December mark 2

So back again. I think Lauren has given me some inspiration. So now this is the second stint of the Month and it is only the 9th well it was when I started. For the last week or so it has been cold the canals and lakes and even some of the rivers are iced over. For the first week in December this has been a shock to the system.

Yes I know if you live in other places this fairly common. However here it it unusual to say the least, especially this time of year. This is Forge Mill lake in Sandwell Valley modeling this months Iced over look.

Even Telford where I am based now has taken on a winter look.

this was taken just up the road from my office looking across to the other side of the valley. In the background through the mist is the Wrekin.

It does have a picture post card look about it. The Wrekin sits in the background. The rose hips in Frost is my favourite and the moment.

The temperature seems to set to rise over the next few days and frost has now gone from the trees and the ice on the ground is melting

Good night !!

December already

So it is December and I have not put anything up since September/October. I suppose I just do not have the enthusiasm that I used to have and "getting around to sitting and typing something up at the end of the day is not all I once thought.

So has any thing changed since last I wrote not much. I am still working in "sunny" Telford. I can still go for a walk and in fact walk just as far if not further than in Shrewsbury, there is a road, a motorway even, but the River is not there and the River changes every day however subtly. By its nature it brings new things passed every day. and I miss it.

I went to see the Cowboy Junkies in at Gorton Monastery Manchester at the beginning of November and they were great. I even managed to take some half decent pictures. The sound was good and they could have played all night. I was a very happy bunny. I first heard them probably over 20 years ago playing Blue Moon (Song for Elvis) , and since then I have kept up with their output. well I usually was about 5 years behind, I actually have almost all their releases over the last decade and they are getting better and better.

I always start this far to late and don't really have the time to put every thing down.



I have to got to bed so good night

End of Sept

So it is the end of September and I finally come back to write something in the blog. I am still taking pictures around home and work. Work has moved I am now based in Telford. More roads and fewer Rivers. I still get to go and walk and take my camera. It is autumn and the colours of the trees fruits and berries are something else. I even manage to capture this on occasion.

I did do a fair on saturday in Ironbridge. I went with quiet a lot of hope that I would at least sell something or that there would be lots of positive feedback and I could make lots of contacts. I don't think either eventuality happened. The venue was so out of the way that even with lots of people in Ironbridge on their World Heritage Day few if any came our way.

This has been short and not very sweet, but has kept my hand in.

Night for now

Back again

So I have started working through the pictures I took on our trip to Scotland this year. We stayed in a cottage in Ardwell a village about 10 miles south of Stranraer in the South West. It was very quiet an peaceful. The weather was kind, what rain there was was usually brief and where it did persist we were driving or more often sleeping.

The sea was just 100 yards from the cottage and the path was easy to walk. So I was able to get some pictures like this of the beach as the sun set behind me. I love the shades of colour in the sea, sky and on the beach.

I saw lots of birds and for the first time in a while, seals. I even got the occasional kind one to pose for me as it lay in the shallows. I have had some pictures of seals before but they have usually been ones where you have to know where to look. this time the seal is I hope easy to see.

OK I will come back to this as I go through my pictures. I did take a lot of flowers and plants this year.

OK time for bed

August no 1

This is more to say I have not forgotten to do this. I have been on holiday in Scotland for the last 2 weeks. The south west corner and I will spend more time on that at a later date. anything else to report. Well yes and no I have been asked to move across to Telford at some stage and work from the office there. When this will actually happen is another thing, I have said yes as it will save me time and money in getting there and back. I will be looking after the Learndirect Centre there so it will not be Rocket Science but it should keep me more involved than I am now.

Until then I will do my walks up and down the Severn in Shrewsbury and take picture. Before I went to Scotland I got a couple of pictures that I particularly like. The first of a Sparrow, I am growing to like Sparrows more and more as I get older. They were one of the first birds I was able to identify (or so my mother tells me) in our garden and after a long period of, I suppose, me ignoring them, they have pushed themselves back into my consciousness. Anyway I like the picture taken in Shrewsbury a couple of weeks ago.

