Morning sun working its way through the leaves and snow of trees and ninebark. A beautiful morning after a manageable snow fall.

Gral Guido

Después de la Independencia, Juan Manuel de Rosas, prominente hacendado, decidió impulsar la colonización y el poblamiento de la cuenca del Salado, y encomendó a su topógrafo, el agrimensor Senillosa, el relevamiento de la zona, con el objeto de fundar nuevos pueblos. Por decreto del 25 de diciembre de 1839, y tras la Revolución de los Libres del Sur, el gobernador Rodas decidió dividir el territorio al sur del Salado en nuevos partidos, más manejables, y nació entre ellos, el “partido del Vecino”, separado del partido de Tandil, sobre tierras de Don Cornelio Pizarro, quien fue su primera autoridad. No obstante, la riqueza de sus tierras, el partido careció de cabecera y de urbanización durante varias décadas, hasta que empezó el tendido del ferrocarril del Sur, hacia 1860. En 1887, se inaugura la estación Velázquez del ramal Dolores-Ayacucho, alrededor de la cual se empiezan a asentar trabajadores del ferrocarril y pobladores rurales de partido, y así en 1888 se funda el primer poblado del partido. En 1890, ante elcrecimiento experimentado por la población, los vecinos peticionan la autonomía municipal, la cual les es concedida en febrero de 1891. Ese mismo año, se impone al pueblo y a la estación ferroviaria el nombre de General Guido, en recuerdo del militar, político y diplomáticoTomas Guido, amigo y colaborador del general San Martin.

TRASLATOR

Gral Guido

After Independence, Juan Manuel de Rosas, a prominent landowner, decided to promote the colonization and settlement of the Salado basin, and entrusted his surveyor, the surveyor Senillosa, the survey of the area, in order to found new towns. By decree of December 25, 1839, and after the Revolution of the Free South, Governor Rhodes decided to divide the territory south of the Salado into new parties, more manageable, and was born among them, the "party of the Neighbor", separated of the party of Tandil, on lands of Don Cornelio Pizarro, who was his first authority. However, the wealth of their lands, the party lacked head and urbanization for several decades, until the laying of the Southern Railway began, around 1860. In 1887, the Velázquez station of the Dolores-Ayacucho branch was inaugurated, around which began to settle railroad workers and rural people of the party, and so in 1888 the first town of the party was founded. In 1890, before the growth experienced by the population, the neighbors petition for municipal autonomy, which is granted to them in February 1891. That same year, the name of General Guido is imposed on the town and the railway station, in memory of the military, political and diplomaticTomas Guido, friend and collaborator of General San Martin.

So many birds, so little time -- but here's just one found at Estero Lanno Grande State Park. Found a manageable way to use my 600mm 22-pound lens, using a small cart. It has a stiff manual focus, but I'm getting used to it.

I usually don’t go out on cloudy days but out of frustration I did. We’re scheduled for another WEEK of rain and clouds.

I decided to visit an eagles nest about 35 minutes from me. When I arrived I was happy to see at least one eagle sitting low in the nest. A moment later it flew out and down low around the nest. I can only assume it was trying to grab a quick bite. It failed and returned to the nest. About 5 minutes later the second eagle returned. They switched positions and the original eagle took off for a break. It’s safe to assume they have at least one egg at this point,

I was surprised the pictures came out decent (I feel) considering I was approx. 75yards away. The reach on the lens with the 1.4x extender is approx. 1792mm. It was completely overcast. I feel that what little light there was must have been reflecting off the lake ( nest is right off it) helping to keep the iso at a manageable level.

Sage, from my garden, as the bush needed pruning. It's thrived, and had gotten leggy and unwieldy.

To make these into solid bundles, I pruned away the leggy bits, and cut what was mostly stem away from the leaf clusters, but kept the leaf clusters attached to their own bits of stem, to make assemblage easier. The woody parts went into the centre, for stability, and the more delicate leaves and slightly drier parts went around those. The bigger more sturdy leaf clusters were wrapped around the outside. I tied the bundles with linen twine--as it'll still smell pleasant as it burns, unlike wool--with a few knots down the length to keep it together as the smoulder gets up the stick. I left the cut leaves to wilt for a couple days to make them a little more manageable, but these finished bundles will have to dry for a couple weeks, until the sage is a little more leathery. They ought to be just a little green still when you burn them, otherwise they won't smoke so well, but mostly-dry is best.

33/365

See, this is my opinion: we all start out knowing magic. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see clearly the glittering mica in long stretches of grey cement.

