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Another successful expedition to Cornwall with my personal guide! Massive thanks to Max for showing me places I'd never have found by myself.
Forgive me if I don't credit who found which insect in every case! However I will say that this is one of Max's finds, and a species I'd previously looked for but never actually found. The slightly plumper and more colourful female is on the left.
The thrift clearwing is categorised as Nationally Scarce B.
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I was originally enrolled into the GETTY IMAGES collection as a contributor on April 9th 2012, and when links with FLICKR were terminated in March 2014, I was retained and fortunate enough to be signed up via a second contract, both of which have proved to be successful with sales of my photographs all over the world now handled exclusively by them.
On November 12th 2015 GETTY IMAGES unveiled plans for a new stills upload platform called ESP (Enterprise Submission Platform), to replace the existing 'Moment portal', and on November 13th I was invited to Beta test the new system prior to it being officially rolled out in December. ESP went live on Tuesday December 15th 2015 and has smoothed out the upload process considerably.
These days I take a far more leisurely approach to my photographic exploits, and having moved from professional Nikon equipment to consumer bodies and lenses, I travel light less constraints and more emphasis on the pure capture of the beauty that I see, more akin to my original persuits and goals some five decades previously when starting out. I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 22.893+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on March 7th 2018
CREATIVE RF gty.im/925773952 MOMENT OPEN COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 3,019th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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**** This frame was chosen on August 7th 2018 to appear on FLICKR EXPLORE (Highest Ranking: #80. This is my 103rd photograph to be selected, which for me is both amazing and exciting, as I never view my images as worthy compared to some of the awesome photography out there. EXPLORE is Flickr's way of showcasing the most interesting photos within a given point in time -- usually over a 24 hour period.
Flickr receives about 6,000 uploads every minute -- That's about 8.6 million photos a day! From this huge group of images, the Flickr Interestingness algorithm chooses only 500 images to showcase for each 24-hour period. That's only one image in every 17,000!..... so I am really thrilled to have a frame picked and most grateful to every one of the 17.950 Million people who have visited, favourite and commented on this and all of my other photographs here on my FLICKR site. *****
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Fifty seven metres at 10:29am on Wednesday February 28th 2018 off Woolwich Road and Treetops Close in the grounds of Abbey Wood open space in Bexleyheath, Kent, England.
'The beast from the East', a Siberian cold front and weather phenomenon, has swept across the United Kingdom duringh the past few days, and last night was Kent's turn to brace herself for the deluge of snow.
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Nikon D7200 10mm 1/40s f/11.0 iso100 Exposure Compensation +1.3EV RAW (14 bit Lossless compressed) Image size 6000 x 4000). Colour space RGB. Handheld. AF-C focus 51 point with 3-D tracking. Manual exposure. Matrix metering. Auto white balance. Auto Active D-lighting. Nikon Distortion control on. Vignette control on.
Nikkor AF-S DX 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED DX. Phot-R ultra slim 77mm UV filter. Nikon EN-EL battery. Hoodman H-EYEN22S soft rubber eyecup. Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 32GB Class 10 SDHC. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module.
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LATITUDE: N 51d 29m 9.90s
LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 14.60s
ALTITUDE: 57.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 69.10MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 38.40MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D7200 Firmware versions A 1.10 C 2.015 (Lens distortion control version 2)
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU processor. AMD Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB SATA storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
Long tailed or crab eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis) are found in southeast Asia. Photographed here on Pangkor Laut Island, Malaysia.
Probably the most successful primate species in Southeast Asia, the Long-tailed Macaque is to be found in a wide range of habitats including primary and secondary forest, mangroves, plantations and the outskirts of towns and villages. Its success is largely due to a varied diet of fruits, leaves, small mammals and birds, shellfish and crabs, as well as human leftovers.
Ref: ecologyasia.com
File: zR23H1731
A tiny fly probably 3mm long on the edge of a decaying Pitcher plant leaf. This carnivorous plant has over-wintered successfully on my windowsill. You can see the backward pointing "spines" inside the dead leaf. These prevent any unlucky insects from escaping back out & so the plant devours them HFDF everyone!
