News and views about photography, cameras, social media, as well as pointers to Dave Bradley’s photographic output. You can also find me on Imaging Storm, Instagram and Flickr as “sciencebase”
There’s actually not much difference between snapping wildlife in the countryside and human activity in the city to be honest. You have to blend in and sort of camouflage yourself, hiding in plain sight so that your subjects don’t really notice you’re there.
So, on a trip to Manchester, I swapped my green waterproofs and trek-shoes for a mostly black outfit and my zoom lens and dSLR for a phone. And, while Mrs Sciencebase and daughter were doing some post-graduation shopping, I leaned against a few lampposts and some other street furniture and and got a few candid shots of Manchester and its daylife.
A hotel room with a viewWheel LifeProper British PubWhitworth HallMadchester Mosaic, DeansgateTram LinesReflecting on FootballJoint DecisionSnapping the SnappersLighting-up TimeThe Heist of Fashion
Well, that was a nice birthday treat…just seen a DHL flight that seemed to be almost overhead, but was actually over Cambourne about 12 miles away. According to the Plane Finder flight tracker it is travelling from Brussels to Miami at an altitude of about 7 miles at 360 knots, so not delivering my presents. The vapour trail did not persist for long, dissipating within ten minutes or so.
The above is a cropped photo taken with a 600mm zoom on a 2/3-frame camera (zoom equivalent to 900mm, digital crop to 1800mm). Odd the perspective one has looking at the jet flying over. It seems so high, but it’s not as high (7 miles) as it is far away (12 miles) if one were to travel from here to the town over which it was flying when I took the photo. So camera to aeroplane distance is about 14 miles, using Pythagoras.
As I finish writing this post I can see the pilot has changed heading slightly and has just flown over the Lake District.
My very good friend, photographer Diana Sanders took a lovely shot of a yellow crocus growing wild near her home. She posted the photo to acclaim on her Facebook describing it as:
Like a candle flame amongst the dead leaves. If we get any more hard frosts it won't look so cheerful, though.
The Feral Crocus (Photo by Diana Sanders)
It triggered me to write a short poem:
The Feral Crocus
A feral crocus nestles among the long-dead leaves
A glimmer of hope, a tiny, shining candle of life
Its flame burns bright among those oaken thieves
Their dew can’t steal this golden light
But Arctic winds might rustle those chilling leaves
And times are hard and so could be the frost
The dew that’s stilled will begin to freeze
And snuff that flame then forever lost
Still, there is hope as it is overcast
The cloud-filled skies blanket all below
The bloom won’t face an icy blast
And tomorrow, we can bask in that feral crocus glow
TL:DR – Diary item from New Year trip to North Norfolk in 2022.
Mrs Sciencebase and myself often run away to the north Norfolk coast, originally it was just the quickest route to the beach for us, but then we started looking out for aves and this part of the country is so rich in birdlife you can’t help but visit again and again. On our short trip to Morston Quay between Xmas and New Year, we “ticked” more than 60 bird species, not counting the dozen or so extras on Blakeney Duck Pond. Here are a few scenic shots and some of the birds.
Morston QuayOn the way to BlakeneyMorston QuayMorston Quay at dawnMorston QuayWells-next-the-SeaMorston QuayMorston Quay at duskMorston QuayMale Pintail, Blakeney Duck PondFemale Goldeneye, Blakeney Duck PondBarnacle Goose, Blakeney Duck PondCormorants, BlakeneyMale Goldeneye, Blakeney Duck PondOne of 100 or so Curlew we saw, this one in BlakeneyMale Goldeneye, Blakeney Duck PondGrey Seal, Wells-next-the-Sea70+ Snow Buntings, Holkham Gap (not all of them pictured!)One of four Shore Larks at Holkham Gap, first time we’ve seen this species1000s of Pink-footed Geese over Morston Quay (not all of them pictured!)
We had to skip our annual panto in 2020, but this year we’re bigger, bolder, and brassier than ever with Treasure Island! Oh yes we are! Here are a few of my snaps (in no particular order) from the orchestra pit where I’m playing guitar, as usual. Find out more about Cottenham Theatre Workshop.
