Poppies and Other Wildflowers (July 2020)

One of the local fields was temporarily taken over by a combination of poppies and mayweed during July. This is unusual as this field is normally very active with crops most years. This led me to wonder whether the virus hiatus had extended to farming activities as well as....just about everything else!

By the first week in August, however, the field had been reset and the ‘weeds’ were ploughed into the ground. Before that happened I manage to take some images for the record although it was a little difficult to get a good angle from the footpath that runs only on one side of the the field. 

These were some of the results, starting with the poppies:

I then moved on to the mayweed with their characteristic 'shuttlecock' look:

I also came across a nice patch of harebells during July...a lovely delicate flower....great for photography, although the stooping and getting down to ground level gets harder each year!

Field scabious and cranesbill bloom a little higher off the ground and are easier to photograph. The red dotted insect on the scabious is a burnet moth - they seem to particularly enjoy field scabious and stay very still, unbothered by any activity around them. Perhaps their confidence is drawn from their deadly ability to produce hydrogen cyanide which makes them taste bad and in large quantities can kill a predator...the red dots are a warning!   

 

City Canal (July 2020)

I have enough photographs from my session along the city canal in Nottingham to create another post. The first edit left out some images that I now think should be added to my photographic record of the day. This often happens when editing. I try to pick what I think is the best selection, often using the star rating in Lightroom and then cull to manageable number. Occasionally, maybe a day or so later, I will look at the culled images and think that some should have been in the first pick! 

In addition to the abstract reflections are these images of the canal museum. I particularly liked the arched segmented window over the dock and its reflection. More information about the building which dates from 1895 can be found here:

Lastly, two contrasting appearances of the city canal: a leafy scene in one direction and then graffiti and a road bridge just a little further along the path:

   

Summer Skies (July 2020)

I was looking for a set of photographs to represent the summer season for 2020. I tried a number of different subjects, some that will appear in future posts, but my favourite so far is this series of cloudscapes. 

They were all taken in a ten minute period from one vantage point close to the Southwell Trail. It was a simple case of looking upwards, picking out the shapes, patterns, and textures of the high wispy clouds set against a deep blue summer sky.