After struggling up the Acton grade, CN L53331-28 passes through Guelph where Metrolinx is currently rebuilding the second track. 2296, 8864, 5775 lead this 123 car train.
You can see the way the flake has broken off on this piece in a kind of cone shape, following the shock wave applied to the rock.
That's a hard hammer in John's hand. Those are generally pebbles. Soft hammers are made of bone.
My flint knapping photos were taken on a day course with John and Val Lord. They have a website here:
John has also written a book that's very useful as a beginner:
www.flintknapping.co.uk/shop.html
And John's son Will is also an expert in flint knapping and excellent teacher. He also runs courses, and will teach hide working, prehistoric jewellery making, bow-making and so forth as well.
© Susannah Relf All Rights Reserved
Unauthorized use or reproduction for any reason is prohibited
This mature bald eagle has just successfully grabbed a fish out of the Susquehanna river (note the tail fins rising behind the body) with its right claw and will be on its way to a private lunch. It was not challenged for the fish like some eagles were. I love the column of water behind it still rising where the eagle had snatched the fish from the water.
Taken 13 November 2016 at Conowingo Dam in Maryland.
This little beaut is a female European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) on lamb's-ear (Stachys byzantina).
It's a species found in large parts of Europe and has actually migrated (with human help) to North America and can be found in large parts of that continent as well.
It might be my favourite bug of all to shoot and I have to date posted between 50 and 60 shots of them on Flickr so I created an album with those here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/albums/72157667862870066
History of Johnstown Castle
The estate itself dates back to the 11th century, when the Esmondes; a family from Lincolnshire, England, settled in the area. The family arrived in County Wexford after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169.
In 1169, a force of Norman knights landed in Bannow, County Wexford, at the request of Diarmait Mac Murchada, who had been ousted from his seat as the King of Leinster in 1166. Mac Murchada hoped that by pledging his allegiance to King Henry II, he could return to Ireland and reclaim his kingdom, which had been taken from him by his arch enemy, the High King of Ireland, Ruaidri Ua Conchobair.
During their reign over the estate, the Esmonde family constructed two tower houses in Johnstown and Rathlannon. These towers were stone structures that had three or four floors; with the family living on the top floor and servants living on the bottom floor. These sturdy stone towers provided protection against would-be attackers and land raiders. Pictured below is one of the towers that can be seen inside the grounds of Johnstown Castle.
During the mid-1600s, Oliver Cromwell invaded Ireland. During his conquest of the country, he sacked towns such as Wexford and Drogheda and confiscated large amounts of land. Cromwell is an extremely notorious figure in Irish history because of the abhorrent actions of his troops. For example: After the siege of Wexford Town, Cromwell’s army broke loose and ran amok inside the town walls, massacring up to 1500 civilians.
According to the book A topographical dictionary of Ireland, by Samuel Lewis, Oliver Cromwell spent a night on the estate in 1649, prior to his attack on Wexford Town. In his book, Lewis describes how Cromwell used the expansive land around Johnstown Castle to prepare and review his troops.
It was during the Cromwellian years that the Catholic Esmonde family were expelled from County Wexford.
In 1682, the estate was acquired by the Grogan family. In 1798, the owner of the estate, Cornelius Grogan was hanged and beheaded on Wexford Bridge for his part in the 1798 rebellion. Cornelius, who was the eldest son of the family, had become a commissary-general for the United Irishmen, a group of insurgents that had successfully taken over Wexford and established a republican regime. During his trial, Cornelius claimed that his position in the United Irishmen had been overstated and that he had been forced to take a nominal lead in the organisation. After his execution, his estate in Johnstown was seized by the crown.
Twelve years later, in 1810, Cornelius’ youngest brother, John Knox, managed to regain control of Johnstown Castle after he paid the crown court a heavy fine. It was John and his son, Hamilton Knox Grogan, that built the castle, the lake and the expansive gardens that people can visit today, with Kilkenny architect Daniel Robertson designing the castle and parts of the surrounding land. Pictured above is the castle lake, which is roughly five acres in size.
