involves counting the stars with the naked eye within the main part of the Orion constellation to get an understanding of the level of light pollution across the country. Finally, after several nights…

Comet Neowise

This is Comet Neowise or, more officially, C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) – a retrograde comet – during July it is just visible with the naked-eye (not directly looking at it, you have to use averted vision due to the way ours eyes work) – better with binoculars and better still with a long exposure photograph! Neowise…

Sycamore Gap

Here is the tree at Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s Wall Path – taken fairly late in the day, so now in shadow, but nicely silhouetted against the stunning blue sky! When the weather is good, it is really good! This tree and section of wall was made even more famous by being used in the…