Six at the lock

Sometimes when I'm not feeling very photographically inspired, I'll set myself a little project. Down by the canal at Hirst Lock, I challenged myself to find six different images that I liked. Here they are. 

Mooring rings

On the Leeds outing with my camera club, I was consciously trying to find linked photos that I could display together, like mini-projects I suppose. It's too easy when there is a sizeable group to come back with much the same images as everyone else. Anyway, I do like finding the detail in a scene. Alongside the Leeds-Liverpool canal there is no shortage of these iron mooring rings and I enjoy the way they are all 'the same' and yet 'different' - different backgrounds, different ropes. 

Where the frost lingers

Deep in the Strid Gorge at Bolton Abbey, it was clear that the sun had not penetrated all day and the air temperature was chill enough for the frost still to be lingering. It was very beautiful. I don't often venture out in those conditions and it was a joy to experience. 

I was fascinated by the detail of the frosting on different surfaces. It looked like sugar sprinkled on the sawn wooden posts.

Coating the dead grasses and leaves on the woodland floor, it emphasised the shapes and reminded me somehow of Chinese characters, those wonderfully intricate logograms.  

On leaves, it has the effect of picking out the veining. 

I also spotted a couple of curiosities... This icicle was hanging from a fallen log, looking a bit like a snake's tongue. The orange colouration was interesting and I'm not sure whether it was a simply a result of the dead wood or caused by resin still dripping from the log. 

The other phenomenon I spotted, which I got quite excited about, was this hair ice. It is apparently a rare kind of ice formation, caused by the presence of a particular fungus, Exidiopsis effusa, that is found on moist, rotting wood. (See HERE) It needs very specific conditions before it forms. I've heard of it but never seen an actual example before. It looks soft and silky but was in fact hard and brittle to (a gentle) touch. 

I found it so enjoyable just wandering along and seeing what I could spot. 

Down to the detail

There are wonderful views to be enjoyed at Bolton Abbey, and it's fascinating to see how differently things appear in various lighting and weather conditions. It was a clear, crisp, blue sky day with good sunlight but because of the steepness of the Strid Gorge, very little sun was able to penetrate to the valley bottom. It made for strong shadows and bright highlights, which are not really the best for photography but I always try to make the most of what is. 

Here are some of the details I noticed: above, the slender, brightly lit trunks of young birches, counterpointed by deep shadow. 

Dark, horizontal shadows across the leaf litter:

An ancient tree with tortuous roots that had effectively fused to a rock, giving rise to wonderful shapes, tones and textures:  

Some kind of pale-hued bracket fungus on a rotting log: 

Desiccated seed heads of a plant (below) which I think may be Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium). The stems were a couple of metres tall. If it is Common Hogweed, the plants are edible, including the leaves, flowers and seeds, which provide a spice similar to cardamom. You have to be careful not to mistake it for the very poisonous Giant Hogweed - but that is so dangerous that I can be pretty sure it would not be found alongside a path at Bolton Abbey! 

  

A medley of moss, ivy and russet bark seemed pleasing to me: 

 

I was overjoyed to see catkins appearing - a promise of Spring. Not sure what the tree was... it might be an alder, as they are usually the first to flower, or possibly a hazel. 

I also saw, but didn't photograph, lots of birds: a grey heron, the ubiquitous mallard ducks, less common and very colourful mandarin ducks, lots of robins, chaffinches, tits of various kinds, blackbirds, wood pigeons, rooks and crows, a wren, a dipper and a kingfisher. I'm sure there were more but I don't hear their calls and I wasn't carrying binoculars. It was a very good nature walk though. 

 

Beachcombing

Northumberland break 5

There were a few places on my 'must see' list for Northumberland. One was Holy Island and one was Spittal beach. They are both up the northern end of the coast and unfortunately both required low tide - Holy Island to access the tidal causeway and Spittal to uncover the rocks... so they were mutually exclusive, in practice. 😞  I went to both anyway! 

Spittal beach is on the southern edge of the town of Berwick on Tweed, a long beach of dark sand with rocks and boulders at its southern point. The sandstone rocks are wonderfully weathered and striated, good for taking intimate, abstract-y, close-up shots. When I arrived the weather was stormy and raining, with some amazing clouds, so that alone was worth a few photos. So dramatic!

I did find a few quite pleasing little detail shots but the main areas of rock were still submerged. 

Someone else had spent quite a time building a cairn from the flat stones. 

Random bits of metal

With the dullness of winter on the landscape, some days there is more beauty to be found in random small things. Here are a few bits of metal that introduced themselves to me on recent walks: 

(above) an abandoned weight from a tractor (I think) with a lovely patina of rust and lichen; 

(below) a padlock and a hefty chain on the lock gates:

the finials on the posts of the funny little 'birdcage' gate at the top of one of the paths into the old Milner Field estate;

and a now defunct strip of ironwork at the old mill dam. (I liked its contrast of colour and texture with the moss around it.)