Up early it was cold outside, -1, frost everywhere. The plan was a trip to London, not for christmas shopping, but for a cultural visit taking two photography exhibitions, and possibly the Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery. We felt smug as Christmas shopping was all but done, if not wrapped. The roads to Berkhamsted were icy but the temperature was now a balmy +2. We nabbed the last parking space near the station, and jumped on the 0900 train to Euston.
I remembered that I had seen a photo of a Lego Christmas tree at St Pancras, so we agreed to swing by. It turned to be not as impressive as I imagined it might be. It was big, green and covered in lights and baubles tree, and 100÷ Lego. I took a few pictures while Helen resisted the lure of the champagne bar, then headed out to get the 59 back to Euston and on to the Imperial War Museum. It had started to rain.
We had booked up to see the Don McCullin exhibition the night before. Don McCullin is a famous war photographer, I am sure you will have see his work in the sunday supplements between the 60′s and 90′s. The most famous one is the close up of shell shocked soldier with the thousand yard stare. The exhibition was good with plenty of articles that McCullin had donated, including the Nikon with the AK47 bullet hole. The was an interesting interview video of McCullin and his stories of how he got into with anecdotes of war, and his subsequent shift away from war photography and into Landscape photography. We thought about lunch at IWM but decide that something on the Southbank near our next port of call might offer a better choice than the cafe.
The Imperial War Museum panorama
We jumped back on the 59 bus and got off at Southbank, on Waterloo Bridge. The regular Slow Food market was on by the Haymarket, but although tempting it was too cold for al fresco eating. We even fore went buying some nice bread because we were travelling light and did not want any luggage.
Helen spotted a Pizza Express so we popped in for some fast food. It was the same one we took the took the Australians to some years, it might even have made it on to the blog, just.
Suitably replete we headed to The National Theatre to take a look at the Landscape photographer of the year exhibition, and it was brilliant, all the photos where printed and well lit, a real inspiration to any photographer. A sign of the times hardly any of the pictures were taken on film. Many used the Canon 10-22mm EFS lens that I like own and like so much. We headed out and took some pictures and video of the north bank of the Thames which was looking glorious in the winter sun.
The National Gallery, London
Out final destination was the National Gallery se we jumped on the 159 over to Trafalgar Square. We asked at the desk they had tickets for 2030! Apparently people queue up at 0700 3 hours before the pace opens just to get tickets. We popped into Waterstones (waste of time) then jumped back on the 59 to Euston, where a fast train was waiting to take us back to Berkhamsted.
Some friendly French people sat in the seats near us, and after exchanging a few word in French they started asking me French grammar questions. is it Londonien or Londonienne? How should I know. We were back home by 17:00 for some left over soup from yesterday. All in all a great day out if a little cold.
We were in bed early last night, and I woke up about 06:30, by 7 I had had enough so I got up and went down to island mere hide. I parked near Scots Hall (not sure is that is allowed!) and walked into the reed beds. No one else was in the hide, the mere was quite full of water after the recent rain, and there were not many birds about. Geese were flying in and out in formation, and I spotted a juvenile Marsh Harrier. I had not bothered getting the scope out but then spotted a Bittern on the far side, by the time I got it set up the bird had gone.
Ragwort
Soon after I spotted another one further along this time I had the benefit of the scope, it was at the edge of the reeds looking up in the classic pose, then it barked and flew along the reeds and dropped out of site. Just before I left I spotted another one.
Breakfast was as usual great but they did not have veggie sausages but they promised some for tomorrow. After breakfast we sorted out our gear and headed in land along the Minsmere river.
The we then did a second side of a triangular route across Westleton heath where the Heather was in full bloom very purple and very fragrant. There were two distinct colours one very vibrant purple the other more pastel in colour. It was still early’ish and we had the place almost to our selves and the weather was getting warmer and sunnier.
Number 98
By the time we got to Dunwich church we had not had a break so we sat on the bench and had half a snack bar each. After a nice rest we walked up the village high street and down to the fish and chip shop over looking Dingle marsh and the car park. Helen had veggie burger and because she said it is the law that if they are offered they have to be taken in case the proprietor thinks demand has dropped. It turns out that the burgers were deep fried vegetable fritters and there was no bun! I ended up having one of them.
Once Helen was tired of the wasps we went over to the beach where there were a few swimmers bracing the North Sea temperatures. After some time relaxing on the beach we headed back up the hill towards the light house cottages.