During World War One (1914-1918), German U-boats (underground boats) were active off the coast of County Wexford. In response, the British Royal Naval Air Service stationed a number of Zeppelin air ships at Johnstown Castle. Unfortunately, these air ships were an ineffective tool against Germany’s military submarines, which continued to snoop around the south coast of Ireland until American seaplanes cleared the shipping lanes in February of 1918.
In 1945, Maurice Victor Lakin, who was a descendent of John Grogan, presented the estate as a gift to the Irish nation. A few years later, the Department of Agriculture took charge of Johnstown Castle and its gardens, before setting up an agricultural institute inside its grounds.
Today, the site boasts an agricultural museum, which can be visited, provided you pay an extra charge. If you’re not particularly interested in visiting an agricultural museum, you can choose to take a walk around the castle’s large gardens, which contain beautiful flowers, trees, lakes, statues and historical structures.
Successfully avoiding the sun, 50008 Thunderer passes Burn heading 5Z19, the 11.52 Gascoigne Wood Sidings - Chaddesden Sidings empty stock for the next days special from Derby to Paignton. Friday 13 January 2023.
This Cheetah Mum now can serve a delicious breakfast to her Cub. One of them is always on alert. Now this is a moment they are themselves vulnerable to other hunters such as Lions. This was a really rare sighting
After a long overnight trip from Kaskinen, the broken class Dr12 diesel electric locomotive number 2216 has returned back to Haapamäki thanks to the little, but brave class Dv16 diesel locomotive number 2038. At Haapamäki mood is relaxing and relieving, as soon the train returns back to the museum depot and the successful rescue operation come to an end.
The decor and ambience of this pizza parlour and bar suggest a successful and thriving business, but unfortunately a couple of months later this establishment closed
A not entirely successful experiment with 3 bracketed shots,Hdr and lab colour techniques. View Large.
During a fantastic holiday in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, I captured this shot of a Great Blue Heron successfully fishing in the mangroves of the biosphere at Sian Ka'an.
Once the jet lag has worn off, I'll be back lineside for my more usual shots!
Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams (shown here) and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA successfully installed the first of two international docking adapters (IDAs) Friday Aug. 19, 2016, during a five hour and 58-minute spacewalk. The IDAs will be used for the future arrivals of Boeing and SpaceX commercial crew spacecraft in development under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi assisted the duo from inside the station, while all three cleaned up the Quest airlock afterward where they stowed their spacesuits and tools.
On Sept. 1, the two NASA astronauts will spacewalk outside the International Space Station for the second time in less than two weeks. Working on the port side of the orbiting complex’s backbone, or truss, Williams and Rubins will retract a thermal radiator that is part of the station’s cooling system. They’ll also tighten struts on a solar array joint, and install the first of several enhanced high-definition television cameras that will be used to monitor activities outside the station, including the comings and goings of visiting cargo and crew vehicles.
For more information about the International Space Station, click here.
History:
Third synthetic life form and carrier of the Reality Engine. Like her three siblings, Paragon was built by the Predecessors to find and retrieve the Fountain of Life from its inter-dimensional hiding place. Unlike her siblings, though, Paragon was successful in contacting the artifact. Not much is known about what happened when Paragon contacted the fountain, but when she returned from her journey she turned on her creators. With newfound knowledge of the origins and inner workings of the universe, Paragon acted as an angel of protection for her home planet, using her Reality Engine to defend it from natural disasters and malevolent forces.
Personality:
Paragon is a confident and brave individual. She sees it as her duty to defend her home planet, and she appreciates every chance she gets to learn more about the people who inhabit it. While she isn't the best at interacting with people, she lets her actions show her care for others.
Abilities:
Paragon carries the Reality Engine, a dimensional generator. The engine allows Paragon to create a region in which she has god-like control over reality. When using her engine in an affected region, Paragon can move objects with her mind, manipulate gravity, control air pressure and temperature, and more. Overuse of her engine will tire Paragon, forcing her to rest between uses. Paragon carries A broadsword, a buckler, and four remotely controlled wing blades. When her Reality Engine is active, Paragon can combine her tools to form Enki, the Reality Blade. Paragon can move this giant sword at will only in regions affected by her engine, but even with such a limitation, the sword's raw destructive power cannot be denied.
