It was up early for us second day running, the Aylesbury RSPB group were running a coach trip to Misnsmere RSPB. Helen only spotted the trip on the local groups website on thursday, but there were still spaces, so we were on, and A of A&C was up for [...]]]>

Colchester our coach to Minsmere

It was up early for us second day running, the Aylesbury RSPB group were running a coach trip to Misnsmere RSPB. Helen only spotted the trip on the local groups website on thursday, but there were still spaces, so we were on, and A of A&C was up for it too. C was going to football.

The coach departed at 07:45, and we were soon on the M25. The day looked like it was going to be great weather wise the sun was shining and it was already warm and it was still early. The weather forecast suggested sun all day with some cloud possible late afternoon. What could be better a sunny day by the seaside, and Sole Bay to boot.

We had a comfort break just outside of Colchester, at a BP Connect with an M&S food shop. The journey was very pleasant it made a change to be able to gaze out of the window and enjoy the view, rather than having to keep my eyes on the road.

The end to end trip was almost exactly 3 hours, and a peasant journey it had been. We grabbed out what’s about sheets and map of the reserve, from the friendly volunteer, and headed off into the woodland trail in the direction of Dunwich Heath, in the hope of a Dartford Warbler.

We were not disappointed we headed towards two big lens, the couple were taking pictures of Stonechats feeding a younster, a a couple of Linnets. After a few fleeting glimpses two Dartford Warblers came a long really close and perched on the vegetation giving us cracking views. It was time for a celebratory coffee stock at the Dunwich Coastguard cottages.

An interesting bench design

I had elderflower presse, and a huge slab of bread pudding, lovely, the girls had cheese scones. Suitable replete we headed down to East Hide. The wind was much colder down on the beach, we quickly headed to the shelter of the hide.

There were not many waders about, Ringed Plover and a Sandpiper. Plenty of gulls and Common Terns, ducks Gadwall, Shelduck, and Shoveler. I noticed my BB battery was almost flat, I blame Google Latitude, constant trying to get a fix and communicate back to base. I have turned all the wireless off to try to finish this blog entry.t

We headed back to the newly adjusted visitor center for some lunch, beans on toast, parsnip bake and mushroom and leek soup was had amongst us. Then suitably refreshed we headed out towards island mere, where on the way a gathering were watching a newly fledged set of 5 treecreepers were being fed by attentive parents. From island mere we watched Bearded Tits flitting about above the reeds.

It was getting late so we headed back stopping off at Bittern Hide, in the hope of seeing obviously a Bittern. A few times a Bittern was called out and on a couple of occasions, we managed fleeting views.

The view from Bittern Hide

With only half an hour to spare we strolled back to the visitors center, for a look round the shop, on the way we say 3 hairy green dragon flies. Back at the centre I took another panorama set of the building, if it turns out OK I will see if the RSPB want a copy. All in all a great day out and what value for money, thanks must go to the Aylesbury RSPB group for organising and the William Harding trust for the generous grant that keeps the price down.

On the way back we had the traditional team bird count sweep stake, all the birds the people on the coach counted are tallied up and the person who guessed the number correctly get half the money and the rest goes to the groups coffers.

We were back at Bedgrove just after 20:00 after a pretty smooth and comfortable journey. We got home and I had time to pack for a Monday trip to Belfast (watch this space you know what is coming) and then off to bed for another early start.

You should not believe everything you read in this blog, and never blog things in anticipation you will get caught out. It turns out there was a 1 hour delay on the A12 due to a horse box accident. We sent the time identifying wild flowers on the roadside. We hit the M25 at 20:00 the time we thought we might be back in Aylesbury.

We got to Bedgrove at 20:55 and were home by 21:00 I have time to have a shower and pack, catch up with emails and RSS feeds then it was time for bed and an early start. We certainly made the most of the weekend.

There are also a couple a panoramas you can see here.

We were up early for a walk with A&C, the plan was to drive to Swinbrook, to do a walk along the river Swin, look at the church where some of the Mitford sisters are buried, then have lunch at the Swan Inn.

It took us an hour [...]]]>

A bend in the river Swin

We were up early for a walk with A&C, the plan was to drive to Swinbrook, to do a walk along the river Swin, look at the church where some of the Mitford sisters are buried, then have lunch at the Swan Inn.

