Must do Better

Shot of the Day

I phoned Tootlepedal this morning to see if he was interested in a visit to the moorland feeder station. We went up in separate cars as Tootlepedal had a funeral to attend and wasn't staying any length of time. He left after a short while and I was not too long after him, we were both suffering from the bitterly cold morning. I received a message from Carole saying she was coming to attend the same funeral and would I like to meet her for lunch afterwards.  

I haven't seen Carole or Malcolm since Christmas time so there were a lot to catch up on. After Carole left I thought I would have another visit to the feeder station but better prepared for the cold this time and a flask of coffee.

 For all the time I spent in the hide using a tripod I'm disappointed at my inability to get really sharp pictures of birds. I could say I need to buy a better lens but that is like saying a poor workman always blames his tools. I think I really need to pay more attention to what I'm doing and keep checking. Never the less it was a pleasant afternoon in the new hide, well worth a visit if you're passing. One very disappointing aspect of my visit was the banana skins and orange peel that was left scattered on the ground outside the hide, surely it wouldn't be have been too much trouble to dispose of them more appropriately.

Dull Morning Bright Afternoon

Shot of the Day

Another grey day awaited when I woke this morning but I'd no chance of pulling the sheets back over my head for an hour or two as I had an appointment at the the health centre and it was my turn to fill the moorland feeders. The new hide is a godsend, it was pouring down when I arrived but I was able to sit in the hide and view what was going on until the rain stopped. I spent sometime after filling the feeders but the light was so poor I was unable to get any shots of any quality as you can see.

 

I mopped about for the remainder of the morning before getting ready to travel into Carlisle to meet work colleagues Joan and Christine for lunch and a catch up before we start work on Monday.

The Burrell

Shot of the Day

Rodin's Thinker

I looked up Rodin's Thinker online to see if this was the original but discovered it was one of several castings, so in theory it is quite original.

If we all have a bucket list I ticked one of mine off today by visiting the Burrell Collection at Pollock Park Glasgow.

 I set off this morning catching the bus I usually get for work. The buses that are travelling from Galashiels to Carlisle aren't the most reliable, both time wise and mechanically. The bus  we had been allocated seemed to object to being pushed along and this caused a bit concern with the daily commuters wanting to get to work, but all this was unfounded as we arrived well on time. I had enough time to spare before I caught my train to Glasgow to allow me to collect my glasses from Specsavers, which had been in for repair.

I arrived in Glasgow on schedule and met Margot who kindly acted as my tour guide for the day as she has done on several occasions. After coffee, tea & scones at Pollock house we had a walk around the grounds before visiting the Burrell Collection. The following shots aren't the best of quality as I was shooting in low light and using a high ISO.

Pollock House grounds

The Burrell Collection (Part of it)

This is only a fraction of what we saw. 

The building was purpose built in a way that the building features didn't distract from the exhibits but still made a very modern statement, which I'm sure Sir William Burrell would've approved. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit but I didn't get the wow! factor that I expected. Maybe I need to visit in the summer when the park and gardens are in full bloom. 

We returned to the city centre and had a late lunch and a really good conversation before I caught my train back to Carlisle then the bus back home to Langholm.

More Mist

We seem to be living in a semi permanent world of mist at the moment, the hilltops have rarely been seen these last couple of weeks. After breakfast I went and did my turn at the feeder station. The new hide is well on its way to being finished, the hardcore floor has been laid and the trees that would've obstructed the view down the right hand side have been removed so I'm looking forward to some comfortable bird watching in the coming months. That done I stopped off at Wauchope Cottage for Coffee. Work on the end wall is well underway so much so that the wall was entirely gone and the foundations were being excavated when I arrived. Dropscone was there when I arrived with some very tasty treacle scones, we were then joined by the Minister. The conversation was light and cheerful. 

I left Wauchope Cottage with the intentions of returning later to go for a walk with Tootlepedal only if the delivery of his replacement Kangoo was delivered on time but by the time it arrived all hopes of a walk were gone. On the way to collect Tootlepedal to go to the Archive Centre I stopped off at Craig Hislop's house to pick up a disc containing rugby photos to use in as a slide show at an up and coming event at the Rugby Club in March. Unable to get a connection to the internet we returned to Wauchope Cottage and put in a week of the E&l into the database.

No shot of the day just a few shots I got at the feeding station this morning.

The offending trees have gone

The pheasants can now forage without the fear of getting shot as the shooting season has just ended

A Robin looks longingly at the seed feeder.

This Blue tit doesn't know where to start.

The view down the right hand side now the trees are gone.

I would just like to say congratulations to Daniel Lacey and his team of volunteers on the tremendous effort they have put into this project. I only hope that locals and visitors alike come and spend sometime in this wonderful new amenity.

A Foggy Walk

Shot of the Day

There was a dense layer of fog over the town when I woke this morning which was to last for the rest of the day. I had a breakfast of toast and poached egg washed down with a pot of fresh coffee then headed off to the producers market. I had an interesting conversation with David Mcvittie (Big Deev as he is known locally) about when it is cheating and not cheating in photography, a subject that is debatable according to some. To me photography is as much an art form as it is a recording device. If you want to record an event or scene as it is that's fine but I see no harm in perking up what could be a dull flat picture. An artist would possibly omit a pylon in a landscape painting (artistic license) so why cant a photographer remove it?

After purchasing a scotch pie and a couple of rolls for my lunch I called in at Wauchope Cottage to see if Tootlepedal was interested in going for a jaunt after lunch even though the town was enveloped in a murky dismal fog and the chances of any interesting shots was minimal. We agreed to meet later.

Our chosen route was an easy walk along the Becks burn and round by Ha'Crofts. I say an easy walk but for some reason I found it hard to summon much stamina and didn't get the pleasure out or the walk that I should have, but Tootlepedal's excellent company made up for it.

Looking down on to a very murky town

We stopped and chatted with Wull Earsman who told us that he spoke to a chap who had traveled from Hawick earlier in the morning and there was lovely sunshine a just few miles up the road.

Looking over the Glebe field towards Gaskell's Walk

I wonder what has been burrowing into this tree stump?

Even though the weather was depressing to say the least, some of the shots have retained a certain atmosphere  and turned out rather well.

The trees as we made our way down to the Becks burn seemed to filter out the mist.

Looking at the underside of these fallen Larch trees you get an idea how near the surface the roots are hence that's probably the reason so many fall in strong gales.

By the time I got to the top of these steps I had to stop and rest for a while, Tootlepedal who seems to go from strength to strength on his new knee kindly waited until I gathered some energy to go on. When we came to the road instead of turning left as usual and heading back towards the town I suggested we go the other direction for a short way for a change. 

Tootlepedal stopped to take a shot of something interesting.

This is what he was interested in.

Somewhere among these trees is the remains of a Curling pond. As a young lad in the fifties I can remember the rink was quite visible but full of vegetation. When the trees were planted I cant remember. In the Spring time we would make our way up here to hunt for Frog Spawn and Newts. This would be frowned upon nowadays but we did very little harm and at the same time learned a lot about our local natural environment first hand. 

The rink in 1896

We decide it wasn't worth our while going any further and retraced our steps back down the road stopping off to take the odd shot on the way.

The Auld Stane Brig