Build notes:
Well, it only took 4 years to build her. I've been wanting to do this concept since I first built Avalon. While the build isn't too innovative (I reused a lot of Svella's design) it does refine several of the concepts used in Svella. Oh yeah, and the mask is painted! This my first attempt at a painted mask, so it is a tad messy, but I'm happy with it!
Northern Victoria.
A juvenile Murray-Darling Carpet Python from the south of their distribution, on the floodplains of Northern Victoria. Murray-Darling Carpet Pythons are endangered in Victoria, and infrequently encountered, so finding a young animal is an important record and an indication of recent successful breeding.
Metroline VP549 (LK04CVL) on London Overground rail replacement duties arrives at Willesden Junction having run from Gunnersbury.
This is the second run out for the Willesden VPs on rail replacement services this year, on both occasions the use of a VP-class vehicle was planned. With the vehicle type almost extinct from Londin services, I have tried treat these London workhorses to a little bit of adventurous fun in their last days.
♥ Faga. Successful Hair ♥
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Galileo/52/105/32
♥ Faga. ♥
♥ N-Uno - Fanny Outfit ♥
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Serena%20Almeria/65/97/2002
♥ Numer0Un0 ♥
♥ Pure Poison - Diamond Pumps ♥
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pure%20Poison%20District/1...
Successful strike! This is the next frame of the juvenile Great Blue Heron hunting posted recently.
Pillar Point
Half Moon Bay, CA
Hunting season is well underway in Alaska - and I have already seen quite a few moose and caribou racks in hunter's vehicles, as they head back to their urban homes. Returning to our cabin, we came upon this successful hunter with a beautiful caribou rack in the bed of his truck. I sure hope he packed out the meat as well - or at least donated it to a needy family.
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Project successful... Specimen showing signs of continued organic life... Transfer is a success.
We will keep the specimen quarantined for the next 3 days... Then it will be released for a trial run. I have great confidence that the run will be a grand success.
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I haven't posted in forever... School and crosscountry are like a time black hole. :P
Having successfully delivered a bicycle to Southampton, but wishing to avoid the traffic jams around the Berkshire County Show, I decided to take a very roundabout but scenic route home.
I cut through the New Forest, and found myself on the Jurassic Coast. I had Monty with me, so there was a good excuse to go for a walk on the shingle beach by Durdle Door - which for the uninitiated, is this spectacular sea arch.
Being a Saturday there were still a few folk about even though it was starting to get on in the evening - but a long exposure does make a few disappear....
Much to my annoyance I did have to wait for a rather over-amorous couple to shift out of the way. Fortunately for me, and perhaps less fortunately for these two would-be exhibitionist Porn-stars, the sea temperature was a bit on the chilly side so they gave up fairly quickly. I really am turning into a grumpy old man.....
Phillip Mould:
This image, and those generated around it, represent one of the most successful sovereign statements of English history. It was painted under the aegis of the Queen’s own official Serjeant painter, George Gower, in the late 1580s, the decade in which she finally defeated the Spanish threat, and assured her place as one of England’s most successful and popular monarchs. The portrait was owned by Edward Drewe MP, one of Elizabeth’s ablest lawyers, and has remained in his family ever since. A family legend suggests that the portrait was the gift of Elizabeth herself. It is in part through such portraits that the mystique and power of Elizabeth I was conveyed in her day. As such it is not merely a portrait of a monarch, but a symbolic statement of national supremacy.
George Gower was Elizabeth’s Serjeant Painter from 1581 until his death in 1596. He was also a ‘gentleman’, being the grandson of Sir John Gower of Stettenham, Yorkshire. This was not only unusual for the time (hitherto, artists were effectively ranked as servants), but reveals the increasing status – and importance – of portraiture in sixteenth century England. There is little documentary evidence on Gower’s career, but there is no doubt that he was one of the leading English artists of his generation. His documented portraits, such as those of Sir Thomas and Lady Kytson (1573 Tate Gallery, London) show that he commanded the patronage of the important and wealthy from an early age, while his self-portrait (1579, the first known example by an English artist on such a scale) gives a clear indication of the bold characterization with which he depicted his subjects.