Just past Grey Friars we heard a great but distant thunder clap. To our west there was a very big and dark anvil shaped cloud, and it was heading our direction. Soon after it started to rain, but as soon as we had unpacked the poncho and got it on the rain had stopped. The storm was heading past just to the north of us, we surmised that if we had stayed much longer at Dunwich we would have got soaked the storm continued to flash and rumble for the next half an hour. We found a bench on Dunwich heath and looked for Dartford warblers, but apart from stonechats and wood pigeons we were out of luck. There was a brief flash of grey at one point but not good enough to get an id of any bird.
Hail stones
At coast guard cottages we had coffee and shared a cake, then a bit of sea watching and a pee. We then headed down to the beach and on to the main part of Minsmere RSPB reserve. The storm was heading away out to sea but you could still see lightning and hear thunder. Over towards Eastbriddge we could see some more dark clouds so we got a speed on, the plan was to go to a hide for a while before heading back. We just about made the hide before it started raining trouble was the hide looked out over scrapes but hey were empty because the Terns that would normalhangout there had left for sunnier clims, so I put on my poncho and Helen her rain gear and we walked back towards Mere hide in the hope of seeing another Bittern.
The rain did not last long and the sun came out the light was warm and brilliant for taking photos, so I did! Not muchaction going on in the hide, which was deserted. We got a few more ticks that had evaded us earlier in the day (Tufted, Great-Crested Grebe, and Little Grebe), but no Bittern in site. Later a man turned up with a 500mm f2.8 Canon lens (£5,000) hoping to get a Bittern fly by, if he got one the light was perfect. Feet suitabkly rested we left the hide for the final push back to the hide it was already 17:30 and I reckoned it would take 30minutes to get back to the pub, Helen reckoned longer 40minutes.
Storm over the abbey
Rather than take the road back we turned away from The Eels Foot and walkked past Sotts Hall and joined the bridleway that runs parallel. We were both knackered and Helen needed a fruit bar to avoid a trough, 35 minutes later we were at the last corner before the pub, so I guess Helen was right about the time it would take to get back.
All day we had failed to find a Tit flock but just as we got back to the river Minsmere we spotted one so Blue Tit and Long-tailed wer added tothe day list. Then I spotted a Treecreeper it was really close and hunting insects on the small branches, the view was fantastic. Suitably rewarded we headed back to the pub it had taken 40 minutes!
We had walked about 12-13 miles and been out for just short of 9 hours which is probably a record for us. We quickly freshened up and heaed to the bar for a well earned pint and some pub food, the end of a perfect day.
We had a free Saturday and thought a trip to London was well overdue, I know I went last weekend but Helen did not accompany me so it does not count. The trigger for going was that the press Photographer of the Year exhibition was on at the National Theatre, it is almost like an annual pilgrimage to go to see the great photo’s which are a reminder of what has been happening in the previous year. We needed something else to fill in the rest of the day and decided on the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy an show we have never managed to attend despite it being quite an important event in the art calendar.
Lifes a beach Southend on sea
We did the usual thing of parking in Berkhamsted and getting the train to Euston. We arrived with 10 minutes to spare bought a newspaper to read on the way and the train departed on time. We were at Euston by 09:30 and we got the 68 bus to Waterloo Bridge and were looking round the exhibition by 10:00. The National Theatre lobby area is quite a large space and is carpeted throughout so it is a really quiet space. There were quite a few people tucked away in corners tapping away at their laptops, you wander what their story is and why they go to the NT to do their work. My guess is that it is a nice quiet place with very little distractions.
The Press Photographer of the Year Exhibition 2011 lived up to our expectations, there were some really great pictures. A couple that spring to mind were a picture of a father and child in the Bangladesh floods, it is at night and they are walking towards the camera up to their knees in water, there are bright lights behind them giving their silhouettes a halo, the son is a step or two behind the father and his face is lit by the light reflecting off of the father light coloured clothing. The second picture was a snapshot of a cricket match tightly framing the wicket where a batsman is being judged out by the umpire, the bowler and a couple of fielders are in view, there is so much going on i the picture and it just seems to have locked in time an important point in a cricket match.
The last double screw steam tug in the uk
We next headed over to the Royal Academy on foot heading over the river via Golden Jubilee Bridge. There are some strange things to see on the bridge. One of the bridge footings has quite a few broken skateboards on it most of the broken and all of them without trucks or wheels. Perhaps their is a tradition where kids who break their boards on the Southbank chuck them off the bridge. As we passed Trafalgar square there seemed to be a bomb alert going on outside outside a building to the south on the junction to Whitehall there was a bicycle covered in bags, it looked like it was probably the possessions of a homeless person but the police cannot be too careful, so the area was cordoned off. We moved on swiftly.
