Jay - Garrulus Glandarius

Although they are the most colourful members of the crow family, jays are actually quite difficult to see. They are shy woodland birds, rarely moving far from cover. The screaming call usually lets you know a jay is nearby and it is usually given when a bird is on the move, so watch for a bird flying between the trees with its distinctive flash of white on the rump. Jays are famous for their acorn feeding habits and in the autumn you may see them burying acorns for retrieving later in the winter.

The word jay has an archaic meaning in American slang meaning a person who chatters impertinently.

The term jaywalking was coined in 1915 to label persons crossing a busy street carelessly and becoming a traffic hazard. The term began to imply recklessness or impertinent behavior as the convention became established.

In January 2014, Canadian author Robert Joseph Greene embarked on a lobbying campaign among ornithologists in Europe and North America to get Merriam-Websters Dictionary to have a "Jabber of Jays" as an official term under bird groups.

Population:

UK breeding:

170,000 territories

Given a slight blur and monochrome conversion.

Even before lockdown, the local deli counters in the big stores were only open 2 or 3 days a week. They clearly weren't paying their way and when they closed during lockdown I suspected that would be the opportunity for them to shut for good. None of the local ones have reopened - is this a more widespread closure?

A slide I was given that required a large amount of restoration, but it's an interesting scene.

The only detail I have was the faded pencil on the slide mount that said February 1987, but where and what the scene is - are the destined for restoration or scrap? - is unknown.

Explore

Have ya all given up on me yet?

sorry.. been so tired and so busy.. only have 3 more windows to go.. then its "my" time again..

hope you all have a great weekend!

Porcupine Tree - Collapse the light Into earth

I won't shiver in the cold

I won't let the shadows take their toll

I won't cover my head in the dark

And I won't forget you when we part

Collapse the light into earth

I won't heal given time

I won't try to change your mind

I won't feel better in the cold light of day

But I wouldn't stop you if you wanted to stay

Collapse the light into earth

Osteospermum is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Calenduleae, one of the smaller tribes of the sunflower/daisy family Asteraceae. They are known as the daisybushes or African daisies. It has been given several common names: African daisy, South African daisy, Cape daisy and blue-eyed daisy. Osteospermum used to belong to the genus Dimorphotheca, but only the annual species remain in that genus; the perennials belong to Osteospermum. It has been given several common names: African daisy, South African daisy, Cape daisy and blue-eyed daisy. There are about 50 species, native to Africa, 35 species in southern Africa, and the southwestern Arabian Peninsula. They are half-hardy perennials or sub-shrubs. 21342

Here's a shot from our garden that was given the impasto treatment for Sliders Sunday. Topaz Glow and Impression, among other plug-ins, were used. Also submitted for Our Daily Challenge: Garden or Gardening

HSS!

Edited for Smile on Saturday's #mushrooms theme

There's something about mushrooms that always makes me think of magic and fairies. Not seen one yet though... :-(

One of my recent in-camera monochromes with the helios lens, but given a slight creative twist for fun. (Produced by adding coloured pixel layers and using blend ranges to restrict the colours to just the highlights. With a bit of masking to get the colours where I wanted them. [The colours were purposefully kept really subtle, so don't worry if you miss them!] )

A little late arriving on this morning having been guilty of hitting the snooze button a couple of times.

Understandable given we didn't leave the curry house until nearly 22:30 and the alarm set for 04:00. I didn't take many shots preferring to soak it in and knowing that Buttermere was the next location and the main reason for this visit.

Two new locations for Helen with many accompanying 'Ooo's and ahhh's and my word it's beautiful,' being uttered.

Threw in a ten minute stop at Ashness Jetty too before the drive through Borrowdale and up and over Honister.

What love we've given, we'll have forever. What love we fail to give, will be lost for all eternity.

Leo Buscaglia

Given a slight blur treatment. He seemed pleased I'd refilled the seeds dispenser.

Same rose, different look!

I added a light vignette which I thought suited it very well.

I have a very similar rose growing in my garden, which seems to given up flowering now so this one is from a bouquet ....

A male common, or ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus, Phasianidae) sits on a tree stump in pleasant lighting.

The ring-necked pheasant is a Eurasian bird that was introduced as a game bird in North America where it is widespread in the U.S. and parts of southern Canada. Although the bird reproduces in the wild, released captive bred birds are required to maintain adequate populations especially for hunting. I viewed this bird a few days after a release. I'd assume that the bird was part of the release given its lack of concern for my presence.

White River Marsh State Wildlife Area

Green Lake County, Wisconsin

OC223639m

I was given strict instructions I was not allowed to stand on the rocks at all to take images. The tide was coming in and huge waves were crashing through the cavern and over the rocks. You wouldn't know it from this long exposure though.