Gower’s technique and style is distinct, and perfectly suited to the display of power, and conspicuous monarchical grandeur seen here. His use of strong light on the head enables his subject’s face to stand out from the rest of the painting, and was perfectly suited to Elizabeth’s personal wish to avoid any shadows across her face. His reluctance to rely too heavily on drawing is made up by strong flesh tones and subtle shadows, so that the face is rendered with precision and power, aided by bold features such as the well-delineated eyes. The unmistakably warm and dry palette has the happy effect of seeming to depict the Queen in the heavy make-up on which she increasingly came to rely. In this example, the overall effect is one of power rather than beauty – but such is Gower’s skill that our focus is held unmistakably by Elizabeth’s face and strong gaze, despite the rich and bright details of her luxurious costume.
There are elsewhere in the portrait signs of a master’s touch. The subtle but noticeable pink tones in the ruff under Elizabeth’s chin skillfully illustrates the reflection of her face in the white lace, giving the ruff a three-dimensional effect so often lacking in sixteenth century portraiture. The deft modeling (with even the hint of veins) in the long and elegant hands of which Elizabeth was so proud is superb, while the folds and lace on the golden silk of her sleeves is redolent of Holbein’s supreme skill in depicting the rich quality of Royal costumes.
As with all portraits of the Queen, there comes the question of the level of her personal involvement. Of course, she did not sit for the many contemporary portraits of her that survive. Instead, artists would have followed patterns of her face, and then either have imagined her costume, or in some cases have painted the actual garment itself. The patterns would have been widely-circulated, and the Queen’s likeness then either traced onto a panel or drawn freehand. Surviving examples of patterns are rare, but those of Bishop John Fisher and Sir Henry Sidney can be found in the National Portrait Gallery, as can one previously believed to show Elizabeth herself.
Which ‘pattern’, therefore, is the Drewe portrait based on? Sir Roy Strong’s catalogue of 1963, Portraits of Queen Elizabeth I, and subsequent Gloriana, The Portraits of Elizabeth I were vital works in dating and attributing the many (invariably unsigned) portraits. According to Strong’s categorization, the Drewe portrait is based on the ‘Darnley’ face pattern, after a painting dated c. 1575 once owned by the Earls of Darnley, and now in the National Portrait Gallery attributed to Federico Zuccaro, an Italian landscape and religious painter to whom the Queen sat for a drawing in May 1575.[1] The Darnley pattern, Strong points out, does not change until the ‘Armada pattern’ is developed, apparently by Gower, c.1588.
And yet, such categorization carries with it the disappointing notion that all portraits of the Queen between c.1575 and 1588 are derivatives, completed at a distance from Elizabeth herself. This clearly cannot be the case with the Drewe portrait. Though Elizabeth is shown in a similar (if reversed) profile, she is unquestionably a different woman to that in the Darnley portrait: noticeably hierarchical, sepulchral in characterization, perhaps reflecting the progression of her historical achievements. It seems implausible that Gower, the Queen’s Serjeant Painter, would have been content to follow a pattern. Rather, he may instead have felt constrained by the dictates of Royal iconography to follow an approved pose – just as Henry VIII was invariably portrayed full-face.
It is to the Queen herself that we should seek an explanation for the repetitive nature of her portraits. From the note of her conversation with Nicholas Hilliard in c.1572 it seems she resolved that her portraits should have no “shadowe at all”[2]. After all, Royal portraits were primarily symbols of power combined with obsequious flattery, not simple likenesses. Considerations of deference (and by the 1580s her fading beauty) further forbade any attempt at realism. And artist’s had to operate within an accepted Royal iconography that began in the fifteenth century. It is certain, however, that Gower’s official position, and the fact that he was a gentleman by birth, would have guaranteed him access to the Queen. The Drewe portrait, with its delicately observed facial contours and expressive, piercing eyes, is a world away from the pallid and formulaic pattern portraits of Elizabeth, reflecting an authority derived from one who had access to the royal presence.