But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it schooled out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God’s sake.

But when a song stirs a memory, when motes of dust turning in a shaft of light takes your attention from the world, when you listen to a train passing on a track at night in the distance and wonder where it might be going, you step beyond who you are and where you are. For the briefest of instants, you have stepped into the magic realm.

That’s what I believe.

The truth of life is that every year we get farther away from the essence that is born within us. We get shouldered with burdens, some of them good, some of them not so good. Things happen to us. We get swept up into reality, into work, into money. Loved ones leave us, sometimes they die. People lose their way, for one reason or another. It’s not hard to do. Life itself can seem to be doing its best to take that memory of magic away from us. You don’t know it’s happening until one day you feel you’ve lost something but you’re not sure what it is. It’s like smiling at a pretty girl and she calls you “sir.” It just happens.

These memories of magic are important to me. They make up a large part of who I’m going to be when my journey winds down. I need the memory of magic if I am ever going to conjure magic again. I need to know and remember, and I want to tell you.

- Robert McCammon

This was really fun to take. I took it last night after yesterday's wedding, Adam and I stopped off in a wheat field to shoot a few extra portraits. I've wanted to experiment more with night shooting and artificial light, and the concept of fireflies is something I've been looking into the last few days. I'll post the behind the scenes on facebook, later.

Magically, I'm definitely getting there. I'm still struggling a little with wanting to be here rather than there, but I'm confident I'll get there. Going to keep throwing myself into strange fields at night until I am!

On the drive home I had a little cry again, the grief is now a little more balanced and manageable. When it comes, I know it will pass, so feeling it is less frightening. I asked myself why I got myself into this mess, and I replied what I'd said to other people who had asked me throughout this year - because he is like no other person I've ever met. Because some people deserve to be stories, retold, over and over. Because he is magic personified. I'd rather have it only for a short time and never again, than never at all.

And nicely, it all still stands :-)

Trying to add the backlog in manageable numbers :)

I planned this shot with the sun rising at the end of the alley, perhaps with fog and with some autumn colour. None of that was to be. The morning was cloudy after a night of rain. That was good for enriching the colours and keeping the contrast manageable. But the result was flat, and the composition was unsatisfying, with the colour distracting from the forms.

So after a lot of back-and-forth, and a night sleeping on it, I've chosen to go with a pseudo-infrared conversion. This makes the most of the trees and foliage but tones down the red leaves on the forest floor.

UPDATE: About a month after I took this shot a storm felled the two large trees on the right-hand side, as well as many other trees in the background.

I have a Kiev 4 camera that... lets say needs some work. Most of its idiosyncrasies are manageable, but folks who have shot one of these cameras are probably aware of how widely variable the frame spacing can be. Mine only came with a used film spool, not an actual takeup spool, so I made my own by cutting a slot in the film spool and gluing canister caps to each side. It works now after I've hammered all of the metal edges down around the lip of the spool, but the first attempt... didn't. This was the result. The modified spool bound up for the last 10 or so frames and I only noticed once I made it to frame 40 without having to rewind. In the end though, I kind of like the look in a weird collage sort of way.

Shot on a Kiev 4, scanned with an XT5

After a long break due to holidays, a heatwave and health issues we have resumed our Monarch’s Way challenge. We are walking the 111 miles of this long distance path between Stratford on Avon and Bristol in manageable lengths. There are 20 walks in all, this is Walk 6.

This walk took us from Broadwell to Bourton-on-the-Water, about 6 miles.

Germany, “Altes Land”, Mittelwerder, an old cherry tree & a half-timbered farm house at the region sited downstream of the river Elbe from Hamburg.

Large cherry trees like this you hardly find any more, harvesting cherries from over 10mtr tall trees is simply economically not manageable, today the trees have a height of about 3 mtr with trimmed brunches.

The Alte Land, the south-western side of the river Elbe is an area of 143 square km reclaimed marshland, spanning parts of Hamburg & Lower Saxony. “Altes Land”, which means "old country", however, it is a mistranslation of the original Low Saxon “Olland”, which originally had nothing to do with "old"; it stems from Holland & refers to the area's original colonization by Dutch settlers in the 12th Century which drained the land & cultivated it.

👉 One World one Dream,

..Danke, Xièxie 谢谢, Thanks, Gracias, Merci, Grazie, Obrigado, Arigatô, Dhanyavad, Chokrane to you & over

12 million visits in my photostream with countless motivating comments

I was much happier with this composition but it is missing the wonderful light that the previous image has.

