View allAll Photos Tagged midwinter
Sleeping Ute Mountain near Towaoc, Colorado seems to be the epicenter for this storm. We passed through increasingly changing skies all the way to Moab.
A pair of Anemone coronaria (poppy anemone, Spanish marigold, windflower) at Mona Vale, Christchurch. I believe these will be of the cultivar 'De Caen' due to being a single row of larger petals vs the St Brigids.
These were captured the day after midwinter.
From Wolfscote Hill. It was so windy that it was difficult to stand - and looking through viewfinder caused eye to immediately water. No place for tripods - just click and hope!
From Sunday - a brief change in the weather from the prevailing gloom of the last couple of months. 6 deg C and blowing a gale, we spent a happy hour hiding behind the summit wall watching the showers fly past!
It was the Dunedin Midwinter swim on Sunday, I didn't go in but lots did ..it looked freezing! Most people didn't stay in long but some hardy souls were still swimming when we left.
Flypaper textured.
Il Tallone, una pietra sarsen non lavorata situata all'ingresso del viale di Stonehenge.
La freccia indica alba e tramonto nei solstizi.
A West Country midwinter encapsulated in an image—a bare oak tree by a muddy little lane in the Somerset village of Rodney Stoke (pop. 1,333). Rodney Stoke is 5 miles/8 km from Wells and 3 miles/5 km from Cheddar, in the heart of the Mendip countryside.
A very cold January day in Rajasaari dog park in Helsinki, Finland is coming to its end with a phenomenal sunset above the newly formed ice. I had never seen such a stunning combination in the ice and cloud patterns as on this day.
A calm Midwinter’s day. Behind the harbour wall, its entrance steadfastly baulked against the winter tides, sits Mousehole, eagerly anticipating the Spring lifting of the barrier and the return of the boats to the waterfront.
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Usual caveats etc.
It was a very dark day with heavy overcast. Good for an owl but bad for pictures. This Barred Owl sat out for some time....it was surprisingly hard to see in the trees. I was able to show him to quite a number of people....they were all very excited to have seen their first owl.
Last night, an owl
in the blue dark
tossed an indeterminate number
of carefully shaped sounds into
the world, in which,
a quarter of a mile away, I happened
to be standing.
I couldn’t tell
which one it was –
the barred or the great-horned
ship of the air –
it was that distant. But, anyway,
aren’t there moments
that are better than knowing something,
and sweeter? Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness. I suppose
if this were someone else’s story
they would have insisted on knowing
whatever is knowable – would have hurried
over the fields
to name it – the owl, I mean.
But it’s mine, this poem of the night,
and I just stood there, listening and holding out
my hands to the soft glitter
falling through the air. I love this world,
but not for its answers.
And I wish good luck to the owl,
whatever its name –
and I wish great welcome to the snow,
whatever its severe and comfortless
and beautiful meaning.
“Snowy Night”
~Mary Oliver
We have been having a very mild winter so far this year.
It is Flyday Friday
Male Scathophaga stercoraria on cow dung
Comment from Rui: This is another species of Scathophaga. S. stercoraria has black antennae. The dead midge is a female Chironomidae.
Sunset over Toms Creek.
Heritage Park, Blacksburg, Virginia.
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Taken as close to the Winter Solstice as was possible. The clouds cleared a little with soft sun light on these rugged hills.
Midwinter morning on Middle Hope, Somerset.
Within a few minutes of sunrise a strong wind started blowing from the west and then the rain came. It seems that a cold winter of clear skies and frosty mornings is not to be this year.
Today, December 21st is winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in northern hemisphere. Where I live we have about only 5 daylight hours, but already tomorrow sunset will happen a little later. In midsummer we have more than 20h of daylight with just a short period of dusk after midnight. I enjoy both :-)