The provenance of this portrait is of interest, and helps confirm the attribution to George Gower. It has traditionally hung in the Grange, the Devon seat of the Drewe family, since its construction by Edward Drewe in the 1590s. Drewe was one of the ablest lawyers of the 16th Century. After a spell at Oxford (while apparently a teenager) he began to practice law at the Inner Temple in 1560. He was called to the Bar in 1574. From then he rose rapidly through the legal ranks; a Justice of the Peace in 1579, and a Member of Parliament (for Lyme Regis) in 1584. He must then have been well-known to the Queen and Privy Council, for in 1588 he was amongst those sharp legal minds, along with Francis Bacon, called to draft Government legislation. The letter makes flattering reading;
“Her Majestie… hath made especiall choice of you, upon knowledge of your sinceritie and sufficiencie in that behalfe, to proceede to the consideracion what statutes in your opinion were requisite to be either established or perfected for the better…
We bid you very hertely farewll.”[3]
In 1589 he was appointed a Serjeant-at-law, and became more familiar to the key members of Elizabeth’s Government. Perhaps his most powerful ally was Francis Russell, the second Earl of Bedford. He corresponded regularly with William Cecil, Lord Burghley. And in 1593 he is recorded as making a speech before the Queen when introducing the Lord Mayor of London to Court. Drewe’s correspondence with the Privy Council typically revolved around interrogations of suspects such as Jesuit spies, often in the Tower of London, and he became an important part of the security apparatus first set-up by Francis Walsingham. One case involved the hapless Yorke and Williams, who, “when confronted together, Yorke swore that they took the sacrament to kill the Queen, and that Williams had wished his sword in her belly.”[4] By 1593 Drewe held the prestigious parliamentary seat of the City of London, and in 1596 he was made a Queen’s Serjeant, and a judge on the Northern circuit. He died suddenly, of ‘gaol fever’, in 1598.
Drewe’s central role in the legal apparatus of the Government helps confirm an attribution to George Gower as the artist of this portrait. Gower had been appointed, in 1581, as the Queen’s Serjeant Painter. In 1584 an attempt was made to make Gower solely responsible for portraits of the Queen, a move that reinforced the government’s wish to maintain control of the Queen’s image. Some twenty years earlier, the Privy Council, at the Queen’s behest, had also attempted a similar measure in reaction to the increasing number of debased images of Elizabeth in circulation. And in 1596, the Privy Council ordered that public officers should aid Gower in seeking out and destroying those unofficial images which caused the Queen “great offence”[5].
The Council’s failure, and that of Gower in the 1580s, is belied by the profusion of awkward and unsatisfactory images of the Queen which survive to this day. Nevertheless, a man of Drewe’s public position would have been the most unlikely person to either commission or own in the 1580s and 90s a portrait of the Queen that did not come from the Serjeant Painter’s ‘official’ workshop. Furthermore, in 1593 Drewe made a speech in Parliament against foreign workers in London, advocating support for “our countrymen” over charity to “strangers”, which sentiments would appear to rule out his patronage of any Flemish or Italian artist.[6] Finally, it may also be worth noting the connection between Drewe and the Bedford family, who commissioned the Armada portrait from Gower in 1588.
The Queen’s jewelry is worth noting here, and may assist in the precise dating of this portrait. Here, the jewelry worn by the Queen (aside from that embroidered into her costume) is surprisingly simple – only a double row of pearls. This is identical to the jewelry worn in the Darnley portrait dated c.1575, as is the chain of pearls and jewels around her waist. And such a combination can again be found in other portraits by Gower of the 1580s, Cornelius Ketel’s ‘Sieve’ portrait c.1580-3, and Marcus Gheerearts the Elder’s c.1585 full length. Furthermore, the lack of certain jewelry again suggests a date in the 1580s, for when Leicester died in 1588 he bequeathed to his 2most dear and gracious Sovereign whose creature under God I have been”[7] an extraordinarily large and elaborate jewel of emeralds, with a rope of 600 pearls. Elizabeth, who locked herself in her room on hearing Leicester’s demise, is shown wearing his gift in the Armada portraits of post c.1588, and other later variants – but not here.