Wind and sideways rain welcomed us as we emerged from the trees at Sun Point overlooking St. Mary Lake. I hadn't expected those conditions since it had been dry as we packed up in St. Mary for our second sunrise outing. I came to realize that the weather down in the valley had no bearing on what was going on farther up the Going To The Sun Road. The mountains have their own weather.

I managed to find a protected hollow at the base of a small evergreen tree which got me out of the wind and also kept most of the raindrops at bay. A location providing a better composition may have been found nearby, but it would have been directly in the wind and rain. Fortunately our lenses were pointing away from the wind so keeping them free of water droplets was a manageable effort.

This photo is taken from the side of the famous church of Wassen.

I have marked in the shot the space, where I was taking other pictures from the trains. As I my snow shoes stayed at home, I really sank deep into the snow, sometimes up to my hip. But as it was only 20 metres from the cleared street, it was still manageable.

And as the area was nicely protected from the cold North wind, it was even getting warm!

Ugh my memory card broke so it's been back to phone pics ;(

Lilith's hair is manageable taken down but I'm not sure if I love it yet

The last part of our visit of the Romanesque churches in Le Puy-en-Velay (central France) now takes us to the one that is possibly the most moving, and certainly the most spectacular of them all: the Saint Michael Chapel, perched on top of the Aiguilhe Rock, an enormous, 82 meters high geological dike made of hard basalt and left standing like a finger sticking out of the plain below by the erosion of all the sediment that once surrounded it.

There is only one way to get there: climb the hard, tall and uneven 268 steps carved out of the basalt, and in doing so, you will be following in the exact footsteps, not only of the millions of Compostela pilgrims that came here over the centuries, but also of innumerable historic figures, among which the Kings of France Charles VII, Louis XI and Charles VIII, who ascended the rock to pray under the humble vaults of the chapel.

According to persistent legends, the first edifice built on top of the rock of Aiguilhe (notice how close the name is to the French word aiguille, i.e., needle) was a Roman temple dedicated to Mercury. No trace of such a sanctuary was ever found by archæologists. The chapel that one can see today was built in two successive phases. First, the initial and very small square chapel, probably with three apses but only two remain today. This was built soon after 950, either by bishop Godescalc (who had been the first French pilgrim of Compostela in 950–51), or more probably by Truannus, dean of the canons of the cathedral chapter, duly authorized by Godescalc. I have not been able to find any definitive evidence pointing to one rather than the other. What is documented, however, is that the finished chapel was consecrated by the said bishop in 961. It was a pre-Romanesque monument.

Secondly, during the late 1000s, the primitive oratory was “surrounded” and augmented by a Romanesque chapel built on the flattened top of the dike. In the process, the probable third apse of the oratory was destroyed to open a way of access between the newly built “nave” and the square space of the oratory, repurposed as “choir”. The best way to understand the layout if to have a look at the floor plan drawn by architect Mallay in the 19th century, here: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plan_de_la_chapelle_Saint.... The imposing bell tower was also built at the same time.

One last majestic view of this unique and memorable chapel. If you are ever in Le Puy-en-Velay, I urge you to go visit it, even though the climb may be strenuous to some people —it was to me, to some extent, but there are benches and places to rest along the way, so the ascent really remains manageable, unless you have a serious heart condition, I suppose. Anyway, believer or non-believer, the place truly deserves the effort, especially if you like Mediæval frescoes.

In the Eternal City of Rome, there’s nothing more iconic, more recognized, or more mesmerizing than The Colosseum. It has stood for centuries and in that time, it has also become one of the most famous (and most visited) historical structures in the world. I try to visit each time I’m in Rome and for me, spending time near Il Colosseo is always food for my soul.

So when I woke up at 4:45am to the sound of the pouring rain, I accepted the fact that shooting would likely be impossible. Instead, I resolved to simply visit and enjoy the view of The Colosseum, regardless if the rain held up. With a sleepy expression, my wife agreed and after a few shots of cold (pre prepared) espresso, we stumbled downstairs to the car.

Shortly after we arrived, the rain slowed to a manageable drizzle. And by the time I setup my tripod, the rain had completely stopped, leaving beautiful shiny reflections on every surface that perfectly complemented the fast moving dramatic sky.

Technical Mumbo Jumbo

Camera: Nikon D800

Lens: 14-24 f/2.8 (Shot at 20 mm)

ISO: 100

Exposure: 2.5 seconds at f/5.6

Technique and Details: Digital Blending & Luminance Masking using 4 exposures (-1, 0, +1, +2).

