Test Shots

My subtle hints and suggestions worked a treat and I’m now the proud owner of a new camera. (Placing the order myself was also pretty effective). So today I’ve been driving everybody mad taking photos of everything.

This is the next door neighbours Cockerel.

After breakfast we all got out for a family stroll up to the Pepper Pot. Amy and Ben went up in double quick time. Dad had to take his time because of his angina and Angela and I were in the middle trying to keep sight of both the sprinters and the dawdlers.

I’ve looked in vain for a view of Ingleborough from Castlebarrow recently, but today with a ’super-zoom’ to try out it was brightly light and standing out with a dusting of snow.

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I made several attempts to capture birds today, of which this Chaffinch is the best:

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We had a splendid lunch at the Station Inn near Holme. Driving home we saw a ditch bank covered in Anemones and also some Marsh Marigolds in another ditch. “Oh, they’re flowering in Lambert’s Meadow.” Angela told me. I’m pretty sure that I saw a pair of Partridges on the roadside too.

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Naturally, I had to go and check out Lambert’s Meadow. I walked across the field and onto Bottoms Lane. The hinge on the kissing gate there gave a good opportunity to try out the camera’s macro facility:

 

And some Blackthorn blossom tested the ’super-macro’:

In Burton Well Wood a Horse Chestnut’s sticky buds were opening:

And in the wettest patches of Lambert’s Meadow, beside the stream, there were indeed Marsh Marigolds:

I took a turn around Clark’s Lot and Sharp’s Lot. I didn’t see the Marsh Tits again, but I did have the day’s second brief encounter with a Roe Deer.

Even as the light began to fade, with a covering of snow the Howgill Fells dominated the view to the north-east:

The sky had been quite bland and grey, but now the cloud was breaking up and offering more interest:

My new camera has features that I will probably never need or understand, but I think that the next few weeks will be a steep learning curve and I’m quite happy with the start that I made today.