It took us an hour with mishap to get to Swinbrook, even after A had missed a turning! We parked at the pub and waited for Helen to get permission to leave the car there for the morning. The sewage treatment plant smelt like it needed a service, there was some sort of in balance going on.

The walk was a 5 mile circular one that followed the river then crossed over the other side. That meant it was going to be fairly level walking but there would be opportunities for some muddy patches.
About 3 miles into the walk we got stumbled into Asthall and The Maytime Inn was a welcome establishment to have coffee at. The pub seemed very posh and the landlord had some amazing green with a bold yellow check pattern! The coffee was good and came with some nice biscuits.

Swinbrook valley view

I got a set of panorama shots in the church yard. The village was typical Cotswold stone, very idyllic, as we left the church a couple of Morgan cars drove past with suitcases strapped to the rear. After Asthall you have to walk on a small road but there was not that much traffic, and as an added bonus there were a few sightings of Whitethroat, a first for A&C, and a lovely view of the valley as the road with higher than the river. At Widford there is an old mill that has been converted into dwellings, and it was our point to cross the river for the second time and do the final mile back to Swinbrook. From the bridge we saw a Grey Wagtail.

We took a look at the Widford church we seemed very old the layout was unusual in that the pews were in open top bovexes with doors to get to each set which would probably seat about 4 people. More panorama shots were taken.
On the outskirts of Swinbrook we spotted what looked like a Muntjak but turned out to be a Hare! The girls manged to find the Mitfords head stones and had a good look round while a took a couple more panorama sets.

Widford church

Back at Swinbrook Swan Inn we got back into normal footwear, and then headed into the pub. There were quite a few black and white pictures of days of old and the people who live in big houses. The food was reasonable, but the service was quite poor. Especially when we ordered a bottle of wine and A had to go to the bar and find out where it had got to half way through the main course. She gave them her look of disapproval.

The drive home was again un eventful. We had had a great day out with A&C, and hope to return again someday. Perhaps eating at the Maytree Inn at Asthall instead. It was early to bed for us as we had a coach trip to Minsmere arranged with a pick up from Bedgrove at 07:30.

Luton Airport Monday 07:50 it must be EZY181 to Belfast, and just because it has become a tradition here is a blog post.

The weekend was a real wash out, but we did manage to get some stuff done round the house.

We went to the pictures on Friday to [...]]]>

Vegetable korma 4 portions

Luton Airport Monday 07:50 it must be EZY181 to Belfast, and just because it has become a tradition here is a blog post.

The weekend was a real wash out, but we did manage to get some stuff done round the house.

We went to the pictures on Friday to see Salmon fishing in the Yemen, which was not a cinematic great but an excellent film with a great story line, well worth watching. On the way home we went to Tesco for the ingredients for a Korma curry paste.

On Saturday I was up early and gave the kitchen a quick wipe, then once helen was up I put up two roller blinds, one at top of stairs the other in the back bedroom. Two more windows and we will be 100% blinds.

Then it was off to Wendover for me to get a haircut and Helen some shopping therapy. Luckily for the bank balance there was no queue at the barbers so Helen’s spend time was kept to a minimum. It was still lashing down with rain.

Once home I got out my laptop with the aim of finding a way to present my panorama tours on the web. The method needed to have an HTML5 option as I want it to work on ipads and iphones. I found a project on google code called Bigshot http://code.google.com/p/bigshot/ it looked promising. It used the Microsoft deepzoom format, but also came with a wrapper that allowed the directory structure to be stored in a single file with a php script to serve the images out on demand. It was interesting to see such an approach.

Tried as I might I could not get the thing to work, my javascript knowledge is just not good enough, I did however learn a lot about debugging js using chrome and firefox, so the hours were not wasted. In the end I have reverted back to using the utility that comes with ptgui http://www.ptgui.com/which produces a set of images and page with html5 and flash options, it is also gyro scope aware which means you can move around with a device and the panorama moves with you. My plan is to develop a php script to display a panorama directory based on parameters passed to it. As for Bigshot I might have to revisit it someday.

