A-Z Challenge 2021 - Photo Shoot: Q - Quarry Wood, Quill, Queueing

 I was all of a quiver trying to find a photo to match 'Q', then I remembered the nature reserve at Preston Park. 

There is no quarry left there anymore just footpaths to follow through the wood beside the River Tees.

I learnt to write using a pen with a real nib before graduating to a fountain pen before the biro came along. I never had the chance to use a quill.

I understand these were made from 

Tail feathers of a bird

Somehow I don't think that from a wood pigeon, a victim of a hungry sparrow hawk would have been good enough. I believe the tail feathers from a goose were once preferred.

"Quill etc" by studentofrhythm is licensed under CC BY 2.0

In these pandemic days queueing has been necessary to gain access to many places - and don't ask about public lavatories. Even dogs have problem it seems 

A-Z Challenge - Butterflies 'L'

L - Leopard Lacewing (Centhosia cyane)

This heleconline (long wing) butterfly is to be found in India, Southern China and Indochina.

Leopard Lacewing - male

The upperside is tawny, with its black forewing crossed by a broad white bar. A row of black dots, part of its defence mechanism, line the rear of the hind wing. The thorax is tawny brown.

Female Leopard Lacewing

The female has similar markings but the tawny colour of the male is replaced by pale greenish white and somewhat brownish on the upper fore wing.

The underside of this butterfly looks even more spectacular to me with its body white underneath,

Leopard Lacewing

Your guess is as good as mine as to whether it is male or female in this shot at the Butterfly Lodge at Oh Chin Huat farm in Singapore.

The Butterfly World at Preston Park in Eaglescliffe near my home has recently reopened after the winter. I shall have to check out whether they have a lacewing there.

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

Photo attributions:

• Leopard Lacewing male: by Greg Hume - CC BY-SA 3.0
• Leopard Lacewing female: by David Momaya, August 2006 at Jairampur, Arunchal Pradesh, India; upload 26 June 2007 - CC BY 2.5
• Leopard Lacewing (underside): at Oh Chin Huat farm, 1 August 2012; upload by russavia; by Erwin Soo from Singapore - CC BY SA 2.0

Rectangles - Thematic Photography

Rectangles creep up on you unexpectedly. They appear in many photos and were the last thing you were thinking about when you took the shots like these.

Swallow on nesting box - Michigan

And maintaining the theme of birds and rectangles:-

Aviary - Preston Park, Teesside

Down in Cornwall I was frustrated by the column that blocks the shot of a terracotta frieze.

Terracotta frieze - Truro Cathedral

Whereas if I had been looking for rectangles I couldn't have found a better place. 

Back in Yorkshire's Wensleydale rectangles even appeared on a roof.

Bolton Castle roof.

I'm told by mathematicians that a rectangle is a closed planar quadrilateral with opposite sides of equal lengths and with four right angles. I just hope that I am not a square, as apparently a square is a degenerate rectangle. Now whom do I blame for that?

Certainly not the others that you can find over at Carmi's Rectangular Thematic Photographic-222

Bushes and Trees - Thematic Photography

I've a lot to choose from for this week's theme of bushes and trees. As this fellow is singing his heart out in my garden I thought he deserved pride of place - the tree is just the stage for him.

Song Thrush

Image how old this beech tree must have been before it lost it's top. What's the message it is passing on?

Beech Tree in Preston Park (Eaglescliffe)

How many points would you give out of 10 for this week of art?

The Tree with no name (Artist - Anon)

For some a tree is an essential part of life.

Wait your turn (Photographer - Anon)

You've seen Fountains Abbey on my blog before - it fits a tree theme too.

Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire

Coming closer to home, this is the St Mary Magdalene Church at Yarm.

St Mary Magdalene from the River Tees

Finally we are back to my garden for trees and bushes photographed in April 2004.

Garden View

View from another angle

Some bushes are full of thorns and their appearance may be deceptive like this on my garden wall - the bush is next door.

Pyracantha (1 inch thorns)

For more trees and shrubs please check out others at Carmi's thematic photographic 195

Muted Thematic Photography

When I saw this week's theme was muted I was stuck for ideas untl I remembered these pictures from Norway.

Mute Swans on Stokkavatnet, Stavanger

Mute swans have orange bills with a black base and knob (less prominent in the female). They are not as slient as their name suggests as they will snort and hiss when annoyed, some even produce a weak trumpeting. But the swan song, the music said to be produced by a dying swan, is a myth with no foundation in fact.

Mute Swan on the River Tees at Preston Park

I was quite pleased to find these photos in my files. So it's time for me to blow my own trumpet - muted of course just like this.

Eddie Byard plays muted trumpet

Trombonist Tom Ebert, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1990.

(by I,Infrogmation - CC-A 2.5 generic license)

OK, I cheated as I'm no musician. For other muted contributions check out Carmi's thematic photographic 172

Quarry Wood

A-Z Challenge – ‘Q’

Quarry Wood is the local nature reserve at Preston Park (see yesterday’s post for ‘P’).

As the name implies this area was once a quarry. Whinstone, a basaltic dolerite rock, originating from volcanic activity in the Tertiary Period 65 million years ago, was mined at the location from the 1830s – 1850s. The rock formed part of the Cleveland Dyke that stretched as far as the North York Moors.

The stone, used for road construction in the expanding cities and London was transported by barges along the River Tees. Once the Stockton- Darlington Railway was built, the stones were moved by train to the port of Stockton.

The pond in the centre of quarry wood is where the main shaft of the mine was located. The pond is believed to be no deeper than 10 metres due to the technology available at the time and the cost of extracting the stone. The pond is fed by rainwater from the slopes of the surrounding landscape; water cannot pass through the impermeable rock and so the pond is not connected to the River Tees

After mining ceased in the 1850s nature reclaimed the area which became a habitat for many species of trees and birds. In the summer the water may be clothed in a blanket of duckweed; this provides a haven for frogs, newts, nesting moorhens and mallards.

The mature woodland of beech, alder, ash, horse chestnut and oak provides for a wealth of wildlife and woodland flowers. You may hear the drumming of a great spotted woodpecker and at night the hoots of a tawny owl. Rabbits abound and foxes and even roe deer have been seen.

During the day dogs rule OK.

Preston Park

A-Z Challenge – ‘P’

Preston Hall and Park overlooks the River Tees at Eaglescliffe. The Preston Hall Museum and its surroundings in 100 acres of beautiful park land are currently undergoing a make-over as the result of winning a Heritage Lottery Grant.

 In addition to the winter gardens at the right, the museum houses displays of art, which normally includes Georges de la Tour’s famous Dice Players, armour and social history. (The Dice Players are on loan to the Shipley Art Gallery until 2012).

Exhibitions show visitors what life was like in the 1800s with craft workers in a typical local street of the1890s. The street includes the shop of John Walker from Stockton; Walker was the inventor of the safety match.

 Permanent attractions include and aviary, a wild fowl pond, riverside and woodland paths. The Butterfly World  contains hundreds of butterflies from around the world. When we visited this week many of the attractions were empty due to the make-over work. Meerkats are said to be recent arrivals.

You may ride on the Teesside Small Gauge Railway or take a trip on the river to Yarm and Stockton aboard the pleasure boat, the Teesside Princess.

The park is an ideal place to walk a dog. Other facilities include safe surface play area for children, crazy golf and a café.

There's also a safe surface play area for children and a cafe.

The walks by the river and the Quarry Wood Nature reserve are havens for wild life. [More about the quarry will follow under ‘Q’.]

 Grassy areas are perfect for picnics and if you have a piscatorial bent the banks of the Tees provide pleasant spots for plumbing its depths.