Pit Band (L-R) – Dave, Rob, Barbara, Adam, Christian (not pictured understudy drummer John and clarinet understudy TanaraGary Unwin-Riches is Long John SilverLiz Mayne as Jim HawkinsChrissie Kelby is Jenny TrelawneyMatt Unwin as Mrs HawkinsAmy Unwin as Mrs Henderson
Mark Nolan as Bloodboiler
Tricia Bradley as Mrs Battersby (left) and Helen McCallum as WI memberLiz Mayne as Jim HawkinsDuncan McCallum as Goth
John Unwin as Squire Trelawney (left)Tricia Bradley is Mrs Battersby
Paul Mapp is Little Ron (left)TeddyMary Garside is Polly the Parrot
Mark Nolan is Billy BonesNatalia Thorn Coe is Seadog Sam (left) and Nikki Kerss is Seaweed Willy
Nathalie Morgan is Georgette Souflet
Rachel Shore as Mrs Parker (right)
Ben Shimmens is Gizzard Slitter (4th from left)Choreography by Megan Swann (right)Helen McCallum as Benjamina GunnSilver’s other bird
Aunty Babs our amazing musical directorWhere would the world be without spotted dick?
Regular readers will hopefully be well aware by now that I got bitten by the mothing bug three years ago. Mrs Sciencebase spotted an enormous Copper Underwing in the garden and we were both fascinated by its size and its markings.
Poplar Hawk-moth
A friend in the village had previously offered to lend me his scientific moth trap with its UV tube and so I gave him a call and he said he would set it up that night in his garden. I could come to see what had turned up the next morning (24th July 2018). There were lots of moths in there with some weird and wonderful names – Angle Shades, Poplar Hawk-moth, Willow Beauty, Dark Arches, Burnished Brass, Ruby Tiger, Buff Ermine…the list goes on.
Elephant Hawk-moth
I was hooked and took the trap home and have been “lighting up” ever since. My “tick list” is fast approaching 400 moth species. I’ve photographed them all at least once and some of them several times. You can see my latest moth photos on the Sciencebase Instagram along with my other nature photos and other stuff. My ticklist is on my Imaging Storm website along with an archive of the Lepidoptera photos.
Six-spot Burnet
They do say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but you cannot deny that the insect world is beautiful and nowhere more so, in my opinion than in the realm of the Lepidoptera. Incidentally, butterflies are just one group within Lepidoptera, on the same branch of the family tree as the so-called micro moths, in fact.
A Midsummer Dawn – A few hours of calm, good company, glassy waters, a golden sunrise, and birdlife
Misty narrowboatClouds at dawnSunriseSunrise from the boatMoorhen and chicksMoored sunriseWest River footbridgeRiver signsGreat Crested Grebe and RoachWest River footbridgeCommon TernGrey Heron sleeping in a treeShelduck ducklings
The rather derogatory term “twitching” (see definition in my tongue-in-beak bird glossary) is usually preserved for someone going out of their way to see a rare bird…but those with an interest in seeking out natural wonders may well twitch anything. Yesterday, I took my daily walk partly along the Cambridge to Stives guided busway to “twitch” the bee orchids that are thriving sporadically along the wild margins of the route.
While I was walking back to my turning-home point, I bumped into a group of people who were well aware of the bee orchids, pointed out that there were also some pyramidal orchids around and explained that they were (mostly) amateur botanists out for a day’s botanising (the wildflower equivalent of birding and mothing, I presume).
The plant that had taken their interest at the time I stopped to talk them was a seemingly mundane specimen in the impacted dirt at the edge of the by-way and guided bus cycleway. What made it interesting was that it was a maritime species, a wildflower that should only be seen growing along our coasts. Now, given the number of wading birds that seem to have taken to being landlubbers these last few months in and around our village, it’s perhaps no surprise that a maritime plant species will have taken root, perhaps a seed having hitchhiked among the feathers of one of those coastal waders or been delivered in conjunction with a bird’s inflight fertiliser in the form of avian guano. I think this is the plant, but there were several others around it, so not sure, and no idea of its ID.
Mystery maritime – Is this a coastal plant that has become a landlubber?