Second I my hunt for the perfect teasel picture goes on. This was taken in Sandwell Valley by the Forge Mill lake.

OK enough for now

Goodnight

Mon again

So possibly a short entry as it is already well past 11:00pm and I am looking forward to my bed. I thought I should come back and put something down as I have not existed in a vacuum over the last week or so since my last post. I have begun as I have mentioned before an upgrade of the site and if you are seeing this sometime in the future it may well have happened. Nothing much will change in the next few weeks but I do need to add in the pictures I have taken over the last few months.

I have started to spend more time on the Rushall Canal which runs not far from where I live and is easy to get to.

This time of year the cut is full of life and colour. I have been lucky enough to see Rudd, Perch Dace and Big Carp along with Pike in the water over the last week.

It does provide a good walk and it means I can get to Walsall Arboretum quite easily. Over the last week or so I have been able to see a range of birds including Common Tern ( who are currently breeding, 3 chicks, at RSPB Sandwell Valley) I got a couple of shots of a pair fishing along the canal on Saturday. This is the best of a bad lot.

I am however quite pleased with the pictures I took of Moorhen chicks. I assume they are second broods. Currently these are my favourites each showing small fluffy balls exploring the big wide world.

I t is definitely bed time now so good night.

second in July

Back again to write something. This is the second post in just over a week. I have been struggling to actually write some things down. OK so the world Cup has been on and I am sure I have come up with lots of excuses. I am still taking pictures. The website has sat for a while without addition. I am working on some changes / upgrades (that may be far too strong a word for it ). Anyway Vertrouge will have some new pictures and some new categories soon. we are back off to Scotland at the beginning of August so I hope to have done something by then.

So what has happened in the last week since my last post. Well I have been to work and we have had the weekend. The weather has held up.. well until today when the rain has returned. I have carried on with my walks up and down the River Severn around the English Bridge in Shrewsbury. A pair of swans has managed to raise so far a brood of seven cygnets who are growing well

They seem to spend most of their time when I am in the vicinity on the far bank or in mid stream. a couple of days ago they were lured across by the promise of bread and I got a couple of pictures. This is my favourite.

On the same day I saw a family group of goosander floating by. They stayed in the stretch for a couple of days before heading on, downstream I assume. There is something about the shape of their heads and the way they move that reminds me of the Velociraptors in Jurassic Park.

Yesterday I went for a walk along the canal that runs near where I live in walsall. I came across a couple of very young moorhen chicks and got a couple of pictures that I am quite pleased with.

As you can see from the first one the chicks were very small, this one looking as though it never wanted to get into the water again. After a while it had found a sibling and was being "fed" by the adult.

OK that is enough for now

Until next time

Onward

So I have been somewhat remiss writing in the blog for some weeks I remember doing something in May, but I have not even checked for a while. Not much has changed life has wandered on. I am still working in Shrewsbury and living in Walsall. the patterns of my life have not changed, maybe that has something to with the lack of writing in the blog.

Well it is now July and spring has definitely transformed into summer. This is my favourite summer picture so far. It was taken just upstream of the English Bridge in Shrewsbury on the River Severn.

I just like the colours and coolness of the water on a hot day.


The River Severn in Shrewsbury has provided my main source and I am developing my flotsam and Jetsam motif. I saw this Sainsburys carrier floating downstream as a bright amoeba drawing in all around it.

For those who have survived my musings for some time you will remember my love of Teasels. Well slowly this years batch is growing and coming into "flower".

Here is one of my favourites of the crop this year so far. You can just see the beginnings of the purple around head.

