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I took more pictures when I saw heavy metal band Sonata Arctica play live in London. Click here to go to the Gigs 2009 page to see the pictures.
I went to Lasham to pick up the keys to a touring caravan that I had just bought off a fellow pilot. In the woods behind the caravan there were lots of Fly Agaric mushrooms growing. I was half expecting a door to open and a smurf to pop out...
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| Fly Agaric mushrooms. | |||
A trip on the London Eye after dark for mum's birthday. I havew pics online already in the daylight in May 2004. Compare these pictures showing all the London lights. Quite a dazzling place from above. It was still a challenge to take any pictures in the dark and on a moving object though. Leaning against a surface and image stabilization were a must. I took a huge number of duds before distilling these nuggets. But thanks to digital all those duds come at next to no cost at all so with a large memory card and lots of battery power I was free to experiment and get some decent results without a flash.
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| Approaching the London Eye from the North in the twilight. | Looking down at Jubilee gardens as we climb the North side of the wheel. | Looking across the Thames to Charing Cross station. | A 3 shot panorama taken looking Northwest centred on Charing Cross. |
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| Looking Southwest across the Thames to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. | Looking East past the edge of Waterloo station towards Lambeth. | Looking NE to the City. | A zoom in on St. Pauls Cathedral. | A zoom in on the City. |
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| At the top of the London Eye. | On the South Side of the Eye now, I can see through to Downing Street. | A closer view of the Houses of Parliament. | Closeups of Big Ben. Clearly it is 8:02pm. ;) | |
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| Looking Northwards through the London Eye as we descend back to ground level. | I somehow managed a clear handheld dark shot without a flash. Cool! | One last view of the Houses of Parliament as traffic on Westminster Bridge leave light trails on the long exposure. | Approaching the bottom and the end of the trip. (They call it a 'landing'...) |
Pictures from Bald Hill, Aston Rowant, and escaped pigs at Whitecross Wood, taken during butterfly trips. Meanwhile back in Kenton tomatos are just starting to ripen. Plus pictures from the Chilterns and back in Kenton as autumn arrives.
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| A slightly better picture of Didcot Power station than last year. | Mating shield bugs. | Pigs that escaped from a nearby farm. 8 in total. One always escaped from shot! | Kenton Tomatos starting to ripen. | ||
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| Looking north from the Sundon Hills. | A large grasshopper. | Looking Northeastwards through a gap in the trees on the Sharpenhoe Clappers ridge. | How did this snail get onto the end of a leaf high up on a bush? | Getting riper! | |
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| Another rude carrot! | I bought a new bicycle. | Unidentified ladybird that came into my room after dark. |
Pictures from a trip to Lulworth Cove. A pleasant afternoon walking to Durdle Door and back, and exploring around the Cove itself (with a nice ice cream break in the middle). This was a butterfly trip to see the Lulworth Skipper, of which you can find pictures in the Butterflies page.
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| A panoramic view of Lulworth Cove from a lookout point close to the car park. | Looking at a ship approaching the mouth of the cove. | Stair Hole and the village from the lookout point between Lulworth Cove and Stair Hole. | |
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| Looking back to Lulworth Cove as I start to move Westwards past Stair Hole. | Stair Hole as I walk past it. | ||
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| Walking Westwards along the Coast path, up a big hill, and looking back from high up. | From the top Lulworth Cove looks just as spectacular, while ahead as I descend Durdle Door becomes visible and looms closer. | |||
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| A Kestrel hovering above the ridge. | Durdle Door Arch from the coastal path as it passes by. | Looking west to Swyre Head and Bat's Head. | Durdle Door panorama. Mind the seam just right of the arch... | Durdle Door arch from the beach. |
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| One last look back to Durdle Door as I set off up onto the ridge above the coastal path back towards Lulworth Cove. | Two shots of an unidentified Beetle on ragwort. | West Lulworth from Hambury Tout, with Lulworth Camp on the horizon. | Lulworth Cove from Hambury Tout. | Wooded path going up to the East side of Lulworth Cove from the village. | |
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| The view through a gap in the trees as I make my way to the cove's upper rim. | Lulworth Cove from the North rim. | Heading down a steep slope to the Eastern side of the cove. MOD firing range on my left is active! | Another panorama, from the Northeast side, that shows the beach nicely. |
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| Looking back to the West side of the cove from the East. | Looking across the mouth of the cove from the East. | One more panorama as I descend to the pebble beach to walk back to the car. |
Pictures from Little Marlow during a walk with a group.
