Birds, again, but hey. So it goes. We could have a New Year challenge, see if your count of the rooks on this photo (in flight or still in the tree) matches mine. For what it’s worth I get it to over 100, and all were circling over Hebden Bridge town centre this morning in a mildly ominous way.
They came, they saw, they conquered. Blackpool FC (‘The Seasiders’) 0, Brighton & Hove Albion FC (‘The Seagulls’) 1. This picture taken from the away end at Bloomfield Road stadium, during one of longueurs which characterised the match — not a great one, it has to be said, but the right result. For the seagulls, anyway.
Christmas at the in-laws’ in Morecambe ends with this nice little scene, photographed from the front room (hence through glass, explaining the blotches of yellow light below the sparrow on the right — they are reflections).
Maybe I have seen apple blossom flowering in north-west England, in December, before. But if I have, I didn’t photograph it. Well, there you go. It’s been mild…
(POSTSCRIPT: my mother, fount of knowledge on all things botanical, suggests this is probably a winter flowering cherry. So there you go. It’s still been very mild, however.)
This blog has featured three photos taken in this park, each on one of my biannual trips to Rose Bruford College in Sidcup, one of the University of Manchester’s collaborative partners — the park and the college grounds are all basically the same place. I like Lamorbey Park, one of those ‘nice spots’ that the world still retains. Among its interesting and attractive birdlife are a colony of parakeets, clearly escaped pets, and unconcerned by the imminent winter despite their tropical origins. I know this is another out-of-focus shot, but the light was so dull and grey today, and in the end I was happy enough with the exotic fauna to live with the picture’s technical defects.
A fairly lazy but pleasant Sunday today. There are still things growing round here, occasionally in some profusion — which I guess is a good thing if you are the kind of creature (like a bird) who still needs to forage for their meals in mid-December. And no, I can’t remember what kinds of berries these are, I know I should know but there you go….
This Muscovy duck now lives permanently by the canal in the centre of town, opposite the Railway pub. (The wood beneath it on this photo is the gate of the dry dock.) It has been here for nearly two years now, and this is its third appearance on the blog, making it the first animal to definitively appear on here three times (as many times as my mother-in-law, I note…). According to Avian Web, the species is native to South America but is spreading through North America. It is certainly not native to the UK, or even Europe. Either it got blown a long way from home or — more likely — it is an escaped pet. It seems to have found for itself an amenable spot to retire to, either way.
The building where my office is located in Manchester (better than saying ‘where I work’… I work all over), is something of a concrete monstrosity, but it is wrapped around this nice courtyard with a highly concealed entrance, so no one ever goes there. But I have discovered it; it’s very nice, particularly at this time of year. I know it’s easy to overdo the ‘autumn leaves’ thing but it’s a good standby on days when there’s not much else to capture.
As photographed on the long uphill walk to Windermere station, as Joe & I returned from our break in the Lakes. I was back at work by the afternoon.
And the clocks are going back tonight. Guess that means it’s winter soon.
Also, a happy birthday to Clare, the wife — thirtysomething again today 🙂
Being 42 