There was a queue for tickets at the Royal Academy we waited in line for our tickets then went and had a coffee in the courtyard where there are also buildings of other Royal things the Royal Geographic society, the Royal Chemistry Society, and the Royal Astronomical Society. With my coffee I had a sort of Chelsea bun but instead of raisins and custard it had hazel nuts and chocolate it was a very tasty alternative.
The Summer Exhibition was very interesting, because the exhibition is open to all comers you get a real rag bag of art. Pictures cover all medium from photography through woodcuts, pastels, drawings to oil paintings. There is also sculpture and architectural models and drawings. It took us over an hour to get round all the rooms.
A london Thameside pub
Fortnum and Mason’s was opposite so we could not resist a quick look round. We did not buy anything but is was great to look at all the lovely food on offer. I have to say that the fresh produce looked very good and the prices although not cheap seemed reasonable considering the quality. We hopped on a bus and headed towards Foyles for the obligatory look round the fantastic book shop, but I spotted a Cotswold outdoor shop and we had to get off at Picadilly and walk back, I thought there might be a chance to get some shoes I had tried in Cornwall but could not get the correct size. It turns out they had a pair of Haglöfs approach shoes in my size so I purchased them and we were soon back on another bus to the book shop.
Helen purchased no less that two bags of books, and I bought none after the £115 spend on shoes, but Helen insisted on a taxi to Euston, so a taxi to Euston it was. It turns out that the rush was a bit of a waste of time as there was a signalling problem at Bletchley and all the trains beyond Watford were seriously delayed or cancelled. We wnt outside and got soe lunch, for me some udon and pumpling soup for the asian take away stand.
We decided to get a train to Watford and then decide what to do when we got there. As it turns out the slow train to Watford was overtaken by a few southern trains so we were able to get the next train from Watford to Berkhamsted, which strangley was completely empty. That was the end of a lovely day out.
We hosted a party for Caroline’s birthday last night, this morning she and Helen managed to get to church (9:15 service), which impressed me give the partying the night before. I got up and watched the exciting Korean grand prix, had some breakfast and tidied up a bit. The weather was crisp and sunny so I headed out for a walk around Ashridge.
I parked in the small car park just up the hill from Alburgh, which is if the beaten track away from the monument area. I headed in the opposite direction from the monument the plan was to get some picture of fungi and see if I could catch site of some of the deer in the area.
I followed a bridleway, passed a very big house and eventually came across some smaller houses which were at the end of of a track. They seemed had a great location, a couple were semi-detached and bizarrely one of the front gardens had a couple of horses grazing. The garden was normal front garden size and the grass was nice and short!
I then headed towards the road that runs through Ashridge, which meant crossing the very large grassy heath area, when I spotted no less that 4 green wood peckers all very close to each other. You could see their red heads poking up above the grass. After crossing the road I headed in to the woods the other side, where I started to here the stags calling, which they do at this time of the year to attract females and make their presence known to other males in the area. I heard a few quite close but only got fleeting glimpses of the deer them selves.
Beeches in the sun
I got some some pictures of some fungi in the silver birch areas, but they were not at the best they were showing their age a bit. It reminded me that I need to read over the LX3 manual again I seem to spend too much time figuring out how to change settings which I know exist I just can’t figure out how to make contact with the right bits of the menu system.
I then heard a stag really close by so I slowly and quietly made my way toward the source of the noise, I was then lucky enough to see a stag and 3 females hanging around what looked like a stand. I was there for quite a few minutes behind a tree which helped support my binoculars, I got some cracking view of the stag calling. Eventually they got spooked by some other walkers in the woods. Time to head over to Hillside fro some of Caroline’s birthday cake.
Helen and I have been looking forward to getting out for a walk all week. We decided to head over to Wendover then walk up the hill and cut round and come down via the road with the large houses on Bacombe Lane. The conditions and time of year are good for seeing mushrooms, and after last weeks fungi exhibition we felt we knew a bit more about them.
