Fresh air & photos

[Rob Manchester]

Buzz

Rob

 

[Justme Igor]

I am trying the last couple of days to shoot a picture of our fox.
He or she is fast...faster than a hare.
I really think i have to dust off my old practica tl5 and some 240 to 400mm lenses...
Probably the den is in my own back yard.

 

[Rob Manchester]

Trying out a new lens, Llandudno on Thursday evening.

Rob

 

[Lancastrian]

Rob,

What is the new lens ?

Ian

 

[Rob Manchester]

Rob,

What is the new lens ?

Ian

Hi Ian,
It is a Panasonic 20mm F1.7 Mark II. Camera was a Panasonic G9. Pretty good for lower light use considering the sensor size of M4/3. For night time use I have been using it at F2 / Auto ISO upto 1600 and the invaluable body based stabilisation.

Rob

 

[Steve_Cornford]

A sunny day at last

Hope you all got out in the fresh air!
Steve

 

[Phil O]

Steve,
Seems that the nefarious element are still extent in Bristol Gardens!

 

[Rob Manchester]

A sunny day at last

Hope you all got out in the fresh air!
Steve

I spent lots of money at the York Model Railway show

It was a nice sunny day too.....

Rob

 

[Steve_Cornford]

Synchronised swimming

 

[Steve_Cornford]

Sad remnants of Hayling island railway

Steve

 

[Martin Wynne]

View attachment 9132
Sad remnants of Hayling island railway
View attachment 9133
Steve

@Steve_Cornford @Richard Barton

Hi Steve,

Richard Barton has a lovely 0 gauge layout of Hayling Island:

Martin.

 

[Steve_Cornford]

A real tumblehome at last! There might even be a trace of turnunder?

Steve

 

[Rob Manchester]

Maybe we are heading for summer.....Stainforth&Keadby Canal a few years back.

and this I think was Bridlington.

Rob

 

[Steve_Cornford]

What does this presage?

Steve

 

[John Lewis]

Poor mobile reception.

 

[Rob Manchester]

We have had some nesting Blackbirds in the garden. For obvious reasons I didn't want to approach the nests but some have fledged and are out and about.

I followed this one a while before it stayed still under some bushes.

Rob

 

[Justme Igor]

take a close looks at the eggs.
In the last picture you will notice the left bottom egg is moving around.
The right bottom egg in his right upper corner is starting to crack a little.
Mother was not really happy about me taking picture's, she was immediately back on the nest again btw.....

 

[Martin Wynne]

.
Herefordshire in yesterday's sunshine.

St Michaels churchyard, Brimfield. Traces of eggshell may be found near the seat.

Martin.

 

[Justme Igor]

3 came out. number 4?
I will leave the nest alone for now, maybe end of this week another picture.

 

[Rob Manchester]

.
Traces of eggshell may be found near the seat.

Martin.

Martin,
You could peel the egg(s) at home and wrap in foil I find a little salt and black peeper goes well.......
Rob

 

[Justme Igor]

You could peel the egg(s) at home and wrap in foil I find a little salt and black peeper goes well.......

While you are at it, cut the hardboiled egg in two, take out the yellow.
Mix (the egg yellow 75%) with 25% volume of mayonnaise and some garlic and parsley or dille, mix wel.
But this is my favorite.....And sorry i am not shy about garlic and fresh black pepper.

Wow just had a taste flash: lavas instead of parsley or dille...
I am off to the kitchen, bye

With best regards Igor.

PS i could happen that next year when we are on vacation in England, you will find my eggshells you pointed out beautiful spots to go take a look and sit down at.

 

[Justme Igor]

All four!
Mommy was not pleased when my phone was 20cm/8 inch away from her.
She went off the nest but at a very small distance, not even 20cm away.
We shall see what happens in a couple of days.

 

[Hayfield]

We have been back from Southern Germany nearly 2 weeks.

The first 3 pictures show the Rhine in full flood, little did we know that evening we would be caught up in the floods, nearly needing to be rescued by the fire brigade to spend a night in a local town hall, thankfully the track cleared enough to return to Stuttgart.

The Danube and its tributary the Necky were bursting their banks far more seriously, the line between Manheim & Ulm was blocked by the afternoon, A coach tried to pick us up at Stuttgart but the motor way became blocked, we then tried the line between Stuttgart and Ulm, but got stranded for 2 hours at a way side unmanned station. Which was cut off by road and rail till midnight

One of the excursions was to an unfinished castle partly built in the 1890's

A guided tour to one of the medieval towns on what is dubbed "the Romantic Road" with a singing tour guide (a bit weird !!)

Many of the houses in the village we stayed in had racks on their chimneys for storks to nest on (Brings good luck)

Railway preservation German style (left to rot in a wayside siding.

 

[Paul Boyd]

Last month I took back a friend’s clock that I’d repaired, to Chirk Bank. Whilst there, on a gorgeous sunny day in between wet, grey days, we went across Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
(I use a different name on my photography page as per the watermark.)

A view looking back from Trevor Basin.

Looking down rather a long way!

The Four Musketeers Shadows on the treetops.

 

[Steve_Cornford]

Calm sea but the turbines are still turning, albeit slowly!

 

[Steve_Cornford]

Sculpture outside Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne

 

[Justme Igor]

Calm sea but the turbines are still turning, albeit slowly!

Under windforce 30kmh they need to be powered up, so they consume elektra.
They connect a whole park to the grid, but a section is also "reverse" connected.
Below 30kmh they wont even start up to 85kmh, so they need a "boost", from standing still.
So a small section is also routed as engines, consuming power.
When they are ideal, they just turning, when extra power (wind) is coming that can start up the other section, and so on.
So when a field is made out of lets say 10 sections, one section is always on power to turn.
When wind is strong enough and they become self sufficient they will power up the next section.
Until all sections produce enough power to feed the grid.
Thats why they are turning.
Sorry to kill your green dream, but sometimes it is worth the effort to spend some energy to make energy.

 

[Rob Manchester]

We are on our 3rd nest full of Blackbirds this year and here is one of the current lot taking it's first glimpse of the outside world.

Rob

 

[Steve_Cornford]

A building in Rye

What gauge is this?

Closed for essential maintenance!

Steve

 

[Phil O]

Steve,

Looking at the rail heads, I would say, dual gauge, as all the rails have the same amount of rust on the heads.As to the gauges, I don't have a clue.

 

[Rob Manchester]

The gauge is 5'0" - it's the East Hill Funicular in Hastings. Not been around that nice part of the country for a good while. A large part of the TV series Foyles War was shot filmed in Hastings.

Rob

 

[Steve_Cornford]

Thursday quiz

Where am I?

 

[John S]

Thursday quiz

View attachment 11704

Where am I?

Looks like Folkestone Harbour to me.

John from 33820 St Ciers sur Gironde

 

[Steve_Cornford]

Hi John,
Correct,!
How is life on the Gironde?
Steve

 

[Daifly]

There was a clue on the wall!
Dave

 

[Steve_Cornford]

Hope those of you in the UK are looking out at the Super Moon that has now risen?

 

[Paul Boyd]

Hope those of you in the UK are looking out at the Super Moon that has now risen?

Funny you should say that!

Canon EOS 6D MkII, EF 70-200 f2.8L IS with EF 1.4x Extender. Handheld but braced against a window frame and my arm is aching!

 

[Rob Manchester]

Just seen it having spent 20 minutes in the garden waiting for the cloud to clear a little, thanks for the heads up Steve.

Not upgraded to a mirrorless camera yet Paul ? If you want a lighter weight system for your old age I suggest micro-four-thirds is the way to go. Just ignore those who decry them on account of the sensor size and enjoy the size and weight advantages. I love my Panasonic G9 and Olympus EM-1 Mk2 and you have a wide choice of lenses from sub 100gram primes to pro series stuff that is as sharp as anything I have seen and much more portable than lenses for Canon, Nikon and Sony. I dread to think how heavy that 2.8 zoom is !

Rob

 

[Phil O]

I saw it on the way home from the pub last night, around 8.30.

 

[Paul Boyd]

Just seen it having spent 20 minutes in the garden waiting for the cloud to clear a little, thanks for the heads up Steve.

Not upgraded to a mirrorless camera yet Paul ? If you want a lighter weight system for your old age I suggest micro-four-thirds is the way to go. Just ignore those who decry them on account of the sensor size and enjoy the size and weight advantages. I love my Panasonic G9 and Olympus EM-1 Mk2 and you have a wide choice of lenses from sub 100gram primes to pro series stuff that is as sharp as anything I have seen and much more portable than lenses for Canon, Nikon and Sony. I dread to think how heavy that 2.8 zoom is !

Rob

Hi Rob,

Much as I'd like to upgrade to mirrorless (I was that close to buying an R6 MkII a few months ago) the bottom line is that it's a serious expense to trade everything in for the RF versions, even over a period of time. I know there are adapters but then you lose the weight advantage. Another problem for me with mirrorless is no optical viewfinder (obviously!). The problem that gives me is that the viewfinder blacks out in one orientation or the other if I'm wearing polarised prescription sunglasses - I have the same problem with the back screen on the G7X MkII where in portrait orientation I have to lift the sunglasses then point and hope because I can't see properly!

As for weight, that 6D + lens combination maxed out my kitchen scales - Canon's figures give a bit over 2.5kg, of which 1.5kg is the lens!

And as for sensor size, I have a thing about a 50mm lens being a 50mm lens - yes, I know it's just a number, and I know it's not logical, but that's me!

Cheers,
Paul