Talgarth
For our visit to the Hay Festival and 'How the Light Get's In' festival, Hay-on-Wye, we stayed near Talgarth. The beautiful Pwll-y-Wrach Nature Reserve is nearby, set in a narrow and steep sided valley. The reserve is an oak-ash woodland. at the eastern end of the reserve the river Enig plunges to create a waterfall into a dark pool below known as the ‘Witches Pool’ from which the reserve gets its name.
The countryside around Talgarth is beautiful and there is also the very interesting, now derelict, psychiatric hospital. Initially known as the Brecon and Radnor Joint Counties Lunatic Asylum, it was designed to function independently featuring its own water supply, electricity and agricultural land. Over time, it was integrated into the NHS, providing treatments such as art therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, and psychiatric care. It is now in a dangerous and ruinous state but interesting to explore. Some photographers have ventured inside but we were not quite as daring as that.
We saw many Red Kites in the sky on this trip.
Kilver Court in June
Another visit to the lovely Kilver Court, Shepton Mallet - beautiful garden, architectural features and excellent café. It was a rainy morning but the beauty shone through between the showers. I didn't take a macro lens on this occasion but couldn't resist close -up photography with 24-120 lens.
Westhay Moor mostly insects
I love exploring Westhay Moor nature reserve. The other morning I spent an hour or two there and, as usual, couldn’t resist the lure of close up and macro of insects especially. Westhay Moor is a fantastic place for birds and insects, nestled within the Avalon Marshes on the Somerset Levels. The nature reserve is a biodiversity hotspot, with a mix of reedbeds, open water, raised bog, and damp deciduous woodland. A nature delight!
On this short walk I saw many different types of insect and in this collection you may spot the azure damsel fly, stretch spiders (some with prey - beware), marsh crane flies, dryomyza fly, various damsel flies, the striped swamp fly, a small spotty-eyed drone fly, soldier beetles, crickets, chasers, flesh fly, kidney spot ladybird, scorpion fly thick legged flower beetle and the sun fly. Oh, and a flower and snail crept in to the set.
Pictorial Play
I’ve been playing with creative/pictorial image editing with some images from Mapperton House, West Bay and Kilver Court.
Kilver Court
Kilver Court was looking good yesterday morning. The entry, courtyard, café and downstairs facilitates have been completely upgraded but, more importantly, the garden was looking beautiful - especially after light rain. I came only with camera and macro lens…
The Newt - with an ND filter
A bit of an experimental afternoon at the Newt in Somerset using an ND filter on my 24-70 F2.8 lens, allowing slow shutter speeds, ICM, abstract etc.
Dawn Rise 9th Jan 2025
Another visit to RSPB Ham Wall to see the dawn starling rise. A cold morning with clear sky.
Crazy Ham Wall
It was rather crazy at RSPB Ham Wall last night - so many cars, people and, of course, starlings. I didn’t see any amazing murmurations on this occasion but here are a few images.
Every morning is different
Every morning is different at RSPB Ham Wall - but always interesting. These images are from Dec 19th 2024, including the starling dawn rise.
Starling Dawn Rise 14th Dec 2024
Driving to RSPB Ham Wall we noticed an orange glow in the distance, a bit like a fire. When we parked and walked to oiur viewing location we were amazed to realise that this was the ‘cold’ winter moon, now dropping below the horizon. The video is a reminder of the patient wait and the delight of seeing the starling dawn rise and it’s aftermath as the sun rises and the light increases.
Murmurations 6th Dec 2024
What a lovely day with friends at The Sheppey Inn for lunch and then down to the levels at RSPB Ham Wall to see the starlings. We were not disappointed.
RSPB Ham Wall at Dawn 28th Nov 2024
RSPB Ham Wall at Dawn
This is a slow 15-minute video showing one morning of starling dawn rise and then the beautiful colours of the sunrise.
RSPB Ham Wall at Dawn, at this time of year is enchanting. Pull into the car park when it is cold and dark, dressed in multiple layers, and take the long dark path towards the viewing areas and the pools of water and reed beds.
Watch and wait and listen in the quiet with hardly a soul around. This watery world is slowly waking up and at this time of year you will gradually hear the rustling and chattering of the starlings in the reed beds. Then they begin to move about until, at the right time, many thousands rise into the air with a great roar and the sky is filled.
Amazing! Every time is different, there is a certain unpredictability to what will happen ,and it depends where you are at that crucial moment. Meanwhile the sun is rising and, sometimes, beautiful colours fill the sky and are reflected in the water.
What a beautiful and magnificent reality we are part of! I can hardly wait to go again!
Beaver Moon
The Beaver supermoon occurred on November 15th and, not having planned anything especially interesting, I just took a few pictures before and on the day from my back yard.
Starlings at Ham Wall 31st October
This is always a special time of year on the Somerset Levels and especially at Ham Wall where the starlings regularly settle in to and rise from the reed beds. On this occasion it was a nice dry evening with golden light and a small crouid gathered hoping to see murmurations. We were not disappointed and there were quiet gasps of awe as the starlings danced in the sky and settled into the reed beds. I took some still images and then decided to try some video - not having video expertise. I’ll work on that for future occasions.