BB FANS

For a good part of last week sections of the river Nene were on Flood watch and Northampton side the Caravan Park at Billing was evacuated. Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture it in full flood but these two from Saturday shows a view from the A6 bridge and the second shows the Weir in full flow. The thing anchored across it is to prevent people trying to canoe through it ! People have tried and have been killed in the past attempting it!




Getting back on topic here are a few from my garden.






The last one must be half the size of the one I photographed last year.

Thanks for posting those gorgeous images, Larry.

And the first one was VERY interesting. Scary, the thought of people trying to canoe down the weir.

I remember maybe 30 years ago the Police giving a talk when I was in Junior school and one of the things they talked about was the recent death of a couple of lads who'd tried to go through the weir.

The problem with the picture of the valley was the glare off the water. I had the camera set to Landscape which did it's job but the unprocessed image looks almost like a sunset with the water and the sky providing the only light in the image. But after some playing with Paintshop Pro Photo I got the image to see above which is more or less what the eye saw.
Being around 30ft above the valley looking down didn't help. But I'm happy with the end result.

Lovely pics Larry

Good sign of warmer times has been to see Butterflies on the wing.
I saw a couple of Tortoiseshell ones ,a Peacock one ,and a bright Yellow Brimstone.

The first one is from last Sunday. Was looking for something different when a Blackbird landed about 5 feet from where I was standing. It proceeded to move around the top lawn looking for worms.


This bush is referred to as 'the cats tree' because the cats love sleeping under it. I don't know it's correct name but it's in full bloom at present and is quite a sight with the sun on it.


Next a a Lacewing. I caught a glimpse of it landing and had to try and picture it.


Spotted these Bees hovering around the patio. Well they look like Bees but the wings must be really fast as even with a fast shutter speed there's hardly a blur from them.


Last is an old favourite a Robin. This one looks a lot thinner than you see around Christmas time.


Lastly a couple of videos.

First is Swans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_FOAExqLpI

Second is Ducks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF8uxOM-zBE

Both videos are from the Stanwick Lakes Wildlife park down the road.

Excellent Larry.

This one is one of the Harlequin Ladybirds ,comfirmed by the Cambridge Uni doing the survey on them.


Next is a red beetle with a very glossy finish.


Last was one of those pictures that worked better than expected.

Wow!! Amazing pics.

They look great larry - thanks for showing us them.

Thanks.

As odd as it seems I can be seen most days with a camera when in the garden.

As summer arrives I hope to get some great pictures.

Have no doubt you'll manage that Larry, these are all great as ever.

Your photos are gorgeous, Larry. Thanks for sharing.

Here are a few from today

This as the image suggests is an Orange Tipped Butterfly.
I haven't seen one of these is the garden for years but saw a pair this afternoon.


This looks like one of last years Butterflies do to it's faded colours.


We have these all over the garden in various colours. Each year they seed and self-set so there's always more the next year.


Last year's Strawberry plants are in flower. I don't remember when they flowered last ,but the new plants I bought (Cambridge Vigor) are not only flowering but have fruit forming already !


If your squeamish you might not like this one but I caught one of the cats playing with a Mouse last weekend. It never killed it or as far as I could see injure it but was playing with it for a long time. It was still alive when it had finished.

Great pics...brilliant colours in the butterfly images.

Naughty cat. (Gerbilmommy just said 'why does it have a gerbil?')

Thanks GG.

There was a brilliant Blue Butterfly which flew over and around the garden for a while this afternoon but it never settled.

We lost so many different Butterflies that used to visit when I was a lad when the habitat was destroyed when initially the spinney was flatted to build houses ,and then after this was left to partially regenerate for 20 or more year they then came back on turned it into a housing estate.

Our Buddleia farm should be even better this year thanks to some new editions. I'm tempted to find some where to plant one of the 'Black Night' plants that I've bought for a fundraising sale in a couple of months time, as it's only one of two types I don't have. The other is the new bi-colour red that appeared last year.

Last year you found yourself in a cloud of butterflies as you walked onto the patio which in part of the bottom lawn so the nectar level is very high which is very enticing for the Butterflies etc.

Plus I've got some more high nectar plants to add later if they grow. But this year the greenhouses are rapidly filling up as the success level to so high ,we must have thousands of plants already in trays.