Helen made the most of the day by putting the stuff in the garage that belonged in the dining room back where it belonged, and sorting out a couple of the kitchen draws that have become draws of small stuff we can’t be bothered to put away in the right place. Later in the after noon I made the curry paste, a massive two large Bonne Maman jam jars full. I got the recipe from Jamie Olivers website but used it as a guide. So in summary despite the continuous torrential rain we got quite a lot done.

We watched a film whilst eating home made Pizza, which this time we left to rise rolled out for a more puffed up base, it was called The Ides of March staring George Clooney. We were not very impressed, the story was a bit difficult to follow and I think you needed to have an interest in American politics.

On Sunday we had booked up for dawn chorus walk at Dancersend NR, but the organiser phoned up the Saturday evening and cancelled, the reason was weather and the slight risk of falling branches, but the main thing was that we would not really be able to hear anything with the appalling weather.

Cholesbury church

I dropped Helen and Gladys off at church then continued with the panorama project. The rest of the day was spent at home relaxing, and making tea for a couple of visitors. Abida (arriving with an excellent homemade banana cake)reported that there were trees down all over the place as she tried to get to Tring station but ended up at Berkhamsted.

Later I made a vegetable korma with the paste I made the night before. I used Cauliflower and baby aubergines as a base, and included green beans and peas at the end. It turned out really well which is good because of the amount of paste I now have! I made enough for 4 portions to be frozen.

We went for the earliest breakfast 08:30, as tghe weather forecast suggested that the best weather would be at the start of the day. The delicious veggie fry up was up to the usual standard. We were ready to leave by 09:30, the plan was to dump a car at Blythburgh and the [...]]]>

Snowdrops

We went for the earliest breakfast 08:30, as tghe weather forecast suggested that the best weather would be at the start of the day. The delicious veggie fry up was up to the usual standard. We were ready to leave by 09:30, the plan was to dump a car at Blythburgh and the other at Dunwich Heath NT car park, then walk from Dunwich to the first dropped off car.

We had wrapped up quite well beacuse the weather man said it would be a cold wind, but were soon taking layers off. in the mixed wood towards the friary we cam across a flock of several Gold crests and at least 3 Treecreepers, quite an unusual count. We headed on towards Dunwich car park checking out the snow drops which were in bloom everywhere. H was fascinatedby them and stopped regulalry to look at the inner petals. Some were quite sparse and others had layers of smaller petals almost rose like inside the outer petals which is the part you usually see. We all agreed that the more simple ones were more attractive.

At Dunwich car park the chip hut was closed so we went Ship Inn for coffee and crisps. The firewas on so we removed more layers. We took over one end of the pub with all our gear, luckily there were few other people in the bar. Suitably refreshed we headed out towards wood that overlooks Dingle marsh then Warblerswick marsh. There are some lovely remote properties at the far end of the wood.

We crossed the marshes and then ended up at Warblerswick village near the shops. There was a hint of rain in the but luckily there were some sheltered seats where we could have lunch. The Heidi pies were up to the usual standard but my alliegance has now changed and now the cheese potatoe cream and garlic ones are my favorite. In case you were wondering the puiesare made by Pieminister www.pieminister.co.uk

On the beach

Suitably refreshed again, we headed out of Warblerwick in the direction of Blythburgh, we were more out in the open on the heath and in addition the wind was against us. The path then headed into a Pine wood which was a welcome relief from the wind. Once almost back to where we dumped my car,we came across a great hide which looked over the estuary. We spotted Shelduck, Dunlin, Curlew, Redshank, and Golden Plover. we were in no rush to leave the hide as it had started to rain hard. We got out some snacks bars and chocolate and relaxed until the rain slowed a bit.

The final half a mile was miserable it was raining and cold, we were all jus intent on getting back tothe car and inti the warm. Despite the last stretch being cold and wet we had a great walk probably not far off 10 miles in distance.

I’m not sure how many times we have now we have been to the Eelsfoot Inn at Eastbridge in Suffolk, but we love going there because the beer and food is great and we have yet to hear of or find more reasonable priced accomodation near great countryside. So here we go again [...]]]>

Mushrooms

I’m not sure how many times we have now we have been to the Eelsfoot Inn at Eastbridge in Suffolk, but we love going there because the beer and food is great and we have yet to hear of or find more reasonable priced accomodation near great countryside. So here we go again off round the M25 and up the A12.