So I will try and be more regular with this

Time for bed

Isle of whithorn a flying visit part one

Having spent the weekend in Dumfries and Galloway during a hot and dry weekend and driven 300 or so miles there and back again. I feel I should spend some time recuperating and catching up with the pictures I took and writing up this blog. unfortunately no 1 daughters bedroom is in dire need of decorating and it has been decreed that we will get this sorted as soon as possible. so the room is now on the whole devoid of most things to be honest. there is a carpet and the occasional scrap of wall paper so I think I can call it a day.

My daughters had entered the Art and photography competitionn run by Castle Kennedy and the Stair Estates and both had won prizes. So we decided to go and pick them up in person. The presentation took place in the library in Stranraer on the Friday evening. We managed to get a place to stay in the Isle of Whithorn. Which is about an hour away from Stranraer but somewhere we have come back to over the years.

This is the main street on a busy Saturday morning.

the harbour itself is quiet and peaceful with the Steampacket inn possibly the favoured destination.

We arrived in plenty of time and were able to get top the presentation with lots of time to spare.

OK time for bed more in part 2 later in the week decorating allowing

another quiet day

So it has been another quiet day, I went for a walk at lunchtime and although I saw and talked to one of the people I pass quite regularly on my walks, I don't think I pointed my camera at anything at all.

Anything else happen well no. today I think was a normal day and I am not sure what to put down. I probably will have to make some decisions about trying to do something different. Re work I suppose. I am very bored and finding motivation is hard. The walking the pictures and shrewsbury itself are good. I like the people I work with. what I am asked to do is not challenging. Unfortunately I need to pay the bills and this does it. Unless someone has a better idea. Probably that someone is me.

Looking back I have never been able to directly get what I waned. Though sometimes it is working out what I actually want. that is the problem and I know, from experience, that just because something looks better.... the theory is great, the actual practice is crap.

I could get very maudlin here, but I won't. Today is Wednesday and Friday we are off to Scotland for the Weekend.

OK Goodnight

More Stuff on the Severn

Been an odd day in some ways, I went for the walk more to, just do it, and "get it out of the way" and yet I saw more stuff that I did not expect of would have looked for. I suppose that's the way it goes. so I suppose I should start at the beginning. There I walked down towards the English Bridge on the town side bank and in the shallows I saw a 6" long fish and it stayed in the same place long enough for me to get quite a decent picture of it. I have no idea of the species and will have to a bit more than the cursory bit of research that has so far left me none the wiser. I will report back any conclusions I come to.

As a I wandered under the English Bridge heading down stream I caught a group of goosander chicks without parent / adults, foraging. There were five of them keeping together. This was probably the best picture I got of them. I would normally blame operator error, and don't see any good reason not to continue with that.

So continuing downstream I kept my eye on the river, especially on the floating debris that I have taken a fancy to. In doing this by chance I came across a good size Pike sunning itself in the shallows. It seemed totally oblivious to me standing above. I did manage to get this picture.

I know that you will have to look closely and it is blurry, but I am happy with it ad I suppose that is what counts.

Some years ago I did some research with Anne Magurran into the alarm responses of minnows. To be honest she had most of the ideas I think she gave me some of the credit for which I am grateful.

It was as I was trying to get my picture of the Pike that I heard a racket on the river and glanced up to see one of the stretch's Mute swans getting in to the air with some effort. I was quite pleased with myself for this snap shot.

On top of this today was probably the warmest day we have had this year so far. so it was a good day especially in that I got to see so much more than I expected.

OK bed time again

Back soon

No 82

Post no 82. Sorry about that but I was looking at my stats and saw this was post number 82 and felt it deserved some recognition. I have carried on and am still here sporadically at the moment but it is still going which is an achievement in itself for me.

What do I have to get you to look at today. Well spring is drawing on apace and I have seen my first ducklings and swifts in the last few weeks. I know summer is not that far away. The swifts have to be honest to fast and elusive to take any sort of pictures of. One day when I have time and the right place I will do the swift thing. I tried once a long time ago when I first got a camera and spent an hour or so at Chasewater one early June evening. I got lots of pictures of sky and small blurred shapes on the prints that came back a week or so later.

