Set Sail...

 Living close to the beach I have been lucky enough to see various activities; kite surfing, surfing, windsurfing, kite buggies and land/sand yachting. When the conditions are right these must be really exhilarating to take part in but they are also a great spectacle and provide some excellent photo opportunities.

Last weekend there was a Sand Yacht Regatta at St Annes on the Fylde coast and so I pooped along briefly to take a look. I only managed to watch one complete race and part of a second but even so I managed to get some really great shots. Freezing the action in a photograph does not always give a true indication of just how fast these chaps are going however when they go through water and create a big splash you can get more of an idea of how quick they are moving and perhaps how hard they work to stay on course. 

Medieval Exterior

 So following on from yesterday's post which focused on some of the interior detail today I have shared a selection of exterior shots from Raby Castle.

As you can see from these images the castle is a magnificent structure in a beautiful setting.

The low crenelated outer wall would originally been significantly higher as it formed the main outer defence along with the moat. However it has been largely removed along this elevation as the defensive structure is no longer needed and it provides an effective boundary to the main castle. By removing the wall it has allowed the inhabitants of the castle to gain exceptional views across the parkland and allows visitors to the grounds an opportunity to enjoy the fine medieval architecture.

Interior Details

 I recently visited Raby Castle with my mum, which was really nice. It is a wonderful medieval castle with a fascinating history. It was built in the 14th century (although the original battlements date back to the 11th Century), it was the scene of the plotting of the Rising in the North and a parliamentary stronghold during the Civil War. 

The castle was originally built by the Neville family however in 1569 it was forfeited to the Crown following the failure of the Rising in the North and since 1569 the castle has been owned by the Vane family the current owner being the 12th Lord Barnard.

While I am not great fan of the aristocracy it is nice to see such historic building preserved as they provide a fascinating insight to the past.

I have included a few shots from the interior of the castle.

Wood

 So, I have no idea how you will see these images but I have played around with the original versions to create these pictures.

I saw the dead branch and, to me, it resembled a dragon's head which I thought was pretty cool (either that or a freaky deer's skull, which given I was in a deer park would be appropriate).

I took the original colour images, converted them to black and white and cropped them and messed around with curves. As I say I don't know what you will see, I like the way they look but have no idea what colour tones are there or if they work for someone with normal colour vision. I would be interested to know what you think.

lily

 Here are four views of a water lily. They are all the same flowerbut the first monochrome shot is from a different angle, the other three images are different treatments of the same original shot. I have cropped them differently and adjusted the exposure and white balance.

Initially I had really liked the final image, then I thought I liked the second of the three variations however on reflection I think I much prefer the first of the three images with the whole flower in shot as it has better balance and I love the colours.

I think the monochrome image is really effective but for a subject like this I think colour definitely wins out.

Daisy

 I cant be sure of the exact variety but this is a species of daisy. The bright white petals enable pollinators to home in on the flower. The central part of the flower head is a collection of lots of tiny flowers that open in sequence providing a lasting source of pollen and nectar over time.

Trailing Ice

 This I believe is Delosperma cooperi a Hardy Ice Plant or Trailing Ice Plant. It is a stunning magenta coloured flower that just caught the light perfectly  for this shot.

I am not sure why it has the name Ice Plant given that it blooms in the summer and loves full sun but I guess the name is not really important.

Fledgling

 One of the nicest surprises during my recent visit to Ness Botanical Gardens was to spot this beautiful fledgling robin. I had stopped for a moment in the shade of a thatched shelter on the edge of the rock garden overlooking a pool. I could hear a rustling sound above but in the shade it was hard at first to spot what was making the noise. It was in fact two little robins that had clearly just fledged and were exploring the space above in the moss and straw of the roof. 

This little fellow had, I think, been feeding on bugs and spiders because as you can see it has some spiders web stuck to its beak.

You can get a sense of scale when you look at what it is perched on... its feet are tightly holding onto an LED light from a string of garden lights. The light fitting itself is about half the size of a typical matchstick, so not only can you see how small the bird is but also you can gauge how light it is given that it did not move the light or the cable at all.

As an adult this bird will have a striking red breast and a  beautiful song that will captivate anyone who sees and hears it. But, as a fledgling it would be easy to miss or overlook. I wonder if like the ugly duckling in the famous fairytale and song this little bird does not see its potential. 

BUGS!!!

 

When I visited Ness Gardens recently I had hoped for lots of bright and beautiful flowers, but I was a little disappointed as there were fewer flowers on display that I had expected. So, as well as photographing the blooms that were there I took advantage of the good light and shot some bugs.

That being said I didn't always have quite the right camera settings and as these creatures are never in one place for long I was a bit worried that many of the images would be unusable. That would have been the case if I had not shot in RAW, but because I did I was able then to take advantage of the excellent Adobe denoise function to enhance the final image.

So love them or hate them these bugs are shown off to their best advantage.

The face of the bee in the first shot is obscured by its wings but I love the pose as its feet are outstretched as it comes in to land on the blue flower.

The ladybird was hunting for aphids on the leaves of an apple tree, you might need to zoom in on its face to see the detail.

Perhaps the hardest critter to photograph on the day was the water boatman, poised as I was over the edge of the pond desperately hoping I didn't fall in. Just as I thought I had the focus right the little bug would dive below the surface and I would have to start again. I know that in this shot the face is a little out of focus but the main body looks sharp and how surprised are you at the gorgeous colours that are revealed in this shot? Normally when you see these things scooting around on the surface of a pond they look so dull, well look again, they're brilliant.

I can't recall what the aphids were feeding on, possibly an embryonic apple, there were so many of them. These are probably my least favourite of all the bugs in this selection.

Which might come as a surprise when you look at the next image of a fly, especially as I suffered some very nasty bites from a horse fly that day. However I am really pleased with this shot and this one is definitely a result of some editing in Lightroom to improve the exposure and reduce the noise. I had the initial settings all wrong so all I got on the camera's LCD screen was a dark frame but with a little work I have revealed all the detail that was there.

The final shot of a damsel fly was a bit of luck too as they were so busy flying around it seemed most unlikely that I would see one at rest. Also if you look really closely a little way below its leg on the inside edge of the leaf there is a tiny (and I mean really tiny) little mite which would not have been visible to the naked eye.

Anyway, if you have read this far thank you for taking the time to not only look at the pics but also read a little about them. Why not leave a comment, perhaps say whether you have a favourite image from today's selection and what you like about it...

Here Comes Summer

 After a mammoth load of pictures yesterday I have settled on just one photo for today; a beautiful bee hard at work gathering pollen from a buttercup. There are so many different varieties of bee that I cannot say which variety this is however as you can see it is living up to the reputation of being busy. As summer approaches and more flowers come into bloom this is the perfect time of year to spot some of our spectacular and incredibly important pollinators.

Commemoration

 This might look like something of a photo dump but I have been trying to find time to sort through my shots from the recent 80th Anniversary Commemorations of the Battle of the Atlantic at Liverpool at the end of May, and now I have done I wanted to share the best of them.

On the day there were flypasts from a small selection of aircraft; an exceptionally rare  Supermarine Seafire, a version of the Spitfire designed for flying from aircraft carriers, a Fairey Swordfish which was a submarine hunter that would fly low and slow before releasing its torpedo ( a tactic that left the crew very vulnerable). My grandad worked on these planes when he was in the Fleet Air Arm during the war. And then of course the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight consisting of a Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane and an Avro Lancaster, always a magical sight to see these legendary aircraft in the sky.