In his poem 'To Autumn' John Keats describes the autumn we all know and love, with lingering warm weather and bountiful harvests. But he also celebrates later autumn days, when winter seems just over the horizon. Both have their beauty.
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Perhaps because I grew up during the Apollo programme, I have always been fascinated by our nearest celestial neighbour (and come to that, by all that we see, or can’t see, in the night sky). I’ve never invested in the gear needed to photograph more distant objects but I can and do try to capture the moon whenever I can.
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Spiders are pretty persistent. Remember the tale of Robert the Bruce? Legend has it that when he was struggling in his fight against the English he hid out in a cave. While there he watched a spider try time and again to spin its web. Every time the spider fell, it got up and began again. Bruce was inspired by the spider to continue his campaign against the English, culminating in victory at Bannockburn.
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Given that few of us are blessed with the language skills of Doctor Dolittle, probably the best way to ‘listen’ to animals is to observe them. And for many of us that often means a visit to a (hopefully) ethically-run wildlife sanctuary. There we can really take our time to watch animal behaviour, and listen to the experts who’ve made it their job to get to know and understand the needs of these creatures.
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I’ve been fortunate to travel and photograph wildlife in many wonderful places. The Galápagos Islands, Botswana, Costa Rica, to name just three. But it’s easy to forget that we have some fantastic wildlife here at home too. That’s due in part to the animals’ relative small size and the consequent challenges in finding them.
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If it is the case that crows eat slugs and snails, then surely I should be glad we have so many in our neighbourhood. Our garden is plagued by snails in particular. But on the other hand, if crows do eat snails, why then that plague?!
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We photograph flowers for their beautiful colours and shapes. But without seeds we would have no flowers, and those seeds too have their beauty, especially while still on the plant. Their often-dramatic sculptural structures are ideal for macro photography both in colour and monochrome.
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When you visit North Korea you put yourself in the hands of your guides. There is no option to choose your itinerary day to day beyond the rough outline proposed by your tour company at the time of booking. And even that can change, as we discovered when a tropical storm hit the southern part of the country where we were staying at the time.
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Water is an essential element for sustaining life. It provides a habitat for a diverse array of organisms, both in freshwater and in the sea. Aquatic plants, in particular, exhibit a remarkable diversity of form. Some plants thrive underwater, their delicate fronds swaying gently with the currents, while others display their vibrant colours on the water's surface.
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While many people think that black cats bring bad luck, for some reason as a child I was always taught the opposite. If a black cat crossed my path it would bring good luck. So sure of this was I that I would sometimes alter my route to try to ensure that the cat’s trajectory and my own would definitely intersect!
