Among the autumn leaves

Tuesday 22nd November 2016

Apologies for all the delays in posting everyone, but things have been all upside down with the kitchen being replaced. I’m pleased to say we’re back to normal now though, so at some stage I will post photos.

Anyway, back to the 22nd November, and Jez, Max and I went to Broadstone Rec. for our walk. Here is the angel with the autumn leaves as a backdrop and the floral tributes from Armistice Day at her feet.

Jez and Max were in amongst the fallen leaves too.

And here’s Max on his own.

It was a nice sunny morning…

.. which meant I was able to get some photos of the dogs on the playing fields. Here they are together.

And Jez on her own, looking happy.

Here’s Mr Grumpy.

And, of course, there’s always one has close their eyes and spoil a good photo.

Walking on around I loved the bright yellow of this blackberry leaf, lit by the sun.

And finally for today, Max on the path through the heath as we headed back to the car.

It had been a very pleasant walk.

A year ago today

I took a photo looking across Creekmoor Ponds in the late afternoon light.

Autumn at Broadstone Rec.

Friday 28th October 2016

Today we went to Broadstone Rec. for our walk. It is quite convenient on a Friday as I do my grocery shopping before I take the dogs out.

This week the leaves are really starting to turn. This was our view of the war memorial.

Walking on round the acer is finally starting to turn in the gardens, although it is still not completely red.

And here’s one of the trees alongside the path. I think it’s a beech from the shape of the leaves.

We did a fairly full circuit today, taking in the playing fields and coming back around the heath. Here is a view across the heath.

And finally, Jez having a rest near the children’s playground.

It’s always a nice little walk.

A year ago today

Max and I went for a walk on Canford Heath.

The leaves are starting to turn

Tuesday 18th October 2016

I wasn’t sure we’d get a walk in this morning as I had to take Max for another check-up. I’m pleased to say he’s fine and will go back next Monday to have his stitches out.

I was home in time, though, to take both dogs to Broadstone Rec. Once again I kept the walk quite short for Max. I was expecting the leaves to have started turning more, but most are still green. There are hints of autumn in the air though, as you can see from this photo of the angel.

I found this leaf near the children’s playground.

As you can see, the trees there have a more autumnal feel to them.

And that’s it for today. As I said, just a short walk.

A year ago today

It was a nice sunny afternoon for a walk up the Roman Road to Pine Springs.

Hole

Monday 26th to Thursday 29th September 2016

I’m really sorry about the absence of posts. Hopefully this one will start to explain at least one of the reasons why I have been a little distracted of late. Plus I don’t seem to be taking that many photos, partly due to the overcast weather and very flat light on a lot of days recently. In fact, a lot of the time I’ve been going out without a camera, so only have iPhone photos if I spot something of interest.

Monday was a good example. Max and I went over Upton Heath for our walk. It was a bit of a dull day and I didn’t take the camera. I didn’t really see anything of interest to photograph either, so all I have is a shot of Max standing in the pond.

And then onto that hole. I can’t remember if I mentioned that last week I decided that the ‘stain’ on our hall carpet was actually a growing damp patch. I pulled back the carpet to find the floorboards were soaked though, indicating we had a water leak under the floor. On Tuesday our plumber came. He started taking up the floor in the hall, but it soon became apparent that the leak was actually under the kitchen floor, so that had to come up too.

As you may be able to see, the floor is soaked though. There is no obvious leak so a pipe must just be weeping. But it’s been doing it for a long time so before anything else can happen we have to wait for the floor to dry out. This was the situation on the Thursday.

Although normally we have a board down across it so that we can walk in and out of the kitchen.

As I write this we are still waiting for it to completely dry out.

So moving onto our Thursday walk we went to Broadstone Rec. I was hoping the leaves might show signs of turning, but on the whole they are still green. I did find this maple leaf on the ground though.

And this little cluster of oak leaves.

And I was rather touched by this small personal remembrance left at the War Memorial.

