It’s not Christmas and I don’t have seven swans a-swimming, only the lone one above photographed in a local park during a Covid lockdown. But I do have seven other birds from various locations across the world. I hope you enjoy this ornithological world tour!
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As a child I loved to see butterflies in our garden of course. But I was also fascinated by caterpillars, daddy-long-legs, even worms! Today I see insects and other bugs mainly as potential subjects for photography. I love to stalk bees as they move from flower to flower.
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There’s something very photogenic about the strands of seaweed we find on the shore. The colours are often rich, the shapes sensuous and sculptural. When I walk on a beach I often find myself pointing the camera downwards, looking for seaweeds, almost as much as towards the sea.
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What makes an English country garden? Is it the choice of plants? The generously filled herbaceous borders? Perhaps a wall, a gravel or brick path, and a statue or two?
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Like so many geological formations around the world, Lake Skadar is the subject of a legend. And as so often, it is a tale of unrequited love.
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Kahlil Gabran’s likening of trees to poems 'that the earth writes upon the sky' is often quoted, I know. And yes, the branches of trees, their twigs and leaves, do seem a little like writing against the sky. But there is more to this poem.
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It’s widely recognised that elephants mourn their dead, but what about other animals? It’s rather easy to fall into the trap of anthropomorphising, attributing our feelings and behaviours to them. Yet there are examples of what appear to be very human-like emotions, and we were once privileged to witness one.
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All of us have places where we feel at home and are comfortable. Places where we can find all the necessities of life. And animals are no different. A sloth must live in a tree, a whale in the sea, a lion on the plains of Africa, a bee where there are flowers.
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Genovesa, also known by the English name of Tower, is unusual among Galápagos Islands in having not a volcanic cone. Instead most of the volcano is submerged and surrounds an ocean-filled caldera on the south west side of the island. Due to its remote location and lack of fresh water the island was less visited in the past and has remained unaltered by man; there are no introduced species on the island.
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This year our dreary spring has continued into this, one of my favourite months, with only a few brighter days. We did have one glorious weekend in the middle of the month, with temperatures more like summer than spring. But we also had more grey days and more wet ones.
