A-Z Challenge 2018 - British Rivers; 'D' Dee, Derwent

Why I chose the Dee and Derwent to write about I'm not sure. Now I find that there are four rivers for each of these names.

The Welsh Dee rises in Snowdonia and passes from North Wales into Cheshire, through the Roman town of Chester and enters the sea at the estuary between Wales and the Wirral.

In Scotland one River Dee is in Galloway, but it's the River Dee in Aberdeenshire with which I used to be familiar, driving up the A90 and over - 

Bridge of Dee

Uisge Dhè is its name in Gaelic; the Dee is one of the most famous salmon rivers in the world. In Royal Deesside it passes between Braemar and Banchory. It's this connection with the Royal Family, Queen Victoria and Balmoral that is known to so many visitors.

River Dee at Potarch (between Aboyne and Banchory)

The Cumbrian River Derwent runs through two of the district's major Lakes - Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake. It empties into the Irish Sea.

The time I spent with British Rail at Derby in the 1990s gave me many closeups on Derbyshire's River Derwent. I missed out on its mainly rural route and its entry into the River Trent south of the city.

The River Derwent, River Gardens & The Council House, Derby

Despite my years in both Aberdeen and Derby I had no chance to take photos of the rivers. I regret that now - all work and no play!

Photo attributions:

• Bridge of Dee: 19 April 2009, ex geograph.org.uk by Anne Burgess - CC BY-SA licence
• River Dee at Potarch: April 1995, ex geograph.org.uk by Colin Smith - CC BY-SA 2.0
• River Derwent etc, Derby: c2004 by Eamon Curry - CC BY 2.0 licence

A-Z Challenge 2013 - 'O'

My A-Z posts this year are based on my garden – flowers, animals, the birds and the bees, butterflies - with a bit of poetry thrown in. For some letters I am expecting to cheat somewhat – wishing they were here.

O – Oceanus, Osteospermum, Owl, Osprey

O! O! O! Three ‘O’s on which I’ve cheated. If it hadn’t been for a fine blue shrub I would have come up with a big fat ‘zero’ for ‘O.’

 

Oceanus

Unfortunately it got so large it swamped everything else in the border, so it had to go; a decision I’ve regretted ever since.

A few years ago we grew some of these:-

 

Osteospermum

However the photo is from the  Longwood Gardens in the USA; I didn’t get a shot of ours at the time,

The last time we saw an owl in our sycamore tree was in May 2010. We frequently hear owls at dusk and after dark. But it and they are not owls like this, scanned from an old birthday card,

 

Barn Owl

As I’ve cheated to include the bird I might as well go all the way and quote a poem in full.

The Barn Owl

While moonlight, silvering all the walls,

Through every mouldering crevice falls,

Tipping with white his powdery plume,

As shades or shifts the changing gloom;

The Owl that, watching; in the barn,

Sees the mouse creeping in the corn,

Sits still, and shuts his round blue eyes

As if he slept, — until he spies

The little beast within his stretch-

Then starts, and seizes on the wretch!

I lived in Rutland, England’s smallest county, as a boy. Since then the Empingham Water reservoir has been created; each year it becomes the home of another magnificent bird.

Osprey

I have not seen one there, but I am pleased to say I have in Scotland, near Aberdeen.

Once more I hear the osprey cry

My name across the northern sky

But I am far away from there

Poems

• The Barn Owl – Samuel Butler
• Osprey Calls My Name – John K Zimmerman

Photos:

• Osteospermum – Longwood Gardens; by Raul654 – CC BY-SA 3.0
• Osprey – from Flickr; by flythebirdpath; CC BY-SA 2.0

Monaco to Nice - Aerial Thematic Photography

I had to go back nearly eight years for these photos. It was either that or wait to take some more in June.

This is the helipad at Monte Carlo with the chopper getting ready for the short hop over the sea to Nice.

After take-off straight over the sea the helipad is just visible.

Then the French coastline through a dirty window which the pilot 'refused' to clean - must have been a big fly or a dirty seagull.

 

Approaching Nice:

 

Terra firma!

Couldn't he have landed nearer? The wait for a bus was as long as the flight!

 

It seemed strange flying without the immersion suit I had been used to on offshore helicopter flights in Norway and out of Aberdeen.

For more aerial acrobatics visit: Carmi's Thematic Photographic 146