Cute fungus with ugly slugs
Conditions were possibly a bit dry, but as we went through the damper parts of the woods and as we got our eyes in we started to spot more and more. I was certainly on the look out for porcelain fungus as tit grows on beech trees and has a limy glazed look to it. We were in the Chilterns famed for it’s beeches after all. I took some pictures whilst Helen was busy bird watching, we managed to spot a Goldcrest a bird we have not see for some time and is one of our favourites.
Once we had the up hill part out of the way we walked on the level past along the old fence I have blogged about in the past, until we took a left which took us down hill to the middle of Bacombe lane then over the field to the bridge over the railway. On the way down Helen had to do a double take when she thought she had seen Giant Puffballs the size of sheep! It turned out they were sheep!
Once in Wendover I was despatched with twenty quid to get ingredients for lunch and then pizza’s for tea which Helen disappeared off to see if she could find a new coat. I was successful in my mission but Helen was not.
Long weekend up to lovely Yorkshire. Bright sunny day all the way up and the M1 was kind. Got there in plenty of time for N to potter of to the school play whilst I babysat. An eventful afternoon involving one small child launching herself down the stairs (swiftly distracted courtesy of “Room on the Broom”) and a cat fight in the garden. On Friday we refused to let a very misty morn disuage us and matched off around a local reservoir (not that we could see said reservoir). Home made curry for tea & then on Saturday off for a brighter but muddy walk around another reservoir. Home made pizza and tiramisu for tea (decadence on a stick & no mistake) and a round of the really nasty Golf Game. I have not made that name up. Early start & back home via the delights of Costco. Birds: canada geese, blackbird, pheasant, tits, redwing, kestrel, greylag, woodpigeon, mute swan, magpie, buzzard, robin, starling, missel thush, pied wagtail, gold finch, jay, mallard, chaffinch, coot, little grebe, common gull, black headed gull, red kite (must be back in Bucks!)
The plan was to walk from Salthouse, with the wind behind us, to Weybourne. Saw a seal in the sea but he did not hang around for long. Nothing much else to report so we headed into the center of Kelling, where we knew there was a tea shop. After coffee and cake headed back to the Quag via a conservation area. Helen spotted a Cuckoo. We passed what looked to be a weather/environment monitoring station. It had the usual wind monitors and slated cupboards that meteorologists use. There was also a parabolic shaped aerial (possibly microwave) pointing skyward, and a white box shaped instrument that made a strange whistle every 30 seconds. Further on we can across a load of Wheatear, Whimbrel, Stonechat, and a Mistle Thrush. Headed onto Weybourne to catch the bus to Cley NWT, for lunch.
Today, Sunday was glorious. After a night on the tiles at the Wool Pack pub in Stoke Mandeville,we managed to get up early. Headed out to the hills around Ivinghoe beacon. The atmosphere was really clear and the clouds were white and fluffy, great day for taking photos, which I did and you can see here.
Walked from the NT car park towards Incombe Hole (where a Ring Ouzel had been reported which we failed to find) , and saw Whitethroat and Willow Warbler, spring is definitely here. Went back to Helen’s folks for coffee and cake, then saw the start of the Grand Prix.
After the Grand Prix we headed out on the bikes to a small nature reserve nearby where there are lots of butterflies. Today we have seen Small White, Large White, Green Hairstreak, Peacock, Tortoise Shell, Spotted Wood, Brimstone, Orange Top, and Comma which is a good start to our butterfly list.
The Independent is running a promotion where you can get a butterfly chart. Goto http://www.independent.co.uk/promo-offers enter your details and a the promotion code BUTTERFLIES, and they will send you the chart.
That’s the sign on a residents door just on the edge of Soho, “This is not a brothel there are no prostitutes at this address”. Went to London today, it has been a long time since Helen and I took the time to go as the draw of the countryside always seems to be stronger.
Got the train from Hemel to Euston (where they were filming in the departure hall, big cameras looks like they had real film in them) and then a bus to Exhibition Road. Quick look round the Formula One bit of the Science Museum then decided it was too crowded and headed off back to
Pink drink
the Photographers Gallery in it’s new location just off Oxford Street. Before finding the exhibition we had lunch at Apostrophe which sells French stuff, I had a Marseille (Tuna, Mayo, Green Beans), Helen had Paris (Avocado, Tomatoes and Parmesan), not sure how that is Paris but there you go. The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2009 quite good a mixed bag of photo’s from the 70′s to date. Next we headed on down to the Frith Street Gallery, which took some finding as it is 15 minutes walk from Frith Street in Golden Square! Some great photos’s of the London landscape, many pictures had both urban concrete and nature in the same frame.