So back to ducklings, This is the first duckling (mallard) I saw earlier this month on the River Severn on my daily lunch time meander along the River Severn in Shrewsbury and has been followed by several more sightings in the general area of the English Bridge. This has included a continuation of the theme of the winter and early spring with the sighting of Goosander brood on their way downstream. this was probably the best picture of I got of any of them as they paddled furiously towards the far bank.

This year has been the first I have seen May fly in any great numbers , I suppose mainly because I have never really spent any sort of time by water at this time of year. Walking on the bank over the last few days has given me a chance to at least catch a sight of them alive rather than on a pin board where I have seen them before.

I saw this one late last week, I assume not long after it emerged. Species... well I am just not well up on my ephemenopteans these days. Never was really.

Today most of the mayfly were on the water again but this time they were struggling, trapped in the surface layer they could not escape. Rather their vibrations of their struggles sent out ripples. I managed to catch the patterns as this individual came to the end of its final day (s).

So that is me for moment. next week end we are going to Scotland and I might get to take some pictures of Stranraer and its surrounds as we explore S W Scotland.

Any way more later. Goodnight

Hiatus

so I have come to put something in. The motivation to keep this going is still there that is why I have got in and done this. The website is much the same and I have not dabbled for a while, the pictures are still being taken and building up. I suppose there does need to be some sort of creative outlet. I just don' t feel particularly creative at the moment. I am still going for my walks and taking photos. It is this bit that has slipped. the process of going through the day and reflecting even if it is only on the pictures and where and when they were taken.

Thinking about it I am sure I have talked about this before. the jump between going out and doing something and recording it, writing it down, I was always crap at the actual writing down bit.

I want to keep this short as as ever it is late for me, and Lauren if you do read this, Hello.

Spring is arriving apace and maybe even the 1st signs of summer can be seen. It is now May and there are still Daffodils in flower, the Horse Chestnuts are in Bloom and the some dandelions have flowered and set seed.

I have continued walking along the river severn in shrewsbury and carried on with the pictures of the "interesting" floating debris I come across.

I still love the feathers, mainly white, that I see with this being amongst my favourites.


So it is now bedtime

Goodnight

Back again minor complain

So after last weeks spurt of activity it has gone quiet again. I'm sort of sorry.I just have not had the motivation I suppose. Work I think is the main driver behind the reduced enthusiasm levels. I find it difficult to get motivated when I cannot plan and work out what I am going to do in the next couple of weeks months. yes I am going to be doing the same thing but how do we move forward and develop it.

I have I think just to get on and work through things myself and present stuff as a fait accompli. We could do things so much better if the organisation had the ability to take a step back and look at the long view. It would be cheaper and more cost effective to get things planned now rather than try and wait until it happens and make it up as we go along. I can do that ( and often do) but it does help to get the background right. Also it would help if those who design the processes actually worked through them in action rather than wait until the everything starts before telling "some of the team" what to do.

OK rant over for now.

Anything else happen of note. I have went up to the RSPB Centre at Sandwell Valley to discover it has been the subject to another arson attack. The link to a report on the fire. words fail me.

OK time for bed back soon

three days in a row !!

Back again so this is the best I have managed this year so far. Not much really to add from yesterday. I have gone back in and had a look at Vertrouge and it is looking better. Not quite there yet. I will need to get the gallery higher up and the line containing "My Blog" and "Say Hello" will have to take up less space. Its getting there.

So what else is going on, work is still in Shrewsbury and I am going out. The weather has been so much brighter this week. Spring is working its way through the fabric as it were. The stuff floating down the river Severn is reflecting this
before it was dead leaves, branches and feathers.

The branches and feathers are still in evidence but now the odd flower is floating by. I did see this dandelion that had been picked and ended up in the River.

I also have seen catkins from a range of species in the water. If I new my trees and shrubs I would be able to tell you chapter and verse on the species. But I don't so maybe next year when I am a little older and maybe a little wiser.