This image was taken from a ledge on the side of the rock-face. The sea spray was so bad that I only got few usable images.

Note to self. When it is that wild and windy, it really isn't worth the effort. Try as I might I could not get the filters clean between images.

I am starting my field survey season and already have way too much work. I will be cutting back posting and commenting to a few times a week to try to manage my time. In the words fellow photographer Leon-"please don't desert me'!

My first try at growing these beautiful Crocosmia flowers from corms given to me by a neighbourhood Community Gardener.

The abundant eye-catching, brillliantly red, tubular [hummimgbird attracting] flowers appear in midsummer atop bold, slightly arching, sparsely branched 3-foot-tall stems. Crocosmia's mid-green leaves are pleated and swordlike. www.finegardening.com/plant/crocosmia-lucifer

Noteworthy Characteristics

Crocosmia is a genus of about 7 species of cormous plants from grasslands in South Africa. [...].

Genus name comes from the Greek words krokos meaning saffron and osme meaning a smell for the smell of dried flowers steeped in warm water.

'Lucifer' is an Alan Bloom hybrid (Crocosmia x Curtonus) which has flowers and foliage that are similar to gladiolus. A clump-forming plant that features tubular, nodding, scarlet red, one-sided flowers borne along the upper portions of stiffly arching, sometimes branched, flower scapes (stems) typically rising up to 3' (infrequently to 4') tall and slightly above the narrow, sword-shaped, basal leaves. www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDe...

* Given that Spurn Point is relatively close to Hull I guess it's surprising I do not go there often. It is the oddest and wildest part of East Yorkshire with huge skies. However I find it too desolate to really enjoy, though some of my friends who are serious birders love it . This shot was taken on the narrowest parts of the spit. On the left hand side is the North Sea and on the right the waters of the Humber estuary . The little wooden cabin is a shelter in case a high tide cuts you off from the mainland which is not uncommon. You can see the lighthouse which is about four miles further along the spit.

Its a hard place to describe so I will borrow some text from the Yorkshire wildlife trust .

From the Yorkshire wildlife trust website

Spurn Point (or Spurn Head as it is also known) is a narrow sand spit on the tip of the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, that reaches into the North Sea and forms the north bank of the mouth of the Humber estuary. It is over 3 miles long, almost half the width of the estuary at that point, and as little as 50 yards wide in places. The southernmost tip is known as Spurn Head or Spurn Point and is the home to an RNLI lifeboat station and disused lighthouse. It forms part of the civil parish of Easington.

Spurn Head covers 280 acres above high water and 450 acres of foreshore. It has been owned since 1960 by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and is a designated National Nature Reserve, Heritage Coast and is part of the Humber Flats, Marshes and Coast Special Protection Area.

The peninsula is made up from sand and shingle as well as Boulder Clay eroded from the Holderness coastline washed down the coastline from Flamborough Head. Material is washed down the coast by longshore drift and accumulates to form the long, narrow embankment in the sheltered waters inside the mouth of the Humber estuary. It is maintained by plants, especially Marram grass . Waves carry material along the peninsula to the tip, continually extending it; as this action stretches the peninsula it also narrows it to the extent that the sea can cut across it in severe weather. When the sea cuts across it permanently, everything beyond the breach is swept away, only to eventually reform as a new spit pointing further south. This cycle of destruction and reconstruction occurs approximately every 250 years. The now crumbling defences will not be replaced and the spit will continue to move westwards at a rate of 2 metres per year, keeping pace with the coastal erosion further north.

THANKS FOR YOUR VISIT TO MY STREAM.

I WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL IF YOU COULD NOT FAVE A PHOTO

WITHOUT ALSO LEAVING A COMMENT .

So, I had actually given up hope in finding a suitable location to shoot sunrise. my first pick was inside a cloud. washed out, so I went to a backup location that I just KNEW was perfect.... sun was rising behind me. Tried three other locations with similar results. I was defeated, so on my way back home from much further than I wanted to try I pulled over onto the shoulder of the road, and checked my sun tracker app one last time.... Low and behold there it was, with ten minutes to get set up before rise I pulled everything out and hoped the mist I was sitting in would clear enough for the sun to shine through. I wasn't disappointed, and I hope I managed to do it some justice as the light just exploded around me.

ISO 160

Aperture f5.6

SS 1/4th

Focal Length 16mm

Haida filters stacked both the 3 and 4 stop soft grad filters.

This work is done for continuing with my Positive Flags of the Nations with especially appreciating music during these lockdown times.

Also for Finding the Beauty in the World Today Despite the Hardships Given Us by the Coronavirus.

Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️❤️❤️

This old oak tree has suffered serious damage some time ago, but it appears healthy and the years have given it an interesting form.