Notes;
[1] Zuccaro had traveled to England apparently at the behest of Lord Leicester. Though some have assumed his purpose was to paint the Queen, it is possible that he had been summoned by Leicester to decorate the interior of Kenilworth Castle (now ruined), before the Queen was due to stay there in July 1575. The exquisite chalk and pencil drawing of the Queen by Zuccaro survives (British Museum), along with a pendant of Leicester. However, there seems little connection between the drawing, either in likeness or style, to the ‘Darnley’ portrait in the NPG.
[2] Strong, loc.cit., p16
[3] Letter from Privy Council to Drewe 27th December 1588, in Acts of the Privy Council of England 1588. Official Publications 1897 Vol XVI
[4] Calendar of State Papers (Domestic) Elizabeth I, 1591-94, August 28th 1594
[5] Strong, loc.cit., p14
[6] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, citing House of Commons Journal
[7] In Public and Private, Elizabeth I and her world, Susan Watkins, London 1998
I had what was probably my most successful birding morning ever this week on my way to work. I stopped at a spot I have driven by many, many times. I had done drive by birding there but never stopped. There are lots of trees along a lake and I thought I would walk that line of trees. I started off with seeing a kestrel, then a flicker, then lots of yellow rumped warblers, lesser goldfinches, house finches, white crowned and song sparrows and heard a kingfisher. There were lots of gulls, ducks and grebes and a green heron in the lake as well. As I proceeded down the path scanning the trees I was overjoyed to spot a Great Horned Owl perched in a tree not far from the trail. The only bad thing was the dark stormy skies, windblown trees plus the early time of day meant photography was going to be difficult. Luckily I had my tripod in my car and was able to go back and get it to take some great shots. I proceeded down the trail, chasing some sparrows and other birds in the swamp grass. I could hear that the kingfisher had come back to my side of the lake and so I thought I would try to sneak up on it to get a picture. That is a bird for which I really want to get a good pic but have failed over and over again. I have seen a lot of them this year and they are always too wary. Well On my way back towards the kingfisher I decided to check out a little alcove that gave me a view to some willows across a small stream. I scanned the blowing willow branches hoping to see something interesting when Bam. Is that white thing what I think it is? It is, a barn owl! I have seen these many times at night but never during the day and I have really wanted to get a pic of one. I thought any pics I ended up getting would be in a shed or barn but this was better and totally unexpected. Here was a barn owl hiding in a blowing willow tree. I had to wonder if they ever visited the huge willow trees in my yard without me even knowing it.
That feeling of finally focusing in on something in the wild that you have been longing to see never gets old and keeps me returning to nature again and again.
As far as the kingfisher goes, he was too smart and wary for me. Despite my best efforts to crawl on the ground and hide behind bushes, he still flew off. I was left with shots at 800mm again under stormy skies where the bird was still very far off. Better than nothing and still cool to see but very frustrating never-the-less and barely post-worthy.
I also saw a red-tailed hawk and several other unknown hawks on the way to and from this location. I was amazed that this short stop produced so well for me. Unfortunately weekday mornings are the only time to hit it as it is packed with fishermen and scouts at all other times.
First try to shoot from a hide, on a pond shore !
Pretty successful, three different species of sandpipers (namely Common greenshank, Green sandpiper & Common sandpiper) and an Eurasian curlew came very close to the hide in less than 2 hours (from 9 to 11AM).
The green sandpiper looks like the common sandpiper but it is way larger and heavier (it weights about twice as much as its cousin), and has a darker back.
I could shoot them comfortably at less than 20 meters, while I could never get that close without the hide.
Some green winged teals also approached but not that close, hence I could not get decent shots. I will need more time & efforts. Also, staying on the ground is not very comfortable, especially when it is a bit muddy like on a pond shore ; I believe I need to bring back a small chair with me to be more comfortable.
Bald Eagle fishing at Conowingo, MD 2010
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