Pulborough Brooks

A bright sunny and warm day so quick breath of air around Alfriston then cooked breakfast at the Star Inn. Very nice and well cooked poached egg. All the waiting staff east European as seems to be pretty normal these days.

Travelled onto RSPB Pulborough Brooks and dropped off the latest collection of postage stamps in aid of the Save the Albatross appeal.

Fitted the Sigma 120 – 400mm lens to the camera and headed off around the reserve. A hot day by now. Dragon flies on the ponds and a family of Nuthatches near the ‘pipe pond’. They were making a lot of noise and showing well.

Took a good three hours walking round the reserve visiting most of the hides. Not much on the water apart from ducks in eclipse, lapwings, fallow deer and cattle.

Once back at the visitor centre took more photos of the dragon flies and had a cup of tea and cheese scone. Once refreshed headed into the more wooded area of the reserve but most birds hiding away in the heat. The highland cattle managing the reserve seemed quite at home.

Finally back to the car at 5 P.M. and headed home about half past. Traffic not too bad other than a stretch of M25 so came of at J10 and went via Chertsey.

Technorati Tags: photography,birds,RSPB

Seaford & Alfriston

Decided to take a trip to Seaford and Cuckmere Haven to try and take some good photos of the Seven Sisters cliffs. Booked a room at the Star Inn, Alfriston (http://www.thestaralfriston.co.uk/) via the web and drove down in bright sunshine.

Walked down to Cuckmere and the beach then back along the cliff top towards Seaford. Looking for an ideal location to capture late sun on the cliffs, the sunset and moonrise!

Will go back to South Hill Barn car park.

Once at Alfriston checked into the hotel, room 14 then took a walk around the pretty village taking pictures on the way.

Technorati Tags: Photography

London trip & Knoydart pre meeting

Jamie Dean has arranged for some of us going to Knoydart in July to meet up to chat about what to take and expect.

The meeting place is Ha Ha at Cardinal Place, Victoria. Despite the final England world cup group game taking place in South Africa I headed to the OXO tower to see an exhibition of Wildlife photos at the gallery by Roger Hooper. Very good studies of wildlife in Antarctica and the African plains.

Then onto the Tate Modern. Well I never ‘get’ most modern art and was tempted to ask to the the Emperor’s new clothes gallery. There was a photo exhibition here too; called Exposed showing a century’s worth of pictures taken surreptitiously or with hidden cameras.

As the time was now nearly 5 P.M. I walked across the Millennium bridge and took the No. 11 bus to Victoria. There met up with Jamie, Sarah, Tony, Richard and Anna. Jamie and Anna have been to Knoydart before so could give some useful tips on what to expect but he didn’t want to spoil all the surprises!

Technorati Tags: photography

Pond now waterproof

Looks like the latest attempt to seal the pond has worked so will look to stock up as soon as possible.

Technorati Tags: pond

John Spedan Lewis Trust for the Advancement of Natural Sciences.

Day trip to Leckford with the John Spedan Lewis Trust for the Advancement of Natural Sciences. As last year net at 10:00 in the cricket pavilion for an introduction by Malcolm Crabtree and Glynne Evans. Then moved down to the river for talks on presentations on Moths, flora, river flies and bird ringing. In between the two we stopped for a packed lunch by the river. As we were finishing up lunch the bird ringer arrived and asked all to gather round as he had a Kingfisher in the hand!

Pond still not water tight

Tried testing the plugs in the patio pot but a very slight leak still present. Will use some shoe repair paste to seal the combination of PVA and Plumber's Mait.

Wimbledon

Received tickets for Centre Court at Wimbledon for the first Tuesday. Two single tickets at £41 each.  Meeting Jan Palmer outside Wimbledon mainline station at 11:00.

Fantastic weather. Picked up tickets and found they were some way apart (block 508 and 518) on centre court.
Had a wander round to show Jan the layout.  Took a quick look at the practice courts but didn't recognise the two ladies playing.Had they been top seeds I guess the crowds would have been bigger!