By the Castle Footbridge there is a Horse Chestnut which is "slowly" coming in to leaf and flower. If you follow the link it it is on the right hand side of the picture. Any way I have taken a number of pictures following its various stages of transition from winter to spring.

This is a picture I took today. It occurs to me that we are in the middle of April and the Horse chestnut is coming into flower. When I was much younger I used to read the Ladybird books " what to look for in ... " well in the Spring version I remember the last picture being a Horse Chestnut in flower with Swifts flying around it. I did a little bit of research and came across. this great blog by Helen (and website) who has a much greater knowledge of all things Ladybird.

Anyway is this a symptom of global warming and spring coming earlier and earlier?

OK bed time

Wednesday Update

So as promised I have updated the website. Vertrouge is slowly getting there. There are more pictures directly accessible from the front page. which is what I wanted. Doing it has given me some ideas about what I can do more of in the long run.

anyway I am going to bed now

Night night

Monday more?

So I am back again I have got back to doing so writing on Monday after putting something up on the Sunday. I am quite impressed anyway. I managed to get out today, the weather is warming up though it does not quite seem to know what it wants to do. After a great weekend this morning dawned overcast and dull, but after heading west to Shrewsbury and waiting until lunch time the sun appeared. So I walked down to the River at the English Bridge and headed downstream to the Castle Footbridge.

Today seemed to be a little short of inspiration, so it was going to be a nice day but I had to get back quite quickly and I needed the walk away from work, I am sure you have had those days. So when I got to the Castle footbridge I decided to head across and go back that way. There is a Horse Chestnut which I have been able to get a couple of pictures of over the last week or so.

This being my favourite, it is now officially Spring and every thing is rushing to catch up after the cold winter. This bud just seemed to sum it up for me last week.

Anyway I managed to pass the tree today and all the buds were much further down the line.
Leaves and flowers were bursting on to the scene. As the sun was out it was all quite pleasant and made me feel slightly better about the world.

To cap it all I could hear a Blue Tit pottering around in the Alder just a bit further up the bank and having seen it the little dear stayed in one place long enough to have its picture taken. I managed to get a couple of pictures but this is the best. I like it and am quite pleased with myself.

So I will have to keep going. I will have another go at the website www.vertrouge.co.uk I think it is almost there but I need to have the pictures more prominent.

Until next time

Sunday again

So its Sunday again and I am sort of following the Masters on the Internet as I write this. There is a guy called Ben Dirs doing the text commentary He is my hero. If only I could well ... both Ben Tom Fordyce who both work for the BBC sport website. If only I could type as fast as them.

so what has been going on here at Vertrouge. Not that much to be honest. I have been at work most of the week and on Friday we went down to Cornwall and Perren Sands. It is a long way to go. I came back this afternoon as I have to go to work tomorrow. The wife and children are still there "enjoying" themselves. Well I "have" to do the work thing this week. They will be back on Friday so I have the house to myself for a week.

while I was in Cornwall I did manage top get to the Eden Project , which was really good. The Rain forest Biome was worth it for itself.

The Weee man is one one of the main structures that does stand out.

It is impressive, constructed from electrical cast offs.

so what else. I took this picture of the beach from the sanddunes behind it. the family stretched out from the dry sand into the water

They were a group and I assumed they were a family as there were 2 adults and 2 children. the beach was jus tup the coast from Newquay.

I have had enough for this evening it has been a long day

I did find this picture of a bee in a daffodil I took earlier in the week.

I like the large amount of of yellow. To be honest I don't think the bee was very awake. It spent a good 3 - 4 mins sitting trying to make a a decision as what it should do next.

well it is be time so good night

Chasewater and beaches

Its Monday, but its been a bank holiday here so I don't start back until tomorrow, Tuesday. So I have got back to doing something I did spend last night going through some of the pictures I have taken recently. So what has happened recently ... Not much Spring is steadily of slowly approaching I have see over the last week 2 lots of martins, either House or Sand. I saw my first lot flitting around the Forge Mill Lake around Sandwell Valley last weekend and today on a visit to Chasewater with my children.
The Dam at Chasewater is being "repaired" this year so the water levels have been dropped considerably There are now great areas of mud and sand where there was once water. In the background of the picture is the Water skiing Centre now left high and dry.

