Finally stopped still.
An elusive dart of blue
Enjoying his catch.
Kingfishers are a nightmare. I once paid for a workshop in order to sit in a hide for two hours, never seeing a kingfisher. They were almost becoming mythical creatures in my eyes, no easier to find than a unicorn. But fortune favours those who persist, or perspire, and I was lucky enough to see this guy one morning, having just caught a newt for breakfast.
The snow falls gently,
Hiding the imperfections,
Deadening all sounds.
Apologies if it is your winter, but for me it is summer. Given the choice between snow and sun, I would choose snow every time.
Stacked up and ready,
Lobster pots eager for work.
Awaiting the boat.
The north-east coast of England is a treasure trove of harbours, islands, and castles. Seahouses is the gateway to the Farne Islands, famous for Grace Darling and puffins. The harbour is still a working port with its own charms.
Must-do in Windsor
The long drive to the castle
Home of monarchy.
Windsor Castle dominates the town. With Eton College just the other side of the river, I guess the Princes didn’t even have to get a bus to school.
Clean air and warm sun,
A walk along the tide line.
Picnic chair for one.
A slight application of background blur to this image of a family walking the beach at Filey, North Yorkshire. Only the one chair, but I am guessing that she who carries it sits on it.
What’s it like up there?
The same as it is down there,
Just a better view.
One year my children bought me a wildlife experience, with special access to the wildlife park at Woburn. A really good day getting closer than normal to some of the animals. Being high up is not something I am used to, but I can imagine tall people get really fed up with people asking about the weather…
A tired soldier sits
Watching the tide rolling in,
Trying to forget.
This sculpture sits on the North Bay at Scarborough, North Yorkshire. It is called “Freddie Gilroy and the Belsen Stragglers”. Freddie Gilroy was a soldier in WW2, who participated in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The piece was made partly as a tribute to him, but also as a wider war and Holocaust memorial. For once the haiku genuinely has relevance.
Ancient defences
Defeated by erosion.
Broken in the sand
Cayton Bay in North Yorkshire is almost uniquely home to several pill boxes. Some are still on the cliff, some crashed and broken on the sandy beach, and a couple precariously balanced waiting for the last few feet of cliff erosion to send them crashing down. They were built as potential sea defences in WW2, to protect the coast from potential invaders.
Follow the leader
Blindly hoping not to crash.
Just a little damp?
I have missed a few days with the blog as I drove on the wrong side of the road to get to the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, in Belgium. Traffic was a nightmare in Belgium, and the Belgian drivers even worse than I remember. But we got there in one piece, plus a possible speeding fine and a scrape on the rear wing trying to get through a narrow door to the hotel parking.
As you may have guessed, as well as the F1 there were Porsche, F2, and F3 races. Altogether an enjoyable weekend, despite the aforementioned mishaps and a 4 hour wait at the tunnel in France. C’est la vie!
No place for colour.
The contrast of white on black.
Swan taking a nap.
If ever there was a subject that needed monochrome, this is it. The swan was in front of a dark piece of lakeside woodland, which made it really stand out.
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