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| Two shots of a Red Kite. | Some lake views near Marlow. | Teasel. | Walking along the River Thames. | ||
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| Geese crossing the path and entering the Thames. | A model owl. | Crossing a railway line. | ||
Pictures from the garden showing how the vegetables and the buddleia are doing.
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| A curiously shaped carrot that I just pulled up. | Courgettes | Courgettes, Tomatos, Peppers, Cucumbers, Parsley and Nasturtiums in a 3 shot panorama. | The Buddleia in flower. More established now so more flowers. | ||
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| Growing tomatos. | Cucumber flower. | My 'bonsai lawn' growing in a pine tree pot. | Carrots growing in a trough. | Onion. | Looking through a spider web. |
Miscellaneous pictures from suburbia. It's amazing how countrified some hidden parts of London can actually be. OK so you can't hear the constant traffic noise or see the built up areas just outside the picture frames but that's the whole point I guess.
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| Kellogg Tower from the Horsenden Hill meadows. If only it really was the countryside like it looks... | Tiny 0.5cm yellow beetle on a wooden post on Whitton Avenue West. | A 'donkey' guarding a room in Kenton while awaiting its smashing fate. ;) | A floral display and two shots of a Peacock in Brent Lodge Park in Hanwell. | ||
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| A maze, a 'snow tree' and rabbits in Brent Lodge Park in Hanwell. | The River Brent near Ealing Hospital. | After dark Cream-spot Ladybird in Kenton. | |||
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| A large crane fly on Horsenden Hill. (Twice the size of a daddy long legs.) | Meadow flowers on Horsenden Hill. (Actually a failed attempt to photograph a butterfly...) |
Some general pics from Strumpshaw and How Hill during a butterfly trip to Norfolk.
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| The garden at Strumpshaw Fen where we went to (unsuccessfully) view Swallowtails. | Two shots of a pair of mating Harlequins. | Two shots of a Female Pheasant that I got very close to. | ||
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| A baby pheasant. | Horse Radish plant. | Boardman's Mill at How Hill. |
A flock of birds flying over Barnhill.
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| Flock of birds in the sky. |
Selected pictures taken during a trip to Henley On Thames.
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| Goslings resting with their parents. | A footbridge near Fawley Court. | Temple Island, and a closeup of the statue inside the domed arches. | A sparring swan. | ||
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| A 1cm spider with a bright green abdomen. | A Mayfly settled on my watch. | Paddle Steamer boat. | A whole creche of goslings. | A cool looking bridge at Mill Bank Lock. | Some new recruits for the sea cadets? |
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| The church at Henley on Thames. | The view from a rowing boat under the A4130 bridge. | Some pretty buildings along the riverside. | A Yak aircraft circling around above Henley. (Anyone have any idea which model?) | |||
A small (<1cm) red and black beetle on Horsenden Hill.
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| Unidentified red and black beetle. |
I took lots of pictures when I went to Duxford Air Show. Click here to go to the Duxford 2009 page to see the pictures.
Some pictures from a trip to Denbies Hillside. See the Butterflies section for all the butterfly pictures. These and the odd weather picture were also taken.
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| Green beetle on a buttercup. | A panorama taken in the Adonis Blue field on Denbies Hillside. | A panorama taken from the top of Denbies Hillside. | A beetle in Banstead Down. |
Some selected pictures from a JWalk in Kimpton.