White River Marsh State Wildlife Area

Saint Marie, Green Lake County, Wisconsin

DE224815

Given today is nearly 30 degrees C at 11am, leading to a very hot 38 degrees, the only way I can get an icy shot is to place my small rose in the freezer with some water. Once taken out it is a race to photograph it as the ice melts!

Something fun to do though. HSoS

Given a monochrome and sketch treatment.

This work is done for Continuing with my Positive Flags of the Nations the warmth of friendship.

Finding the Beauty in the World Today Despite the Hardships Given Us by the Coronavirus.

This work is done for Continuing with my Positive Flags of the Nations

For Y SIN EMBARGO magazine #25, Just a memory.

Many thanks to Fernando Prats and mengwen29!

The name given to 20, Fenchurch Street. Taken from The Garden at 120, also in Fenchurch Street through the glass wall surrounding the roof area, hence some reflection in the top left.

Eriksberg Shipyard; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriksbergs_Mekaniska_Verkstad

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden. It is situated by Kattegatt on the west coast of Sweden, and has a population of approximately 570,000.

Gothenburg was founded as a heavily fortified, primarily Dutch, trading colony in 1621. In addition to the generous privileges (e.g. tax relaxation) given to his Dutch allies from the then-ongoing Thirty Years`War, the king also attracted significant numbers of his German and Scottish allies to populate his only town on the western coast. At a key strategic location at the mouth of the river Göta älv, where Scandinavia's largest drainage basin enters the sea, the Port of Gothenburg is now the largest port in the Nordic countries

Gothenburg is home to many students, as the city includes the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology. Volvo was founded in Gothenburg in 1927. Other key companies are SKF and Astra Zeneca.

www.goteborg.com/en/

No mercy is given by the Pumpkin King , he totally disagrees with the blade or death must be that only mercy he will give.

With this picture , the King of Halloween , the Pumpkin King in a version of my Creeps , do I wish you all a very Creepy horrifying thrilling (but fun and lovely) Halloween!!!

For those who know me is not even Halloween getting mercy from me...The horror and darkness floats in my stream constantly but hey...the darkness always lingers and never sleeps , lets keep it here alive and slithering.

I had the idea to use this magnificent decoration item as head and not deco. The pumpkin is definitely one of my most favorite items seen as deco for Halloween 🎃

Head (modified to use as a head (its deco) plus I photoshopped the 'NO's' on it) : CODE-5 Wenom Pumpkin : marketplace.secondlife.com/p/CODE-5-WEN0M-PUMPKIN-V001/15...

Knife | [Dope+Mercy] DOPE Knife @TheSummoningEvent

SLurl : maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Cat/169/127/35?fbcli...

Arm Blades : CX Impaled Blades @ CX Mainstore

Music : This is Halloween (Dubstep Remix) : www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWOg9IaVGcg

This work is done continuing with my Positive Flags of the Nations with celebrating friendship.

Also for Finding the Beauty in the World Today Despite the Hardships Given Us by the Coronavirus.

Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️❤️❤️

This work is done for Continuing with my Positive Flags of the Nations with a Celebrating Tranquility

Also for Finding the Beauty in the World Today Despite the Hardships Given Us by the Coronavirus.

Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Was given an old software editing program from a friend & it's outdated enough that it can't process my Raw photos lol! Trying to work with what I have. Any feedback is appreciated.

This is a neat barn in Rural Nebraska, I liked the pattern on the roof.

Hope you like it.

sharpness and detail will go a long way to render it commonplace :-)

George Davison

Truth Matters! Science Matters!

sunrise, atlantic beach, north carolina

Another way to be awakened by the beauty and complexity of the word is to get a dog. Small Things like a plant that I had passed a thousand time and never given a second thought to. But the dog is curious. And the dog stops and wants to smell this and smell that. And the dog makes you look and focus and take the time.

- Dean Koontz

“Ahhh, finally some sunshine,” said this retired Moose. "After a long and arduous journey, I have finally arrived at this beautiful place where I can spend the rest of my days, after working for Santa Claus for so many years. It was enjoyable and challenging work, but now, given my age, I want to relax and enjoy myself.

Wishing you all a peaceful Wednesday!' :-))

It's a complex model to fold, used wallpaper glue for final modeling.Folded it with a 50x50cm thin brown wrapping paper.

Final size: length 13cm, height 12cm, width including the antlers 12cm

Model: Origami Moose

Design: John Montroll

Diagrams in his book: 'North American Animals In Origami' by John Montroll

Good morning all,

Given the severe drought in the region the water levels were very low on my trip to the Chobe River in Botswana. This resulted in no shortage of African Fish Eagle sightings, including sightings on every outing on the river.