I’m not sure if you can read the note, but its in remembrance of the person’s uncle who was killed on 27th September 1916 at aged 25.

A year ago today

On 29th September Max and I were out walking on Canford Heath.

I get it wrong again!

Sunday 14th August 2016

It was another hot, sunny day today. In the afternoon I took Jez and Max up to Delph Woods to take advantage of the shade and the water. But for the second day running Jez had other ideas and we ended up doing a very different walk instead.

We started out at Delph Woods: after all I parked there. But Jez immediately turned up the path the leads onto Dunyeat’s Heath.

It was very pretty up there, although a bit hot. This silver birch provided a bit of shade.

We got to the top of the hill. To the south it drops away to Dunyeats Road in Broadstone. If you turn east, however, you head towards Gravel Hill and the path that leads back to Delph Woods. From the top of the hill there are two paths leading this way.

The ‘path’ we always used to take turns out to be a fire break and there are barriers and signs saying no entry. Unfortunately the dogs can’t read and this is the way they’ve always gone.

That’s the old, filled-in rubbish tip to the north of Canford Heath that you can see in the background, by the way. At the end of the firebreak we picked up the path again and headed down the hill towards the pond.

Jez was happy to get there so that she could cool down.

I wished I could have joined her.

Max, meanwhile, was content to stand in the mud!

From the pond we continued on, back to the lake in Delph Woods, where the dogs had another dip and Max washed off the mud. Then we headed onto the Scout field where we met our friend Jasper the lurcher and his owners, before we all headed back to our cars and home.

And one more photo for today: of Max in the evening, with his Monkey which he is systematically destroying.

A year ago today

We met our friend Fox on Upton Heath. She’d been splashing about in the mud.

Trees and Dogs at Broadstone Rec.

Tuesday 5th July 2016

For our walk this morning we went to Broadstone Rec. Jez hadn’t wanted to walk much yesterday so I wanted to go somewhere where she could take it easy. As usual we walked followed the path round to the north of the cricket pitch, and I paused at the war memorial and took a moment to think of those who fought at the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago. In the gardens a bit further on I noticed how pretty is this tree that is in flower next to the acer.

We continued on and Jez led us past the children’s playground and down the central path towards the sports fields. There is a maple along here that is beautiful in autumn. I realised, though, that it is beautiful in summer too.

A little further along the path we met our friends Twink (the lurcher) and Twiglet (the whippet). They are lovely dogs and Jez is always excited to see them.

And I loved the way Twink lay on the path with her front paws crossed.

I chatted with their owner for quite a while and then we walked on to the playing fields, where, for the sake of fairness, I took this photo of Max.

And then we headed back through the woods to the cricket pitch and the car. It might not have been a long walk in terms of distance, but we managed to take over 90 minutes walking it.

A year ago today

We went to the River Stour at Cowgrove.

Spring blooms at Broadstone Rec.

Tuesday 8th March 2016

Sorry for the delay in posting everyone. I’ve been quite busy recently (a short spell of fine weather means I’ve been starting to try and tidy the garden up). I’ve also got into the doldrums again with my photography. I have a total absence of inspiration and find I am taking the same photos over and over again. So I’ve had my camera with me less, and on occasion, when I have had the camera, I’ve not really ended up with anything worth sharing. Sunday was a case in point. We went to Wareham Forest for our walk and the only photo I ended up with was one of Jez in her jumper!

So onto today, and when Jez decided she wanted to come for a walk this morning I took both dogs to Broadstone Rec. I didn’t take my camera. I knew there were likely to be shrubs in bloom, but the light was poor so I didn’t this I’d get any decent shots. In the end I used by iPhone.

So we start off with a Magnolia bloom, covered in dew.

Here’s a Camellia bud.

And some Camellia flowers that are open.

Even some of the Azaleas are already in flower.

And I’m not sure what this is, but I thought it was very pretty.

And lastly, to finish, a photo of Jez. A dog barking up the hill has caught her attention.

