On the move again. A scene on the train to London, where I will be for the whole week to come. The field of poppies outside — somewhere near Doncaster — was so extensive that I had time to see it, get the camera out, set up the shot and still capture it OK, despite moving at around 75 miles per hour at least. I believe black won the game in the end.
Respect the pollinators. This bee was giving our incipient loganberries some care and attention. It had put in a longer working day than me, anyway.
Year on year, some photogenic subjects come round: foxgloves make a regular appearance around this time of year for instance. Baby plums or apples. And here, the year’s first wild stawberries, a June staple. Enough for a bowl in the evening, with cream and sugar. Nicer than the watery cultivated version, in my opinion.
These geese were behaving just like a human family. The little ones dashed hither and thither while the parents tried to keep up, looking concerned. I like the way, on this shot, the parents seem to have merged into one, only the bizarrely extended neck of the one in the rear makes it properly visible. Amazing to think that the little balls of golden fluff will become just like Mom and Dad in a relatively short space of time.
The second picture in a row to show another inhabitant of our living room that has more legs than Clare and I put together. Perhaps we should clean our now-unused fire grate a little more often, but now this beastie has moved in, we could let it lie for a while longer.
I said a few days ago that local fauna would start making some appearances: and on a day spent mostly indoors, marking, it was this or ‘dog in pub’. And I’ll see dogs in pubs more often than big, fat bumblebees being somewhat disoriented and disappointed by the fare on offer in our living room. I took the picture, but then I showed it the way out.
Jays are very handsome birds and it’s a shame we don’t see more of them. I could say that this specimen is the second jay to appear on the blog, but it may be the same one as depicted just under four years ago — as this photo was taken only around 100 yards from that one; both in close proximity to the Ellen Wilkinson building on campus (a.k.a. ‘the office’). I can’t spot any obvious differences in plumage, and I have a feeling that corvids like this can happily live for a decade or more, so I think I will declare this to be only the third bird — after two herons (Humph and Maris Crane) — that might have appeared on here more than once.
There has been a lot of movement around the country for me lately, but today marks the start of a longish stretch at home. As in other such periods I will have to hope that Hebden Bridge keeps me inspired. The local fauna and flora is often a good place to start: this blackbird posed somewhat impatiently, but did allow me to get in his close-ups.
This is the second fox to appear on this blog. The first was depicted on the hills above Kentmere in the Lake District (on 4/3/2020) which one might think was an appopriate location to see one. However, I believe there are now more urban foxes in the UK than rural ones, and this one was seen less than five minutes’ walk from King’s Cross station, at roughly 10am on a Monday morning in central London.
It’s injured though. Whatever is up with its front left leg, it wasn’t putting any weight on it. Nothing I could do about it, sadly. I hope it is OK.
I’ve been suspicious before that certain flora depicted on here are in fact versions of ‘Audrey II’, the man-eating alien plant from Little Shop of Horrors. Here’s another one. Of course, the connection is made because the plant in the movie is so well-designed, and takes characteristics of real plants as the basis. But it still works. (It’s a foxglove by the way.)
Being 42 