As far as I understand Lichfield district Council who are doing the work seem to have a plan and have followed it. There is a blog written by Lizzie Thatcher which is regularly updated and explains what is happening and why.

What else has happened?

Over the Easter weekend we went down to Dorset to visit my Brother in law. After eating and drinking and having a good time I managed to get a walk on the beach at these are some of the pictures I managed to take.

I do like beaches and the range of pictures that I can take. I suppose if you go through my picture there is a high proportion on and around the margins between water and land.

I am keeping going and I thing the website will have to be changed again. to get the pictures closer to the front I think.

Anyway it is bedtime

keeping going stories and pictures

Sorry I have not carried on and written more recently, no excuse really, more of the same reasons, I think motivation being the highest on the list. I am not sure I have run out of things to say I have been quite busy at work recently and although still make sure I take the time to go out and take pics, though if I think about that the number of pics taken has probably diminished during the week. I sort of feel this is a cyclical phenomenon, each step change in the weather and the local conditions injects the adrenaline of the new and as this wanes and I wait for the next "new thing" to see.

There are the pictures taken it is the "processing" going through and almost composing the story I want to tell. I have to upload the picture I have taken. It has been nearly a week since I did that last and then go through identify the good ones, those that tell the story best. There is a repetitive nature in the walks and the stories to be told, well on the whole I am walking the same stretch of river.

I do need to spend more time with the pictures..

May be I should expand on what I write about... Any ideas??

Bed time methinks, long day tomorrow

Tuesday a quiet day

Another quiet day, well in terms of going out and walking. I had a wander up the Reabrook valley again. I did seem that most of the birds were out singing and I sort of get a sense of rushing to catch up. It has been a cold winter and only now are the daffodils and spring flowers showing, equinox has just passed and I have not seen a tulip yet. Work was busy, well it keeps me out of mischief and I sort of enjoyed the session this afternoon, once it got going. It will be better next time though as I will have more material to work with.

Ok so I am being vaguely cryptic, I was doing a session on CV writing , and having already gone through the "prescribed version" a couple of times found it did not really meet the needs of our clients. Talking to my colleagues and the clients I decided to try and get them to understand the application process an employers perspective. So I "created" a range of C V s and am creating some more all targeted around the same "job" (Thank you Reed.co.uk ).
Anyway this was only part of the session but as I work through I will get more and more CVs in a range of styles and formats.

Although I have not uploaded the new version of the website version 2.111 etc is definitely in the works. I need to continue to update the gallery, both with new categories and the sections themselves with more recent pics. this should be there in the next week. www.vertrouge.co.uk

Have a look and tell me what you think

Anyway time for bed

Another day another post, Well I am keeping going. As I said in previous posts I am keeping up with the walking it is the sitting down writing about it bit that I am finding harder to do. I do need to get back into a routine of down loading the pictures I take and then going through them to see what is worth putting up for the rest of the world to see.

OK so recently I have discovered for myself the Reabrook Valley . As it runs behind the car park at the back of our building and the stream itself flows into the Severn just upstream of the English Bridge on the River Severn.

I think over the last week or so I have been feeling fairly sorry for myself work is being demoralising and I suppose the time I was spending walking just did not have the same effect. So one day I decided to have a look up the road rather than go down towards the river. I did not have much time so when I walked up Abbey foregate I did so more to get the walking in. I came across the sign and started to explore.

Over the last couple of days I have worked my way upstream I have managed to go someway upstream and am hoping to explore more.

This picture shows a fairly typical stretch, lots of riffles and pools and lots of evidence of much higher water levels in the recent past.

