A-Z Challenge 2021 - Photo Shoot: W - Wood Pigeon, Weddings, Whitby

 Wood pigeons are very common in our village and currently a pair are building a nest in one of our hedges. Still they can take a rest from time to time.

Two wedding photos separated by more than 60 years - I'll let you decide which is which.

We live quite close to Whitby, the North Yorkshire town associated with many things including Captain Cook, Dracula and of course the Abbey.

Whitby Harbour

Not all visitors are allowed in the Visitor Centre and some then decide to get in everybody's way.

Others just find the walking too much to handle.

A-Z Challenge 2018 - British Rivers: 'S' Severn, Swale

The challenge this year is taking me to rivers and places that I didn't know well. For the Rivers Severn and Swale it's a different story.

The Old Customs House, Gatcombe, Gloucestershire

My younger son and his family once lived here. The lane in front leads to a watery end in the River Severn if you pass under a railway bridge.

Here is how it looks in a later photograph.

Gatcombe near Blakeney, Gloucestershire

Close to the river it's only separated by the railway.

The Severn Line train passing Gatcombe

My grandsons and I used to climb a bank through the trees on the right.

Accompanied by Milly and Cara

From the walk alongside the trees different views of the Severn could be obtained.

Severn at low tide between Gatcombe and Purton

The Severn is considered to be the longest river in the UK, rising in Wales it flows c 220 miles to run into the Bristol Channel and thence into the Irish Sea and the Atlantic.

Severn Map - Course of the River Severn

In terms of water flow it is the greatest river in England and Wales.

It's almost four years now since we visited Richmond in North Yorkshire to visit its magnificent castle. of course when you are there you get some magnificent views,

Looking down on the River Swale from the castle walls.

It's a long way down if you fall

Better to take a riverside walk - 

But keep off the rocks and not get swept away

Photo attributions:

• Gatcombe, near Blakeney, Gloucestershire: 4 March 2007 ex geograph,org,uk by Ruth Sharville - CC BY-SA 2.0 licence
• Severn Line train passing Gatcombe: 20 September 2008 ex geograph.org.uk by Stuart WIlding - CC BY-SA 2.0 licence
• Severn at low tide between Gatcombe and Purton: 28 June 2016 by Forester2009 - CC BY-SA 3.0 licence
• Severn Map: 19 January 2015 by Chris bayley: CC BY 2.5 licence

A-Z Challenge 2018 - British Rivers: 'L' Leven

This North Yorkshire river rises in the North Yorkshire Moors  and runs into the River Tees at Yarm.

I'm ashamed to say that although I have walked beside it where it passes through - 

Great Ayton 
(The childhood home of Captain Cook)

and over the packhorse bridge at -

Stokesley

and  I know it enters the Tees -

River Leven entering the Tees at Yarm

I have no photos of my own of this river which is around 30 miles long.

I usually see it from a car window where it goes under the road at Leven Bank or under a viaduct which carries the A19 dual carriageway over it. 

This sketch map shows the stretch from Yarm to beyond the A19.

(Ex Teesmouth Bird Club website, with permission)

Now I must walk as much of that route as possible. I just wonder why part of it is called Weary Bank.

Photo attributions:

• Great Ayton - River Leven between High and Low Green: 18 October 2007 ex geograph.org.uk by Trish Steel - CC BY-SA 2.0 licence
• Stokesley - 17/18 century packhorse bridge over the River Leven: 19 October 2010 ex geograph.org.uk by Carole Walker - CC BY-SA 2.0
• Mouth of River Leven as it joins the Tees at Yarm: 9 August 2006 by Andrew Duffell CC BY-SA 3.0 licence.

A-Z Challenge 2018 - Theme Reveal:British Rivers

If you live in the United Kingdom you are never far from a river, as this map for England shows - 

My theme this year will be British Rivers and you will soon see that many I will show will not appear on this map.

The River Tees is the nearest major river to where we live so it's only natural that I should include a view of it here.

Railway viaduct over the River Tees at Yarm, North Yorkshire

Initial searches show me that I will be able to cover all but two letters (X and Z) without cheating.


Photo Attribution:

• Map Major Rivers of England: Map from File:Gb4dot rivers England.png 10 Oct 2010; Licence CC BY-SA 3,0

A-Z Challenge 2016 - Wildflowers 'T'

My theme this year is wild flowers. Most of us will be aware of the flowers that grow in our gardens but what surprises me is how few wild flowers that I know.


I pass them every day but rarely look at them. Well this year will be different - even if many of them may fall under the letter 'X' for unknown.

'T' - Tansy, Thistles

This is a shot taken alongside the River Tees at Yarm in North Yorkshire. You should recognise one of the flowers in it if you have visited 'I'

The pink flower is Indian Balsam but it's the yellow flower that was involved in a country practice, to eat in a Tansy pudding at Easter in remembrance of bitter herbs eaten by Jews at the Passover.

The Tansy can have up to 100 flower heads in its dense, flat-topped yellow clusters. An aromatic herb, its strong smell has medicinal and insecticidal properties. Its fern-like leaves once were used to staunch and to prevent miscarriages.

The ferny leaves may be used to spice up omelettes and cakes. At one time Tansy cakes were  a traditional Easter treat.

A more macabre use was its insect repellent properties to keep blowflies off meat and .... corpses!