In this particular case, I sat in my boat and watched two of them hunting for a good hour on a morning outing. It was a very special experience.

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All images are copyright protected so please do not use any of my work for commercial purposes

Additionally, please do not contact me if you want to do business in NFT's as I am not interested. However, prints are available through my website above with significant new content being added by the week

A friend has given me Mongolian Giant sunflower seedlings. My dog Disa stepped on them. Only two survived. The smaller one broke completely before it was in flower, because the dog stepped on it again. I read on the internet, that sunflowers don't get roots once they are cut. That made me unhappy. I waited for weeks and then the sunflower got roots! I planted it again, and it had a minuscule flower late in the year. Flies and bees loved it.

Given the mood of the colour version, thought it would look OK in mono.

After a long day working ... noticed that after two days of 50 MPH and then 30 MPH winds and sunny days, that clouds rolled in as the day was nearing an end and the winds died down to nothing.

Checked the radar and the passing front left behind a band of clouds over the Baltimore region ... and it was slowly dissipating.

I called my Dad about 40 minutes before sunset and asked if the river was smoothed out. He said it was nearly a mirror.

So I grabbed the camera gear and made a quick trip down to Middle River to see if Election Night would have some fireworks.

The conditions were great with the two days of strong winds out of the northwest resulted in a real low tide, so was able to get under some of the piers.

Here just as the sun set, the colors were golden and just beginning. The fireworks followed for about 20 minutes or more, so I ended up taking 75 captures from all kinds of perspectives given the reflections, clouds and low tide conditions.

shape - Arana - Numb

mesh head - Lelutka - Avalon 3.1

skin - Human Glitch - Nyaskin

hair - Tram - L0325

dress & gloves - Absence - Ember

boots & socks - Usagi Society - Runa

tattoo - Corazon - Legend

given to me from my grandsons...

I planted them outside and these images were taken through my front window.

With all the rain and wind we're getting.... the petals are all on the ground!!

Given how introspective the “One Is The Loneliest Number” lyrics are and how generally downbeat the song is, one might suspect that it was inspired by a relationship break up or some other sad situation. In reality, however, Harry Nilsson was compelled to pen "One Is The Loneliest Number" after he made a phone call but got a busy signal. The “beep, beep, beep,” of the engaged telephone line caught his attention and the singer-songwriter incorporated a similar sound into the opening piano chords of his song.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5ab8BOu4LE

We were walking along with friends also keen to photography and someone had brought this crystal ball with him. I don't have one so given the chance, I got me a quick shot, just for fun! Turned out to be pretty cute! And... fun!

So... enter the Upside Down Land!!! :-)

Taraxacum

Dandelion

Öffnender Löwenzahn

The last photo posted ("You can leave your hat on!" 😂) had given me a serious headache, as I couldn't quite explain this photographically caught whim of nature with which this "Kapotthötche" (Rhenish for a crooked, somewhat ridiculous-looking hat) had remained on the blossom.

I had also never in my life been able to observe this process of blossoming evolution.

So now I went pregnant with my thoughts for almost two weeks - until today.

About the lens

lippisches-kameramuseum.de/Objektive/Braun_Staeble-Kata_1...

XE15280

Osteospermum is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Calenduleae, one of the smaller tribes of the sunflower/daisy family Asteraceae. They are known as the daisybushes or African daisies. It has been given several common names: African daisy, South African daisy, Cape daisy and blue-eyed daisy. Osteospermum used to belong to the genus Dimorphotheca, but only the annual species remain in that genus; the perennials belong to Osteospermum. It has been given several common names: African daisy, South African daisy, Cape daisy and blue-eyed daisy. There are about 50 species, native to Africa, 35 species in southern Africa, and the southwestern Arabian Peninsula. They are half-hardy perennials or sub-shrubs. 34357

Given popularity of this place at the moment it shouldn't be long

Sitting up here on the limestone plateau at sunset can feel like another geological time zone.....almost expecting to see a Mammoth come wandering across.

Ingleborough was believed for a while to be England's highest...and given its massive appearance and almost having its own weather, it is hardly surprising. And of course it's in GOC.

Most of the cone flowers here have given way to the summer heat. Petals are dropping, cones are drooping over (sorta how I feel out in the humid hot summers of Arkansas). But found this lone cone in fairly good shape with the help of part day shade.

Nikon Z7 ~ Zeiss Milvus 100M/2

Given a 'soft' treatment and a wooden frame border.

The familiar sight of the Post Office Tower standing like a pencil near the top right - well that's what I know it as, but its now called the BT Tower (and has been the GPO Tower & Telecom Tower) - anyway:

View across reservoirs in Walthamstow & Tottenham and given a faded monochrome treatment.

Of interest are the number of cranes in the background, as London evolves....