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On Sunday I visited Inveraray for some fresh air and a walk
On returning to the car the sky started to change colour from pinks to purples quite an amazing site.
by the time I grabbed the camera from the car the best of the colours were fading but the whole of the sky was this beautiful purple glow
So I grabbed a quick shot of the vital spark
One of the highlights of a week long trip to Svalbard was this confident little fox who turned up right outside our hostel in Longyearbyen. Happy to hang around and pose for a while so that I could get a whole set of very different images :)
Yesterday a beautiful hoar frost in Epping Forest and today snow which persisted under perfectly still conditions.
Gaining numbers but still need more to make an impact. This area is full of the natural UK species and so far has not been contaminated by the bulkier Spanish variety.
Disagreement over nesting rights between two herons. Always remarkable to se these huge birds land on flimsy branches.
A beautiful crisp and cold winters day; great walking weather providing you are layered up. Wish I'd put some gloves on!!!
Common darters mating - the male hangs on to the female (under) to prevent other males trying to have their way instead of him.
We took a quick visit to Manchester's Christmas Markets yesterday... in the rain. I took my camera of course, and chuckled to myself when I saw this shot. It reminds me of photos on the following blog: medium.com/vantage/every-stare-directed-at-a-street-photo... (well worth a visit!).
Thanks for looking!
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.
Freddie & Gus (14)
So how does a terrier beat a sighthound in a sprint? Some may call it cutting corners. I call it tactical awareness. In life, second place might mean “1st loser” but if there's sausage treats on offer we’re all winners.
The infamous winding road that runs from Mam Tor towards Edale in the Peak District National Park, UK.
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This is from my garden in Essex close to Epping Forest. The woodpecker is sitting atop its feeding station and waiting to bomb the starlings if they try to get at his food - he runs away from the jackdaws and magpies but waits for me to frighten them off and then shoots back
It was busy on 'The Edge' in Alderley... it's quite an attraction, especially for dog walkers and people like us who just want to get out for an hour or two.
Thanks for all the likes and comments. I hope your Sunday's are going well!
A healing light?
This angel in the afternoon sun cast a spell on me…
But was someone looking over my shoulder?
The order of the day was the Helvellyn range in sunshine and High Street hills in cloud. A large cloud bank hung over the eastern fell most of the day. As I walked along ridge of High street for a brief moment the sun burst through.....
Book your hut, turn up, sit by the sea, eat your pasty, promise to finally decorate the guest bedroom when you get home (same as you did last year)…
Swanage, Dorset UK
(SOOC exposure, small crop)
Perhaps a little unpalatable but nature nonetheless - a yellow-bodied spider had caught a blue damselfly which made for a colourful if gory image. The fact the web was hanging out over water gave the snap an added complication.
Suggestion for the spider species welcome.
This is a second effort at the grey wagtail foraging along the drainage channel of Highams Park lake in Chingford (London, E4). This is a composite of 2 images - the first to blur the water flow and the second to position the grey wagtail which is still at this location.