Photo – Page 19

Was sitting in the garden last evening watching a host of moths working our Buddleia and thought I would try to capture some pictures. This proved to be harder than I expected. Every time I tried to take a shot they would fly away. I tried so often that I began to believe they knew what I was doing and yet they weren’t disturbed by my approach to where ever they were settled. Mind you they weren’t staying settled anywhere for more than a second or so, and their wings were constantly on the go, almost like humming birds.

As I experimented it became obvious that they were taking flight each time I used the focus function of the camera, each time I pressed the shutter release just enough to focus and meter. Then it hit me, the little so and so’s were being frightened by the infrared from my camera/flash set up. As a result the following pictures are the best I managed to get.

I’ll have another crack tonight if they come back. I’ll try manual focus and pre-metering.

View From The Conservatory – Some Flutterbys

bf2 — Peacock
Insecta: Lepidoptera : Family Nymphalidae: Subfamily Nymphalinae : Genus Inachis:

bf3 — Peacock
Insecta: Lepidoptera : Family Nymphalidae: Subfamily Nymphalinae : Genus Inachis:

Comma Insecta: Lepidoptera : Family Nymphalidae: Subfamily Nymphalinae : Genus Polygonia: Species c-album — Comma
Insecta: Lepidoptera : Family Nymphalidae: Subfamily Nymphalinae : Genus Polygonia: Species c-album

Great White Insecta: Lepidoptera : Family Pieridae: Subfamily Pierinae : Genus Pieris: Species brassicae: — Great White
Insecta: Lepidoptera : Family Pieridae: Subfamily Pierinae : Genus Pieris: Species brassicae:

Garden Furniture

Gorgeous Colours, Solid Teak, naturally pale when dry but just look at it when it gets wet.

We got ourselves a new table and chair set for the garden. Just look at the markings when it gets wet.

Birthday Cake – What a Cracker

It was my great-granddaughter Summer’s birthday last Thursday but we had her party today. Here is the cake that my neighbour made.

View From The Conservatory

Well not really. It’s been too hot to sit in the conservatory, other than late at night and then you can’t see anything. In fact the conservatory, at night ,used to freak out my granddaughter because she couldn’t see if anyone was looking in. With the lights on the windows pretty much turn into mirrors.

Anyway, the conservatory, is pretty much just a link into the garden and I just wanted to share some snaps taken this morning. So here goes.

If you have read my post from yesterday, we are getting our garden back in shape after some harsh clearing which also meant the severe cutting back of our rose bushes. We have several roses which had gotten pretty straggly over the years. They had all been cut, more or less, back to the main stem (trunk in some cases) feeding from the graft point. Much to our surprise they are all coming back to bush form at the rate of an express train. So much so that we have our first bloom. And here for your delectation is a picture..

Yellor Rose - I just wish you could smell the scent. — Yellow Rose – I just wish you could smell the scent.

just along from the rose we have a Lavatera which is also busy blooming. This one is in a pot, we have had them before but they don’t seem to like our soil and none survived. But this one is giving us a beautiful splash of pink.

Lavatera - Candy Floss — Lavatera – Candy Floss

This variety claims to be “Candy Floss” according to the tag supplied by Keydell Nurseries, the garden centre from which we purchased this example.

A first for us this year is growing tomatoes in a hanging basket. One of our baskets is ripe for picking while the other is still in that transition mode betwixt flower and green fruit. Here is a shot of the crop ready for picking so far.

I don’t know the variety but the plants are producing small but sweet and juicy tomatoes.

Last, but by no means least, I present to you a frequent visitor to our garden. No name, no breed variety, not ours.

Kitty1 — Why are you pointing that thing at me ?

I had just sat down with a cup of coffee when I saw this black shadow sneaking up into our apple tree. I managed to get in close without scaring kitty into a panicked descent which wouldn’t have ended well for either of us.

Bye bye for now folks.

View From The Conservatory

Couple of snaps of this seasons squirrels who, once again, have proven themselves adept at getting past any obstacles that I put in their path in my failed attempts to stop them from stealing the bird feed.

Arundel Castle Revisited

Yesterday we took a trip up to Arundel Castle. A popular destination to while away the hours and to pick up a bit of history. Here are a few photo’s from what was yet another dull and bitingly cold day.

Arun_IMG_8517 — Arundel Castle from the River Arun

Busy_Building_IMG_8504 — Busy Roofline – Aundel Castle

Corridor_IMG_8512 — Corridor – Arundel Castle

InnerSnctum_IMG_8493 — Inner Sanctum – Arundel Castle

Photo_Bomb_IMG_8503 — Photo Bomb or Sticky Stamp Licker

Steep_IMG_8492 — Steep Slope – Arundel Castle

The_Keep_IMG_8511 — The Keep – Arundel Castle

Tourists_IMG_8507 — Anti Tourist Squad – Arundel Castle

Marwell Snaps

These are just a few of my pix from our trip to Marwell. Many of the animals seemed to be staying inside as the weather was a little cool and dull. It was a good day out, as always. So take a look and enjoy….