It was very important to me that the natural beauty of this place showed through so I made sure to keep the processing as minimalistic as possible. Blending the exposures manually allowed me to retain all of the original image integrity without any sacrifices to clarity or sharpness.

A few blown out highlights were adjusted using a single Luminance Mask and exposure -1. I also recovered some shadows and details using exposures +1 and +2. After that, I used NIK Software’s “Detail Extractor” to add a little more drama to the sky and cobble stones.

Software: Lightroom, Photoshop, NIK

Espresso: Lavazza Oro brewed with cold Icelandic Tap Water

one of the more unusual features of Dartmoor are it's leats - man-made water channels that snake across the moorlands.

The leats were designed to carry water, by means of gravity, from its point of extraction high on the moors via a natural water course to its destination. Once there, the water would be used for a whole host industrial, agricultural and domestic purposes. The art of the leat builders was a skilled job as they had to ensure the flow of water was not too fast so as to flood and not to slow as to stagnate. This was achieved by ensuring the leat followed the natural contours of the landscape which in effect reduced the force of gravity enough to allow for a gentle and manageable flow of water.

Today on Dartmoor there are eight leats which still have water flowing along them, this shot is part of the Devonport Leat. It was originally built in the 1790s to carry fresh drinking water all the way to Plymouth Dock, a total distance of 28 miles

My New Year's resolution this year is to practice more minimalism in my life. As I purge material things from our home that we really have not used nor do we need anymore, I also need to practice not introducing new things into our home either. However, I am also trying to reduce some of my daily activities/work to a more manageable load that means less stress in a day. It means doing less but choosing the more meaningful activities and giving it more value. To extend this lifestyle a bit more, I hope to shoot a few more minimalistic images. This one is to remind me of my goal. Enjoy the simple things this weekend and happy Fence Friday everyone.

Lingmoor Fell Slate Quarry, Little Langdale. Fomapan 400 developed in PMK Pyro. print 75x75cm liquid silver emulsion watercolour paper. Old Cumbrian slate quarrying terms. Tully – a heavy hammer, perhaps a couple of pounds in weight, with a dull axe blade one end and flat face the other. Used for knocking slate lumps, either by rough riving or docking, into manageable sizes and shapes.

Bate – the cleavage plane along which slate splits, or rives, naturally. This is the all-important characteristic that separates slate from stone.

Clog – a large lump of newly-quarried slate, or slate rock in situ in the quarry face.

Looking for some inspiration and a theme to build in? Just like any other month, May deserves its own theme – it’s time to bring back Greeble de Mayo!

Some of you old timers may remember the first Greeble De Mayo 6 years ago. The idea was to greeble an 8x8x8 area and see what sort of interesting greebles we could come up with for themes, once a week.

Well, it’s back! Weekly challenges, weekly voting, weekly winners – let’s have fun with Greebles!

To keep it manageable on our end, voting happens here on Discord, but please do submit your MOCs to the Greeble de Mayo flickr group!

Happy Greebling everyone!

‎

The Challenge

It's just that, a challenge – not a contest so there are no prizes. We’ll have weekly challenges, meaning there will be weekly winners. Each challenge will be focused on a specific concept but might also come with a few restrictions to keep things interesting.

At the end of each week, everyone can vote on their top 3 challenge entries. The top 3 Greebleteers will earn nothing but bragging rights (but lots of them!).

General Rules

Size: All entries must fit within an 8x8x8 stud area. You can build a 1 stud frame around your greebles, but the greebled area must not exceed the 8x8x8 area. You are free to greeble a stack of bricks, a plate, or maybe you will try your hand at a combination of both.

Quantity: The more the merrier! You may build as many entries as you like for any given week/challenge. You can even build from previous challenge weeks, but only entries built during the appropriate week will be considered for voting.

Start & End: Rounds start and end each Saturday at 6pm CET, 9am PDT, 12pm noon EDT.

Entering

To enter and to be considered for voting, please submit your greebles in the #monthly-submissions channel. You may still build for a challenge after the week has been completed. However, since only builds submitted before the end of the week will be considered for voting, please keep ones for earlier rounds to the #greeble-de-mayo channel and the flickr group.

‎

Description

While greebles are typically a meaningless mess of mechanical nonsense, design your greebles with some purpose. Provide a brief description of what your greeble is and what it does. Is it a Clux Flapacitor, a space paper shredder, or is it the space toilet ejection port?