In preparation for the Challenge over the last year I have taken hundreds of photos of flowers. Now I have have come to write the posts I have discovered that I should have paid more attention to their leaves as well if I was going to differentiate between species.

I never knew, for instance that there are 11 varieties of - 

Thistles

The AA Book of the British Countryside illustrates the various sorts.

Spear Thistle - the famous emblem of Scotland

This biennial which can grow to a height of 6ft grows in hedgerows, waste places and disturbed ground is regarded by many as a vigorous weed. There is no mistaking its prickly nature.

The welted, melancholy, musk and meadow thistle have no prickles. The stemless (or dwarf) thistle will make you painfully aware of its presence should you be unfortunate enough to sit down on one at a picnic.

The flowers of the cotton thistle (the tallest of them all) are covered in white hairs and the woolly's flowers with a white cotton like growth. I have not seen any of these nor the white flowers that make the carline thistle stand out.

Carline thistle

Attribution:

• Carline thistle heads - 18 May 2008, ex geograph.org.uk, by May and Angus Hogg - CC BY-SA 2.0 generic.

Island Beaches - Sepia Saturday

I must have walked a few miles along island sands, sometimes with a dog, but never with a gun like Robinson Crusoe below:

The Isle of Skye may be connected to the mainland now by a bridge but in 1957 it was unreachable from -

The foreshore on the island of Raasay

The week of our geological expedition from St Andrews the weather threatened to spoil our stay.

Whereas on the Isles of Scilly it was much more welcoming.

Tresco beach

And not crowded at all.

One man's footsteps

He must have got separated from his dog.

Buster waiting for someone to join him

A North Yorkshire beach is comparatively crowded.

Dogs at Saltburn

Further down that beach the cliffs are menacing.

Any footprints here are filled in quickly in the squelchy sand.

Those in Cornwall are much easier to see even though we may not know who made them at the time.

While Aphrodite strides out from beneath the sea

a curlew decides to make itself scarce along the River Tees.

If you had wondered where I've been for so long I'll just leave you to guess on which deserted island I have been marooned while you check other posts at Sepia-Saturday-308.

Down on the ground - Thematic Photographic

Sometimes you don't have to look far for a subject, it's just there on the ground.

You have not even have to be down yourself. It's amazing what you can catch just by bending and using a screen that swivels to let you see just what is there.

Gull at Padstow, Cornwall

Homing pigeon in our garden

Of course you may not even have to bend for items on the ground.

This one looks like it has been there for a while.

Alongside a woodland path

Washed up on Saltburn beach, North Yorkshire

To get the lowdown on what others found down on the ground just visit Carmi at Thematic-Photographic-354.

Kirkfest Scarecrows - 2015

In my home village of Kirklevington in North Yorkshire 20-28 June is Kirkfest Week.

One of the first events is the annual scarecrow competition. The theme this year was TV shows.

I have to confess I did not recognise the show in all of them and I suspect that a number are from children's television.

However at the Village Hall there was no mistaking:

Britain's Got Talent

Others are more difficult to place.

Most of us would recognise Del Boy though in:

Only Fools and Horse Feed

I'm sure that this would have gone down well with the runners at;

Kirkfest Races

Perhaps this few shots will act as a carrot to bring you back for more scarecrows in later posts.

Don't forget I shall ask you which you thought the best when we get to the end.

A - Z Challenge 2015 - Butterflies 'W'

W - Wall, Large White

At this time in the Challenge I sometimes feel as though I am banging my head against a - 

Wall (Lasiommata megera)

Perhaps its Latin name should be Myheadius brickus! 

However this brown butterfly gets its name from its characteristic behaviour of resting with its wings two-thirds open on any bare surface, including bare ground and on walls, of course.

Wall on bare ground (and photo-bombed by my shadow)

Numbers have declined in previous years but the one on the knapweed and the one above were quiet happy to warm up in the North Yorkshire sun.

When I was a young boy it was common for us to catch and keep Cabbage Whites in a jar on the local allotments where they laid their eggs on cabbage leaves. The term Cabbage White is applied to several common white butterflies especially the Small and Large Whites which are very similar in appearance.

The caterpillars of the Large White are very colourful.

Large White Butterfly Caterpillar on a leaf

You can see quite clearly where it has eaten the edge away. It was my job to remove them from my Dad's cabbages before too much damage was done.

We expect to see white butterflies in early April each year. Despite their numbers I have never photographed one.

Large White (Pieris brassicae)

The female has the black spots on the wings - no spots means it a male.

I hope that I have added my own shot(s) to this before 'W' is posted - No such luck, no white butterflies seen this year yet.

Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

I feel it when you're with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feeling that I feel inside
Your touch is soft and gentle
Your kiss is warm and tender
Whenever I am with you I think of butterflies

Love is like a butterfly
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

Your laughter brings me sunshine
Every day is spring time
And I am only happy when you are by my side
How precious is this love we share
How very precious, sweet and rare
Together we belong like daffodils and butterflies

Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh

Photo attributions:

• Large White Butterfly Caterpillar: 6 August 2014, by Michael Palmer - CC BY-SA 4.0
• Large White Butterfly (Pieris brassicae): 10 July 2006, geograph.org.uk, by Anne Burgess - CC BY-SS 2.0