It wasn’t a particularly long walk, but it was plenty long enough for Jez nowadays.

A year ago today

Max and I went for a walk on Canford Heath.

Wierd winter

Friday 29th January 2016

There has been a lot of discussion on the internet and TV about the wierd winter weather we have been having. Apart from the huge amount of rainfall this month the main talking point has been how warm it has been and the impact this is having on nature and wildlife. On this score I had a real shock today. But more of that shortly.

As usual on a Friday morning I went to Wimborne to do my grocery shopping before returning home to walk Max. I was threatening to rain and was very windy (gusts up to 45mph forecast), so I was surprised when Jez decided she wanted to come too. Conseuqently I chose Broadstone Recreation Ground for our walk today.

The first sign of the mild winter at the Rec. didn’t surprise me. I have had a small azalea in bud in the garden which I have bought indoors so any frost doesn’t get it, but some of the bigger bushes at the Rec were in flower.

Now comes the real shocker (and I apologise in advance for the poor quality of the photo, but it was blowing rather) – I found an oak leaf out on one of the trees!

I know the oaks have had their buds for some time, but they are nowhere near opening yet, so I don’t know what was going on with this one.

Now you may have noticed I used flash for those photos. I don’t like using flash outdoors. I always think it looks far too unnatural, and I think those photos demonstrate what I mean. But I have been watching a course on flash photography and so am practicing adjusting the amount of flash to achieve a more realistic lighting effect. On those two photos I hadn’t reduced the flash power enough, plus there was very little ambient light. I tried again, though, with the dogs when we got back to the cricket pitch.

I still had it too high for this photo of Jez and Max.

And for this one of Max with his ball (which he insists on ripping part at every opportunity).

But I reduced the amount of flash again and this one of Jez is better.

Of course, that meant that by the time I came to take a photo of the two of them in the back of the car it was a bit too low, but the effect is far more natural.

Oh well, I’m learning, and that was just the small flash on the Powershot. I’ll progress to the on-camera flash on the old EOS 20D next.

A year ago today

We had sunshine and clouds on Upton Heath.

We manage to avoid the rain

Tuesday 10th September 2015

Tuesday was another bleak day with heavy rain forecast for mid-morning. I had been planning on taking Max to Canford Heath, but when Jez decided she wanted to come too I changed my mind and took both dogs to Broadstone Rec. At least there there is some modicum of cover and it’s never too far to get Jez back to the car if it does start to rain hard.

As Sunday was Remembrance Sunday it was nice to see the angel on the War Memorial surrounded by poppy wreaths.

We walked around the heath area and the playing fields and Jez was happy as she got to meet quite a few dogs. Then we turned into the woods, where I took this photo of some beech leaves on a low branch.

We made our way through the woods and came out near the children’s playground. I knew there was a lovely maple there and I managed to find some of it’s beautiful leaves, rich with their autumn colours.

By this time the rain had started and it got heavier as we walked back to the car. We were only a couple of minutes away though, so I had timed it, and chosen my venue, just right.

And sorry, there is no ‘Year ago Today’ as I didn’t take any photos that day.

Back to Broadstone Rec

Tuesday 3rd November 2015

It was another miserable morning but despite that Jez decided that she wanted to come for a walk too, so we went to Broadstone Rec. again. When Jez comes it makes a nice little walk that’s not too long for her, but where she normally gets to meet quite a few other dogs.

You may remember that last week I took a photo of the angel on the war memorial framed by the autumn leaves. Well it was a good job I took the photo when I did as this week the leaves were all on the ground and the tree branches were bare.

Given the weather, and that I took quite a few photos here last week, there wasn’t much left to photograph today. There were these pretty sycamore leaves on the playing field though.

And, of course, there was Jez with her tongue out, yet again!

It’s starting to get to that time of year and the sort of weather conditions when its difficult to find anything other than the dogs to photograph.

A year ago today

I only took one photo on this day last year: of a damp entrance to Upton Heath.