‎

Winners

There will be a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners for each week. While a builder may submit multiple entries, only one can win per week. Ex: Someone who builds multiple entries and one entry wins 1st place, none of the builder's other entries will be considered for 2nd or 3rd place.

Happy Greebling everyone!

Link to the flickr group: www.flickr.com/groups/greebles/

Sign built by Markus, originally inspired by Tyler

I love the after burn of a sunset, where the reflected light brings out unique colors and the dynamic range of an image becomes more manageable.

This one is from Kauai a few weeks ago and really checks all the boxes!

This is a series of photos that I have assembled into a single image from the solar eclipse that occurred yesterday (April 8, 2024) over North America. I took over fifty photos (one every five minutes using a solar filter over my lens, plus a large number without a solar filter when the sun was completely hidden by the moon).

For this image, I selected only a few exposures from the full series in order to keep the file size manageable while also providing a sense of the eclipse from beginning to end. The total time involved in the observation and photography was a little over two hours.

The original photos were taken in Summerside on Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada. We were very fortunate to have had clear skies throughout. I used an aging (11 year old) Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mk I camera with the M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3 zoom set to 400mm. I also used a simple ISO rated solar filter over the lens. For most of the images, the camera was set to ISO 200 and 1/15th of a second. I locked the aperture at f/7.1. All exposures were made in Manual Mode. The final image was composited in Photoshop.

This is a composite of 12 photos stitched together. They were taken with a Canon FD 800mm f/5.6 SSC lens @f11. The resulting image in Photoshop reported about 1.5G in size, and was a beast to try and edit until I scaled it down to something more manageable :)

The challenge contained in the 9 energy is what you need to overcome in order to create the destiny of your choice. Failing to learn these lessons acts as a barrier to your happiness and success. In other words, this can be your downfall, if you allow it to be. What makes the challenge so difficult to overcome is that you will tend to deny that it exists. And the more you deny it, the more it will stand between you and your marvelous potential.

9 is the number of GIVING and, as your challenge number, it can make you extremely generous --or -- very selfish indeed. Sometimes you can give of yourself without any thought of what you may receive in return. But at other times, you give because you want something. Sometimes, those involved may not be in a position to return the favor. You tend to give people the impression that you can solve their problems. Then, they become dependent on you to do so. Inevitably, you become overwhelmed by problems that were never yours to begin with. That is when resentment sets in and you abruptly withdraw your support, leaving the other person hurt and confused. You do not intend to offend others but, unfortunately, you often do.

In order to meet this challenge and turn it into a talent, you must admit that you become afraid when your own needs are not being met. You must admit that you tend to rush in to “save” people, without considering the responsibility involved in being a philanthropist. And you must admit that you NEED to feel needed. You must understand that the welfare of others does not fall solely on your shoulders and you must give to others only in a way that is comfortable and manageable for you. You must give because you truly WANT to and not because guilt or fear are telling you to over-exert yourself on someone else’s behalf.

An understanding of this challenge will enable you to find a secure balance which allows you the freedom to be and do what you really want in life while also satisfying your giving nature. This is a difficult challenge because 9 and 0 contain a little of all the other challenges. This is the challenge of an “old soul” who has lived many many lifetimes. When you accept that you are such an evolved human being, you will “remember” that you cannot love someone else if you do not love yourself first. You will remember that you cannot fulfill the needs of others if your own needs are not being fulfilled. Reconnect with these memories, and then see how this tough challenge balances itself.

numerology.freesoul.com/

My artwork digitised.

Hi Kids, I completely redid my website, you should check it out

www.alexismire.com

courtesy of Ryan Jay, head over to his design page and check out his work, he does simple and easily manageable templates for super cheap

design.ryanjay.com/

it has been broken down into a few sections that I feel make my work seem cohesive in an unintentional way. I am really trying hard to find a way to look back at my portfolio and find common threads in my work that I have never looked for before.

Also, there is a section titled "Oath" based on a few oaths I made to myself, I will be fulfilling these during thanksgiving and christmas break and hopefully, if all goes well, they will be the epitome of my current abilities, I really want to create something that temporarily encompasses everything I am capable of

five minutes later, my capability will stretch ten tons, but for the moment I want a new collection that screams honesty

I don't even know what it will look like yet.

p.s. this is very best on that dark grey flickr provides

Old Joliet Prison by night. (A long exposure to enhance the artificial light sources I brought along. The tradeoff is, it is almost impossible to remain frozen in place for more than a fraction of a moment. I almost got what I was wanting here. There were two more pieces I wanted added to this but didn't get it in this scene. Next time I have the opportunity I will go for the whole enchilada on one of these. The Nikon mirrorless really enhances low light conditions. It was f***ing dark in there! The lights I had seemed to be absorbed by the darkness here. The long exposure revealed a lot of light in a manageable way.)