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| Bluebells in a wood. | A woodland path flanked by trees and bluebells. | Big tree silhouetted against the sky. | Apparently this is a 'handkerchief' tree. |
Some pictures from Oaken and Tugley woods in Surrey. See the Butterflies 2009 page for more pictures taken today.
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| A sunny meadow full of bluebells. | Green Tiger Beetle. | More bluebells at a woodland edge. | Unidentified spider with orange stripe down its back. | One of two large ant nests swarming with ants. | Huge numbers of ants all moving rather fast. |
Some pictures from Ivinghoe Beacon. See the Butterflies 2009 page for more pictures taken today.
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| Cowslips in their prime at Ivinghoe Beacon. | Looking Southwestwards to Steps Hill from the unnamed hill between the road and Ivinghoe Beacon. | Looking towards Ivinghoe Beacon from the same unnamed hill. | Looking towards Incombe Hole from Steps Hill. Pitstone Hill visible in the distance. |
Some selected pictures taken during a walk around The Aquadrome near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire.
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| Pink blossom. | Swans on Stockwell Lake. | The River Colne. | A swan building a nest between Stockers and Springwell lakes. |
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| Cherry Blossom on the north side of Springwell Lake. | Small flowers. | Springwell Lock. | |
Some selected pictures taken during a walk just north of Welwyn Garden City.
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| 2 shot panorama of Foxley Grove, where Orange Underwings were found. | Flowers on the edge of a wood. | An old gnarly tree in a field. | Passing microlight. | A shadowy country lane. | Another twisty country lane. |
I took lots of pictures when I saw heavy metal band Nightwish play live in London. Click here to go to the Gigs 2009 page to see the pictures.
My best ever Green Woodpecker pictures. It was busy eating ants in the garden for much of the time. Using full 6x zoom on my camera I was able to get half decent resolution pics of it from behind a window before I eventually spooked it. It did return for more though allowing one more shot in sunshine (the first 5 in cloudshadow) before it vanished without return.
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| My best ever Green Woodpecker shots. Mostly drilling away for ants in the garden in Kenton. | |||||
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| Meanwhile during the day there was evidence of spring appearing on Barnhill. | ||
I bought a new motorbike (2005 Honda CBF600SA) on Valentine's day, 6 days ago. Today after work the sun was shining so after a wash and a fettle I took my first pictures of it. This bike finally replaces the CB500 which was sadly stolen last October. It's awesome to be a biker again! Registration plate digitally wiped on the second shot as per my previous vehicle shots. Meanwhile spiders and crocuses are appearing as spring takes hold.
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| Two shots of my new motorbike. | I had an 8-legged audience on the wall by the garage nearby... | |
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| Crocuses in the garden. | Another spider on the fence in the garden jumping around. | ||
I took lots of pictures when I saw heavy metal bands Lordi and Children of Bodom play live in London. Click here to go to the Gigs 2009 page to see the pictures.
Long range shot of a Green Woodpecker in the conker tree in the garden in Kenton.
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| Two shots of a Green Woodpecker. | |
I bought a new car! A sentimental day today as I drove the Corsa for the last time, and made way for the new car, a 2005 Honda Jazz, which I brought home today. The Corsa got sold the following Monday to the mechanic who had kept the car running well the last couple of years. I believe it is to be a present to a daughter who just passed her test. A great choice. I wish her plenty of enjoyable driving. The Jazz is a whole new level though. Slightly more economical but slightly more powerful too, and a lot quieter and smoother. An end of an era (that lasted 8 years and 85,000 miles), but the start of a new era. Now I just need to find a motorbike to replace the CB500 that was stolen last October.
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| The old Corsa just before I moved it out of the drive (and the last time I drove it). | The new Jazz settling in. The Corsa visible in the background in the top right corner. |
I joined a group of people walking along the Thames Path near Marlow. Here are a selection of pictures from that walk.
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| A tame robin at Temple Lock. | Temple Lock on the Thames. | Looking across a field at a large house behind soem trees. | Crossing a bridge over a small wooded stream. | Must be one helluva view from that house! |