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