One for the Sugimoto group; a strip of Atlantic horizon as seen from a Pembrokeshire clifftop.

Tripod-mounted & two-second delay triggered. I moved the tripod quick-release plate from the telephoto to the 645DF so had to use the plate on the body, which left things rather unbalanced but just about manageable.

Pan Am train POED rounds the curve in Madbury with a pair of matching paint GE C40-8 in the corporate colors. The shadows this time of year mixed with pan am's encroached and overgrown right of way make westbounds in the afternoon nearly impossible to shoot in sunlight. The sun held just high enough to make this shot manageable.

This is the real land's end. The last tip of the American continent in the middle section of the straits of Magellan. South of this point there are islands only, being the Horn with its famous cape the southernmost of all.

I took it flying at 1000 ft. with strong tail winds but still manageable for a decent photo...

From the Wikipedia:

Cape Froward (53°56′00″S 071°20′00″W) is the southernmost point on the mainland of South America. It is located in the North shores of Magellan Strait, being the southern tip of the Brunswick Peninsula in Chilean territory.

It was the English corsair, Thomas Cavendish, in January 1587, named the place, after the climate's roughness with rains and winds. The name means hostile or unmanageable.

On the cape's hill was built a large metallic cross (Cruz de los Mares) in honor to John Paul II Pope's visit to Chile, back in 1987, it was first built in 1913, and several times in between due to the harsh weather.

manageable proportions. This and the remaining six, here.

Wild Boar - Sus Scrofa

Forest of Dean

Status in Britain

Wild boars were apparently already becoming rare by the 11th century since a 1087 forestry law enacted by William the Conqueror punishes through blinding the unlawful killing of a boar. Charles I attempted to reintroduce the species into the New Forest, though this population was exterminated during the Civil War.

Between their medieval extinction and the 1980s, when wild boar farming began, only a handful of captive wild boar, imported from the continent, were present in Britain. Occasional escapes of wild boar from wildlife parks have occurred as early as the 1970s, but since the early 1990s significant populations have re-established themselves after escapes from farms, the number of which has increased as the demand for meat from the species has grown. A 1998 MAFF (now DEFRA) study on wild boar living wild in Britain confirmed the presence of two populations of wild boar living in Britain; one in Kent/East Sussex and another in Dorset. Another DEFRA report, in February 2008, confirmed the existence of these two sites as 'established breeding areas' and identified a third in Gloucestershire/Herefordshire; in the Forest of Dean/Ross on Wye area. A 'new breeding population' was also identified in Devon. There is another significant population in Dumfries and Galloway. Populations estimates were as follows:

The largest population, in Kent/East Sussex, was then estimated at approximately 200 animals in the core distribution area.

The second largest, in Gloucestershire/Herefordshire, was first estimated to be in excess of 100 animals. Legally classified as dangerous wild animals, the group is known to be feral descendants of domestic (Tamworth) pigs abandoned nearby. Their numbers grew by 2016 to at least 1500 and the Forestry Commission planned to reduce the total to a manageable 400. "Adult males can reach twenty stone (125 kg), run at thirty miles an hour, and can jump or barge through all but the strongest fences. Also, they are not afraid of humans, so (unlike deer) you can't just shoo them out of your garden."

The smallest, in west Dorset, was estimated to be fewer than 50 animals.

Since winter 2005/6 significant escapes/releases have also resulted in animals colonizing areas around the fringes of Dartmoor, in Devon. These are considered as an additional single 'new breeding population' and currently estimated to be up to 100 animals.

Population estimates for the Forest of Dean are disputed as at the time that the DEFRA population estimate was 100, a photo of a boar sounder in the forest near Staunton with over 33 animals visible was published, and at about the same time over 30 boar were seen in a field near the original escape location of Weston under Penyard many miles away. In early 2010 the Forestry Commission embarked on a cull, with the aim of reducing the boar population from an estimated 150 animals to 100. By August it was stated that efforts were being made to reduce the population from 200 to 90, but that only 25 had been killed.

The failure to meet cull targets was confirmed in February 2011.