We headed off at a reasonable 10am and were soon on the M25, just to make a change we headed off up the M11 then swung a right on a road to Colchester. We had to stop at a service station to check out a tyre warning light but they were all in the correct range of pressures.

We got to RSPB Mismere at around 12:30 and headed for the cafe for a bite to eat. Turns out they are rebuilding it and the temporary cafe is very tight in comparison to the old one, old 6 tables. The work on the new one seen to be well progressed so we look forward to coming back to have a look round later this year, (August bank holiday?).

Storm clouds over the reed beds

After a bite to eat we headed off to do a tour of the reserve, the wrong way round! From south hide we saw Smew, Ringed Plover, Pintail. From the sluice Seal, Red throated diver. Whilst in the east hide N phoned to say his car was at the vets and they would be later than anticipated, so we would have to buy the Heidi pies for tomorrows walk.

It did not take long to get to Southwold, but we managed to add Curlew to the day list. The tide was out at Blythburgh waders could be seen in the distance. It was the end of the afternoon and parking in the main car park was easy. Helen’s mood was soon restored back to “happy go lucky” by hot chocolate and a toasted tea cake. The menu at Buchenham Coffee House (in a cellar of the high street near the bus stop) includes a whole section devoted to the “Hot Chocolate Collection”!

The Deli that sells the Heidi pies was also now selling a cheese and potato version which I opted for. Once pied up we headed round the Adnams kitchen shop where I purchased a finger guard for use with the mandolin. We then headed back to the car, the sunset over Warblerswick was stunning. We got to the Eelsfoot inn at about 17:40, I went to have a look for the barn owls with out luck before having a rest before we hit the bar at the inn

H&N arrived at 19:00, good food and beer followed swiftly afterwards, followed by a fairly early bedtime so we were suitably refreshed for a good long walk on Saturday.

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As promised by the Met Office we got some snow on Saturday night. It started about 17:00  just as the light was fading and too late to make a timelapse sequence, which I had had running all afternoon. The wind was blowing so I had high hopes of some [...]]]>

Thai restaurant the Royal Siam

As promised by the Met Office we got some snow on Saturday night. It started about 17:00  just as the light was fading and too late to make a timelapse sequence, which I had had running all afternoon. The wind was blowing so I had high hopes of some drifting.

We were up fairly early Helen went to church and I went off up the hills with video and camera. The snow was already starting to melt and the main road was mostly clear of snow. I headed up the main road then too a right turn up Stablebridge. I stopped off at the Thai roundabout and the canal bridge to take a sequence of shots for stitching in to Panoramas, I was trying a new sequence using two rows the downward one just getting in the Nadir then 3/4 shots for the Zenith.

I was the first person to walk the footpath that crosses the Chiltern Forest Golf Club, the temperature was a bit lower so the snow was not melting as much as down in the village. In the woods there was a good six inches of snow, just over my knuckles when using a hand to measure.

The elusive stile

I was surprised at the number of different animal tracks in the snow. I spotted fox, deer and rabbit as well as a couple that I could not figure out, one was a very small mammal. I must  make a point of learning what the tracks of all the UK mammals look like.

Once up at the top of Aston Hill I headed down the Russians chalet drive put crossed the stile and over the field. On the drive the drifts were about two foot deep. It was difficult navigating across the field and the mist meant there was no landmarks. I just made out the trig point in the middle then walked bland in the general direction of the other stile until I saw it.

On the way up the the cafe I came across a forestry working clearing the road single handedly clearing the road with a snow shovel. I wished him well in his thankless task as the gate at the entrance was shut! Up at the Cafe in the Woods, which was shut, there was not many people about, all of them must have walked up just as I had.

Misty in the woods

After taking some video at the top some of it of the bird feeders, I headed off down the path that leads to the forestry compound near the entrance. I passed a brave soul mountain biking up the hill towards the cafe. I hope she was not banking on a coffee!

I quickly was back down in the village where I stopped off to pick up Helen and have some coffee and cake at the outlaws, cherry and sultana cake was lovely. Suitably refreshed Helen and I walked home then headed off to see “Man on a ledge” at the cinema. It did not live up to my expectations but was all the same enjoyable I gave it 3 out of 5.

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 [...]]]>

The Lego tree St Pancras

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.

The Video