After a coffee made our way to the court and agreed to meet up after the first and second games.
Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal and Robin Sodeling got through in straight sets. Jan headed off to meet hubby Tony at 19:30 but I stayed until about 20:45 before heading home.

Pond plants

Suggestions for suitable plants from the BBC Gardening page are:

Equisetum ramosissimum var. Japanicum (may have seen this at the pond shop near my Wraysbury parking spot.

Technorati Tags: pond,plants

Beautifying the water meter.

The new water meter needs some surrounding plants so bought some mixed Alyssum from Thompson’s Garden centre and planted the around the access hole. Hopefully they will fill out but not grow too high.

Let’s pond!

Technorati Tags: pond,build,project

My initial idea of  using wine bottle corks to bung the holes of my patio container fell short as they were too small. The ideal bung is a piece of broom handle (fortunately I have a couple of unwanted handles) cut to about an inch in length then inserted in the holes and sealed with PVA glue. Sealed from both sides and allowed to dry before testing for leaks.

Another key point is whether the pot itself is water proof, only a water test will prove it one way or another.

Wraysbury

Took the camera and 55-250mm lens to capture some insects and anything else of interest at Wraysbury. Took left hand path along river. Several members of the Blenheim Angling society clearing some access points for the new season which starts on the 16th June.

Plenty of demoiselles flying and resting as well as other insects yet to be identified!

Banff 2010 reunion

Anna & Alex hosted a get together BBQ to show photos from the Banff ski trip. Getting there was a little slower than hoped as there was a bus replacement service from Twickenham to Kingston. That took about 30 minutes to make the journey.

A good turn out with Bill, Nic, Karl, Rob, Paul & Clare, Deborah, Sonia, Darren and Peter. Had a laugh over Karl’s video (facebook link) and photos then watched England draw with USA (1-1) in their opening World Cup game.

British 50M Rifle Championships

Taking part in the first elimination round on Friday afternoon. Details on the NSRA website.

Scored 578 so reasonably pleased but not enough to get through to the qualifier.

Went into Knaphill for a meal in the evening. (Ken x2, Chris, Henry and Graham).

The patio pond begins

In order to create a patio pond I bought a large pot from Vermeulens garden centre. The first task will be to seal the three holes in the base! The first idea is to use corks and some sealant.

References:
http://www.morefromyourgarden.co.uk/news/article.asp?a=1687
http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/pond-mini/

Another leak.

Slight leak from toilet cistern. The ball valve was not shutting off completely so the inlet continued to drip leading to a leak through the handle. Took valve assembly apart and cleaned out some scale and put back together and problem solved.

Car Service with Staines Motors

Car service booked for Monday 14th June with Staines Motors. I have used them before for MOTs.

Laptop post

Now using Windows Live Writer on laptop to create blog entries

Ashford on the Map

Sunday morning, 11 A.M. went to the Ashford on the Map fun day Link to 2010 event. Weather was overcast with a threat of rain but stayed dry. Lots of local good causes present offering tombolas, pony rides and other fun activities. The Ashford Camera Club had a tent with a good selection of photos from the club’s members.  There was a short flying display by a Lanner / Saker Falcon cross flying to the lure; some good low passes!

Stocking up and Scottish Match

Drove to GT Shooting in Coulsdon to stock up on R50, £149 for 1000. Parked in nearby local car park. Then onto CRPC to shoot part one of the NSRA 100 Yards any sights competition, this consists of six cards to be shot by the end of June. Scored 584 ex 600.

Then onto to M&D for tea and presents!

First blog entry from Windows Live Writer

Using live writer  so that I can update blog when off line

Home from Gib

Home from Gibraltar in the rain. Arrived back home at about 16:30

Ashford Camera Club

Went along to the Ashford Camera Club, the event was:

Down the Seine to Honfleur
Slide lecture by Ann Beauchamp, Molesey Photographic Club