Wild boars have crossed the River Wye into Monmouthshire, Wales. Iolo Williams, the BBC Wales wildlife expert, attempted to film Welsh boar in late 2012. Many other sightings, across the UK, have also been reported. The effects of wild boar on the UK's woodlands were discussed with Ralph Harmer of the Forestry Commission on the BBC Radio's Farming Today radio programme in 2011. The programme prompted activist writer George Monbiot to propose a thorough population study, followed by the introduction of permit-controlled culling.

#5314 - 2022 Day 200: When it gets hot, find a fan.

This day was the hottest the UK has ever experienced, temperatures hitting 40.3C. Here on the South coast was probably 38+. So we closed all the windows and curtains and hid inside with a fan or two. Still unpleasant but manageable.

The urge to photograph a doll finally returned this week(!) after I received one of my favorite Poppys from 2019 from a reroot expert (You might recall that when I was cataloging my Poppy collection, she was missing). Here is Looks a Plenty after her makeover, still with her original hair, but now thinned to a more manageable thickness. Thank you so very much, LDOLLS, for your help (edited to add his name since he consented for deserved credit!) I adore her!

Things are still a little wonky over here but I hope for a return to normalcy and my dolls on a more routine basis.

Doll: Looks a Plenty Poppy Parker (blonde from set)

Blouse: Miss Yao

Skirt: Sol_Christina

This is me trying to get over my fear of pattern mixing. I think it helped that the colours are matchy matchy, which somehow made it more manageable in my head. Dave didn't like it but I stuck to my guns and wore it out to the pub for sunday lunch. I have a reputation as an oddball dresser to uphold after all!

dress - skunkfunk, bought in berlin

vintage vest - from a swap

tight - h&m

shoes - new look

beads - gift

earrings - ancient h&m

All that remains of what is believed to be the world's first integrated slate mill, built in 1859, at Dyffwys Casson Quarry in Blaenau Ffestiniog. The raw blocks of slate were reduced to a manageable size on the right hand side and then transferred to the saw tables down the centre of the mill The splitting and dressing took place along the left hand side of the building and the waste from this process was disposed of to rubbish wagons through the openings on the left. The finished slate left the quarry via an incline which connected to the Ffestiniog Railway.

Railways of Great Britain

This start of another one of my collections, although I have posted a few in the past.

I have taken quite a few images over the years of Old Steam, Diesel and Electric engines and after sorting out probably 3,000 plus, I’ve now got it down to a more manageable number.

I’m starting with English Engines. Some of these images could be 25 years old. Many were transferred from negatives via a scanner so the quality will not be as good I would like. I have put them all through Photoshop to get rid of the most glaring issues

Apologies to those enthusiasts if I don’t get the right engine with the right Railway, they were taken a long time ago, some of them have moved on and my memory is not as good as it was.

Happy viewing.

Cornus canadensis, the Dwarf Dogwood or Bunchberry, is one of three dogwood species I know from my years on the west coast. It grows in coniferous forests across Canada, the northern United States, Colorado, New Mexico, Alaska, Greenland, and parts of Russia, China, Japan, and Korea. Its fruits, 5mm in diameter, are edible but not palatable, and seeds are dispersed primarily by birds, although deer and moose also eat the red berries.

I love the splashes of colour they add to the forest floor in spring (white flowers) and fall, and spent some time with my tripod and macro lens photographing them in the mountains last week.

Unlike yesterday's shot of the Harebell, this one seemed ideal to crop square, with all the diagonal movement from upper left to lower right. Meanwhile, a very simple, classic red-on-green colour scheme, and soft light to keep the contrast manageable.

Photographed in Banff National Park, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

From todays trip to the swiss mountains. I took this image at the Schwägalp peak on the north face of Säntis. I saw these trees from the road and knew I had to get to them. I was quite hard to get there, since the snow was on some places about 1m high. But in the end i found a path with manageable snow height.

3 image shift panorama: -12mm, 0mm, +12mm

Thank you all for the comments and faves in the last time! I really appreciate it!

Hope you like it!

A very tough target due to the immens brightness of Navi, one of the five guiding stars of Cassiopeia. Nevertheless, I am surprised that it turned out pretty good, though there is a lot that can be improved. It was also that i changed the gain of my astro camera from 100 to 300 as per recommendation of a good friend. I was afraid that the gradient of Navi would be to severe, seems to manageable - even for me ;)

camera: ToupTek ATR533C

mount: Skywatcher HEQ5Pro

scope: TS Optics 115/800 with 0.8x reducer

RGB: 40x120sec @gain 100 and 1x1 binning, cooled to -10°C

Ha: 120x180sec @gain 300 and 1x1 binning, cooled to -10°C

stacking and editing in APP, SIRIL and Photoshop

shot in September under a bortle 5+ sky from my backyard

The peanut seems a little too large for this small bird but it will be able to peck at it till it breaks down into manageable pieces.

