View allAll Photos Tagged APpicoftheweek
That was a great weekend back in September on the River Orwell, Woolverstone, Suffolk UK.
I just found this one, a little wonky at first and therefore almost discarded. But with just an 11x6 crop and some light enhancement I think it sums up those late summer evenings perfectly.
Please use the gate. Part of the charm of the Lake District is the managed landscape, especially the drystone walls. Many like this disused gate are falling into disrepair, which again has it's own beauty. Personally I can't imagine the effort and the hard work it took the bygone farmers to build these walls. The gate posts in this photo are framing Helvellyn in early winter snow.
Fabulous day at Cley and a real treat - to get a bearded tit/reedling in flight amongst the reeds.Panurus biarmicu
Tawny owl taken a couple of years back following a tip-off in Epping Forest, UK. I get a lot of tip-offs few of which come to anything. I was about to give up on this one when a head began to appear and over the next half-hour the whole bird emerged to soak up the evening sun.
Decorative garden stones with light and dark.
***************************************
Canon EF50mm lens, black sheet to left, muted lamp to right. Single shot, WB 3900 K. Raw file into Affinity Photo for developing and monochrome treatment.
Edit August 2024: boosted whites a touch.
From the Richard Harvey Studio One
Low grade agricultural land you say? Let's try solar. They'll pay £££ and you won't have to lift a finger!
What, who's hungry...?
Part of a recent hike to the edges of Bleaklow. I have repeated the experiment of a video slideshow as a kind of sketchbook of my impressions from the hike. You can find it on YouTube here: youtu.be/LeyX_MH1mow
Ruffs squaring up to each other - they are so beautiful at this time of year and all to impress the ladies,
Pilot whale off the coast of Tenerife coming to say good morning. Spent nearly an hour floating alongside this pod as gradually they became accustomed to us. Just like most wildlife watching.
Love the way all fungi seem to be common in my Collins guide - well I don't see waxcaps very often so I make the most of it when I do - yellow and snowy waxcap reflections
I've had this shot of a coastal tidal pool in mind for a long time. On the morning of the shoot the wind was blowing a gale and the tide was rapidly on the way in. This is not the sharpest picture but i'm pleased with the overall look.
www.willwalkerphotography.com/
Fuji X-T2, 28secs at f/13, Formatt Hitech Pro Stop 6 IRND filter
Don't forget to look up, even if it's raining.
Hypholoma fasciculare
Northlands Wood, Corringham, Essex UK
******************************************
All this recent fungal action has prompted a new album ⬇️
An ancient seat
The castle is situated on the Laich of Moray, a fertile plain that was once the swampy foreshore of Spynie Loch. This was originally a more defensive position than it appears today, long after the loch was drained.
The motte is a huge man-made mound, with steep sides and a wide ditch separating it from the bailey. The whole site is enclosed by a water-filled ditch, which is more a mark of its boundary than it is a serious defensive measure.
The ancestral seat of the earls of Moray
Duffus Castle was built by a Flemish man named Freskin, who came to Scotland in the first half of the 1100s. After an uprising by the ‘men of Moray’ against David I in 1130, the king sent Freskin north as a representative of royal authority.
He was given the estate of Duffus, and here he built an earthwork-and-timber castle. Freskin’s son William adopted the title of ‘de Moravia’ – of Moray. By 1200, the family had become the most influential noble family in northern Scotland, giving rise to the earls of Sutherland and Clan Murray.
A new stronghold
In about 1270, the castle passed to Sir Reginald Cheyne the Elder, Lord of Inverugie. He probably built the square stone keep on top of the motte, and the curtain wall encircling the bailey. In 1305, the invading King Edward I of England gave him a grant of 200 oaks from the royal forests of Darnaway and Longmorn, which were probably used for the castle’s floors and roofs.
By 1350, the castle had passed to a younger son of the Earl of Sutherland through marriage. It may have been then that the keep was abandoned, possibly because it was beginning to slip down the mound, and a new residence established at the north of the bailey.
Viscount Dundee, leader of the first Jacobite Rising, dined in the castle as a guest of James, Lord Duffus in 1689, prior to his victory against King William II’s government forces at Killiecrankie. Soon after, Lord Duffus moved to the nearby Duffus House. The castle quickly fell into decay.
A shoal of dreamfish - so called because their flesh has hallucinogenic properties (?). Los Gigantes harbour.
Amongst the wetland habitats of the RSPB Vange Marsh Nature Reserve. I guess not many photographers go to an RSPB reserve armed with only a 50mm prime but I wanted a look at the sizeable lagoon and creek I have up to now only seen from the road. You can immerse yourself in this timeless space if you can close your ears off to the sound of the A13 London road that runs close by. Nevertheless this site lies on a walking route that runs across the marshes from Tilbury, through Fobbing to Southend and is well worth exploring.
Vange, Essex UK
Part of my 'Duffus Castle through the seasons' project.
The castle is situated on the Laich of Moray, a fertile plain that was once the swampy foreshore of Spynie Loch. This was originally a more defensive position than it appears today, long after the loch was drained.
The motte is a huge man-made mound, with steep sides and a wide ditch separating it from the bailey. The whole site is enclosed by a water-filled ditch, which is more a mark of its boundary than it is a serious defensive measure.
Duffus Castle was built by a Flemish man named Freskin, who came to Scotland in the first half of the 1100s. After an uprising by the ‘men of Moray’ against David I in 1130, the king sent Freskin north as a representative of royal authority.
He was given the estate of Duffus, and here he built an earthwork-and-timber castle. Freskin’s son William adopted the title of ‘de Moravia’ – of Moray. By 1200, the family had become the most influential noble family in northern Scotland, giving rise to the earls of Sutherland and Clan Murray.
In about 1270, the castle passed to Sir Reginald Cheyne the Elder, Lord of Inverugie. He probably built the square stone keep on top of the motte, and the curtain wall encircling the bailey. In 1305, the invading King Edward I of England gave him a grant of 200 oaks from the royal forests of Darnaway and Longmorn, which were probably used for the castle’s floors and roofs.
By 1350, the castle had passed to a younger son of the Earl of Sutherland through marriage. It may have been then that the keep was abandoned, possibly because it was beginning to slip down the mound, and a new residence established at the north of the bailey.
Viscount Dundee, leader of the first Jacobite Rising, dined in the castle as a guest of James, Lord Duffus in 1689, prior to his victory against King William II’s government forces at Killiecrankie. Soon after, Lord Duffus moved to the nearby Duffus House. The castle quickly fell into decay.