I have also managed to see some wildlife. So today I chased a Kingfisher downstream, I would walk down the path and catch a glimpse of a blue dot against the stream, usually disappearing around the bend, or occasionally perching long enough for me to catch site of a blurry small blue and orange dot through my camera lens which would after 3 - 4 seconds would disappear around the bend. It was during one of these moments that I glanced across the stream and saw a mink exploring the opposite bank.

It stayed still for a picture and then ran into the bushes. This is the first live wild Mink I have ever seen so I am quite pleased wit myself. OK so it is not the best picture ever and the animal in question does look like a cuddly toy but that is what it looked like.

Publish Post

Anyway I am going to finish here as I have done enough navel gazing for the moment.

Bed time

Wed evening

I am keeping going though I don't think I have gone through the pics I have taken over the last couple of weeks.

This I took from the English Bridge in Shrewsbury, although it was early march only one of the black headed gulls have gone any where near getting the summer plumage.

I have spent much of the tie reworking the website and re jigging the pictures in the recent images section and integrating them with relevant sections on the Gallery. I have decided to add some more sections as well. It is a slow process, but I think worth it.

something short for Wednesday

Survived Wednesday and another week is slowly slipping by. I am not sure how much I regret the passage of time at the moment. Work is well work and is not stretching or engaging me. I like the people and on the whole the clients. I like working in Shrewsbury and the being able to walk on the river Severn most days. I have even managed to do a little more exploring so that I can extend my walks and still be back on Abbey Foregate within the hour.

I am steadily updating the website and am much happier with the new colours I have started to work on the "monthly " pictures and distribute the relevant ones into the gallery and have a think about more categories. I will have to do something that reflects the fall and rise of the river over the last few months and also the "flotsam and Jetsam". I do have an Autumn set of pictures so Winter would be fairly logical. this would give me and excuse to go beck through my "archives" and did some stuff out. Over the next week or so I will try and get this completed. Life is intruding at the moment so I will try not to put too much faith in any predictions.

OK bedtime...........

Keeping going

Its still march, in fact I have just surprised myself as to how soon I have got back to the blog. The motivation to carry on has been waning a little. I think it is more to do with doing other things than anything else. I have updated the website to an extent (www.vertrouge.co.uk) and although it is much better than before, which was good for version 1, version 2 needs some refinements and in some places completing.

I am still trying and most days succeeding in walking, and generally getting more exercise and as an adjunct taking my camera and seeing what "inspires".

A couple of weeks ago I dragged my two girls or should I say they dragged me around the Hayhead Reserve in Walsall and walked though one of my Childhood play areas "Cuckoos Nook and the Dingle"

Trying to take pictures in a composed manner was nigh on impossible. Well what did I expect ...

I did catch this very tame Robin who came up close as we rested between bouts of major noise production and running around with no particular direction. I am quite amazed how long it was before the moans of "Daddy! Can I have a carry" floated through the woodland.

Otherwise I have spent most of my "walking time up and down the River Severn in Shrewsbury. Slowly perceptible signs of Spring have begun to appear. The temperature and general lack of sun seems to have slowed everything down. Finally over the last few weeks various flowers have appeared, including these hardy fellows.

Walking up and down, what is a relatively small stretch of the Severn around Shrewsbury, I have started "noticing " the things that float in the River, the Flotsam and Jetsam, as it were. At the moment the most visible "natural " floating items are feathers, mainly white, which sit on the surface and are carried quite quickly downstream.

On top of this there is the cast off material, the Jetsam. To be honest there do seem to be a lot of empty bottles of varying descriptions. There does seem to be no covert message in any. I will leave you to identify the overt ones.

This at the moment is my favourite of the floating pictures. The leaf has begun to sink below the surface but is still holding on and I could work out lots of imagery and continue to deconstruct for some indeterminate amount of time.

However I have decided that it is time to go to bed and to come back soon.