My son, Jack, and I popped up to Buc-ee's in Mt. Crawford, Va., on Saturday to see if it was worth all the fuss. Friedens Church Road, on which I commuted to high school, sure has changed. Anyway, we're not new to Buc-ee's. The brisket was good. The crowd was enormous but the traffic was manageable. Here's a quick and dirty video thrown together in Lightroom. It has ambient sound. Now I'll work on titles and soundtrack. ©2025 John M. Hudson | jmhudson1.com

Orange Army Ant (Eciton hamatum) & Ectatomma tuberculatum - Cordillera Escalera Conservation Area, Peru

Its a rough world out there, the Ectatomma ant being transported hasn't even started its adult life and already its being transported away by a raiding party of orange army ants (Eciton hamatum). At this point its fate is sealed and its not pretty, for Eciton hamatum feeds on other insects specifically other social insects like ants, bees, and wasps. This subadult Ectatomma ant who had come so close to adulthood will likely be taken to a nearby location and dismembered into more manageable pieces and carried back to the bivouac (moving army ant nest) for consumption. The orange army ants had raided a nearby Ectatomma nest and were carrying their spoils home, they were crossing over a dry streambed on some sticks that provided a nice natural bridge for them and this is where I set up camp. Photographing such quick little insects at extreme magnification presents a lot of challenges but luckily I had lots of opportunities as these ants just kept streaming by, lots of failed shots but some keepers resulted as well.

After winter - The last frosty days are over and it doesn't look like winter in the near future (which doesn't necessarily mean anything). But the sun is getting higher every day and possible short cold spells are manageable.

The wind sweeps across the Ampertal and blows the autumn leaves away. Pasture and fence near Zolling.

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A darker variety with deep burgundy apples.

www.flickriver.com/photos/47044499@N03/

Last upload for awhile.

Shot at the Christmas Lights Kew West London.

This is my 1st D500 upload. It was iso 6400 asa and I think the noise level is acceptable. It allowed me to use a manageable shutter speed.

This weekend I went out shooting Knowlton Church underneath the milky way.

A parish church standing in ruins, and occupying a site associated with prehistoric rituals... said to be the most haunted place in Dorset. What a place to be looking out to the rest of the universe! The haunted feel lived up to its name as I slipped into one of the ditches and the temperature dropped to what felt like freezing! Shudders ran through me while I quickly got myself out of there.....

The light pollution is a lot to contend with at this location but it is still quite manageable. I am really enjoying these summer evenings under the stars!

This is the waterfall that the park is named after. We have been having heavy rain the last couple of days and we were hoping that the water would be really flowing here today. We weren't disappointed as you can see. I had to take off my filters because the water was moving so fast. We didn't need them.

I was talking to one of the park workers here and she told me that this is where they shot the waterfall scene in the movie "Where the Red Fern Grows". I've read this book and showed the movie to my classroom in the past and thought it was so cool to be where the movie was shot. She also showed us where the tree was located in the big climax scene when the boy traps three coons in one tree. It was right in the middle of the camping area. It kind of made my day.

This is a very nice state park located in Oklahoma near the Eastern border. The park has a very nice camping area and offers Yurts for the people that don't want to bring their own gear. There were a number of hiking trails that were of varying levels of difficulty. The hike to the falls had a lot of stair steps and was a little steep, but it was manageable.

A meager yet sufficient and manageable harvest from the two-tier espalier apple tree. Three varieties but the overwhelming majority are one type from one of the three primary scaffold limbs. I don't know what any of the varieties are or what they are named, but they were good, crisp and flavorful off the vine. Lenore turned a good portion of them into tarts. I'm not much for baked fruits, apples are an exception. The tarts I will admit were delicious.

Fuji Instax Mini. 08Sep2019.

When untreated, HIV ( human immunodeficiency virus) can cause AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), a chronic illness that attacks a person’s immune system. Now manageable for those with access to medication, the disease remains life-threatening to those without - a stark example of how public health intersects with economic and racial inequalities. Today, the majority of infected people are in Africa, while in North America, A disproportionately high number of indigenous, Black and racialized people are infected. More than 36 million people are living with HIV, and more the 35 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses.