The Great Photography Thread - REVIVED!

[Pikaia]

I don't know the name for this tree in our garden but it produces these beautiful large flowers every spring.

20230501_104915.jpg

It is Brugmansia, or Angels' Trumpets.

[Bigzmey]

I don't know the name for this tree in our garden but it produces these beautiful large flowers every spring.

20230501_104915.jpg

It is Brugmansia, or Angels' Trumpets.

Thanks!

[Nakedgun]

~

One of our cats, Missy, sprawling on my wife's computer desk, so that she can command all the attention:


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[DEnc]

This is a Calypso orchid, endemic to the Headwaters old growth redwood forest reserve at Newburg, CA.

[Ylem]

That's beautiful, I have never seen an orchid in the wild.

[DEnc]

...I have never seen an orchid in the wild.

This beauty relies on soil fungus symbionts for nutrition, so it requires undisturbed forest habitat. And it doesn't produce nectar--once its bumble bee pollinators have sampled it, they scratch if off their lunch list. Seems odd to limit pollination, perhaps a trade-off with the metabolic effort to produce nectar?

[SparWeb]

While in Seattle last month, I stopped in at the Boeing museum.

I find it hard to take my eyes off this one. This is the SR-71 Blackbird which was capable of Mach 3 (maybe more, they won't say).

[DeanD]

While in Seattle last month, I stopped in at the Boeing museum.

I find it hard to take my eyes off this one. This is the SR-71 Blackbird which was capable of Mach 3 (maybe more, they won't say).

_MG_1355_SR-71_Blackbird.jpg

They were an amazing beast!

I remember talking to an air traffic controller when I was in the RAAF in the 70's. When he was stationed in Bahrain, an SR71 was scheduled to land there. The pilot radioed that he was ready to land, but the air traffic controller couldn't see him on the radar. When he asked the pilot where he was, he said "Whoops, sorry."- and the aircraft appeared almost in the centre of their screen...

[Butterfly Maiden]

On Sunday, Sophia and I made a trip to Bournemouth for a small errand.

We parked in the Pay-and-Display car park on Westover Road near to the beach.

On a building, which I believe is the Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre, at a distance of approximately 0.11 miles away, I noticed something on the top of the spire.

I guessed it was a bird of some description but it just appeared as a black dot to the naked eye.

I took out my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra mobile phone and zoomed in to maximum of 100x.

Sure enough, it was a bird. In fact the zooming in allowed me to id it as a Great Black-backed Gull.

The quality isn't brilliant as it was quite breezy and difficult to hold the phone steady at that high magnification. But at least it served its purpose to show it clear enough to make out what it was.

No photographer of the year award here I am afraid, but I thought you may appreciate how good our mobile phone cameras are now.

I don't normally take zoom shots with this high magnification, but I made an exception this time

[Butterfly Maiden]

Sophia and I had the afternoon off work today, so we went for a gentle walk through our village, leaving the car at home.

I took a few shots on my mobile phone so I could share the beauty of the area with you.

It was a lovely sunny and warm afternoon, which was just perfect.

Thank you for looking.

[JSBach1801]

Sophia and I had the afternoon off work today, so we went for a gentle walk through our village, leaving the car at home.

I took a few shots on my mobile phone so I could share the beauty of the area with you.

It was a lovely sunny and warm afternoon, which was just perfect.

That looks lovely!

[Butterfly Maiden]

The footpaths here are for pedestrians only. Horse riders are not allowed, although we can ride along the roads.

Ponies that are allowed to roam freely throughout the Forest are allowed to wander these footpaths. You can clearly see a couple of 'deposits' that they have made (see second photo).

This is the reason we have cattle grids at the entrance to our properties, just to keep the ponies out

[Butterfly Maiden]

The beauty of being self-employed is that you get to choose when you can have time off work

Today was no exception. Sophia and I rose early and got ready for a walk around Holmsley Inclosure. This was too far to walk from home so we took the car.

It was another warm and sunny start to the day. Perfect walking conditions.

At the start of our walk from the car park we encounter a few ponies grazing. We always like to include photos of them whenever we can.

All of the foliage is now in full bloom, especially the Gorse bushes. This is a favourite with the ponies. Their mouths and tongues have become specially adapted to cope with the thorny bushes without causing any injury or discomfort to them.

The paths are made up from gravel but can get a little mushy in places. A couple of times Sophia and I had to deviate slightly around the wetter areas.

The path eventually crosses over Avon Water. Just a mere trickle of a stream at this point, but affords a lovely shaded water source for the ponies. It looks pretty too.

As we arrive back at the car park I couldn't resist getting a couple of shots of this little beauty, grazing in front of our car.

I hope you enjoyed sharing our brief walk this morning. Normally we would be out longer and go deeper into the Inclosure, but we had to get back home for another appointment.

Thank you for looking.

[Bigzmey]

Beautiful countryside Vanessa. I am glad you have it to enjoy.

[DEnc]

With a very wet winter behind us, we may be able to enjoy the mountains of northern California without a fiery Armageddon of a summer. We're hitting them hard: the south fork of the Trinity River today, and over the weekend I'll venture on an information-gathering expedition into the Trinity Mountains. Today's bounty: great views and dozens of wildflowers, including California Groundcone--a parasite of the roots of the Madrone trees in the area.

[John Donne]

My telescope has gone to the birds.

[Juno16]

While in Seattle last month, I stopped in at the Boeing museum.

I find it hard to take my eyes off this one. This is the SR-71 Blackbird which was capable of Mach 3 (maybe more, they won't say).

_MG_1355_SR-71_Blackbird.jpg

One of the most amazing aircraft ever built.
If you get a chance (if you haven’t already), watch a few YouTube videos on this plane. An outstanding piece of technology!
When I was a kid in the 60’s and early 70’s, we lived in Okinawa (military dependent) and my brother and I would watch them take off at the base.
Thanks for sharing

[Butterfly Maiden]

Sophia and I made an early start at 7am this morning to go for a Forest walk.

We went to Vereley, Burley parking in Vereley Hill Forestry Commission car park.

This is an extensive area of heathland situated in a valley (Vales Moor), with many narrow gravel paths going over an undulating terrain.

Some of the dips downward into the valley are quite subtle, as are some of the climbs to the top.

If you want to get fitter and take a short cut, you have a choice of going up one of the steeper paths.

It has a wide variety of butterflies, being attracted by the glorious carpets of Heather and Gorse bushes.

Thank you for looking.

[pakarinen]

Sunset 5.27.2023 at the new dark site:

[Butterfly Maiden]

This is another visit to Vereley in Burley, so I decided to show you a map of the area this time to give a better understanding of the terrain.

If you are into navigation / orienteering you will be familiar with the contour lines on the map and appreciate the height differences of this particular valley.

I personally prefer to navigate with a magnetic compass and paper map. Handheld sat-navs and smart phones with mapping software are fine, but if your battery dies or you don’t get a clear signal then you could be in trouble. I actually find it more fun to do it the non-electronic device way.

Sophia and I both know most of the National Park anyway, so we are not likely to get lost. However, if we decide to go to an area that is new to us, or least visited, then we have our map and compass with us.

One feature of note on the map is “Smuggler’s Road.”

If you wish to know more about the ‘New Forest Smugglers’ you can check out the following link - https://newforestguide.uk/history/new-forest-smugglers/

I have highlighted "Smuggler's Road" on the map in yellow.

The co-ordinates at the top of the map (N50˚ 50.630’ W1˚ 43.654’ (elev. 242 feet) is the location of the crosshair when I did the screenshot. The height above sea level at the top is 300 feet.

There are two car parks here, indicated by the ‘P’ symbols right of centre on the map. Vereley (on the right) has a mobile phone tower next to it and gives access to Vereley Wood. Vereley Hill (the left ‘P’ symbol) is literally on the opposite side of the road, so you can just walk across to get to it.

From an astronomy perspective, the Bortle 4 skies of the entire New Forest National Park make sky-watching a delight. Particularly this location, with uninterrupted panoramic views and open skies.
If you get the opportunity to visit the New Forest you won’t be disappointed.

I took a few more photos of the area on this visit, so I hope you enjoy them.

Photo 1 - the start of the path from the car park. You can follow it to the top of the valley, which is our intended route on this occasion. I mentioned in my posting yesterday when we visited that this route is more challenging. It is the quickest path to the top, but is also the steepest...

Photo 2 - now the climb begins. The gulley to the right of the gravel path, with brown sediment, has been cut out by rain water running downhill...

Photo 3 - just before we reach the top of the hill I turn around for a shot of the path from the car park. If you look closely you may just make out the mobile phone tower in Vereley car park (horizon, just right of centre)...

Photos 4 & 5 - I have panned right to show to show the valley floor...

Photos 6 & 7 - we have reached the path at the top. This quite wide path is "Smuggler's Road."
Photo 6 is looking south towards Vales Moor, whilst Photo 7 is looking north towards Picket Plain.

Thank you for looking.