Hawk Stone

This is the Hawk Stone, near Dean, Oxfordshire – a Neolithic oolitic limestone standing stone – according to Wikipedia, local legend has it that the stone was used for burning witches – the cleft in the top was made by the chains used to tie them up. I was not aware of the connection to witches until after…

Merry Christmas…Cake!

Merry Christmas…with the view of our cake – only got round to tasting it today after stuffing ourselves yesterday! It’s a snowy scene (not completely unlike a couple of weeks ago) – the cabin is a bought cake decoration, but the cake, icing and trees are hand-made – the trees are an adaptation of ones…

Church Path

Church Path in Shipton-under-Wychwood with some early morning sunshine – taken a few days ago. #b&w #church #path #cotswolds #oxfordshire Technical details: 18mm(XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS); 1/450s@f6.4; ISO200 – handheld –  post-processing in Lightroom – B&W conversion in SilverFX Pro – DSCF71511712195935-Edit  

Snowy Worcestershire Beacon

A rather snowy view on the way up the Worcestershire Beacon above Great Malvern earlier today – at low levels, very little settled snow, but up here there was 2cm or so.  Quite a steep climb out of Malvern – takes around 30 minutes to get from the town to the summit – a little…

Welsh Mountains

These are Welsh Mountains – some might say they are ‘tiddlers’, but still impressive to me – this is a panoramic shot taken on a quick trip (8hr drive, round-trip) to Bangor in North Wales so that Miles and I could attend the University Open Day – the day was useful, but I would have…

The Royal Scot

#RoyalScot #Stream #Train #Cotswolds Here is The Royal Scot, at speed, on the North Cotswold line from Oxford to Worcester – a trip from London Paddington called The Cotswold Venturer – this train was supposed to have been pulled by The Flying Scotsman, but had to be substituted due to mechanical problems: Flying Scotsman update:…

Delta the Barn Owl

This a beautiful Barn Owl called Delta – taken at the end of an amazing evening (Owls By Moonlight) at the Hawk Conservancy Trust, near Andover where we were treated to flying displays with many different owls, many flying just over our heads – apart from the range of owls (I didn’t realise there were so…

Traffic jam…

…the Dartmoor way! A side road across Dartmoor, Devon, UK on Tuesday morning as we were making our way to the coast at Salcombe – almost as many Highland cows here as we saw in Scotland a few years ago!  Where are the bull bars for my car (Nissan X-Trail) when I need them! #Dartmoor,…

Severn Bridge

This is the first Severn Bridge connecting Aust, England to Chepstow, Wales – this bridge saved a 50 mile round trip up to the next bridge over the River Severn at Gloucester – It was opened in 1966 and carried the M4 until the Second Severn Crossing took over in 1996 – the road on…

Eclipse – 21/08/2017

Eclipse…well, just!  In West Oxfordshire, UK, after a day of lifeless grey skies, we got just enough of a glimpse of the sun to see the 5% bite out of the sun before it set…and it was good to see, dodging behind some clouds (which was good, as it adds extra interest to the pictures…