Re: Today in pictures
 

Welcome back Max:gooddog:

Re: Today in pictures
 

even though it was raining on Friday being the idiot I am decided to walk home from town .... I did give up and caught the bus home mainly because I was soaked ... but got proof that spring is definitely here .. and summer is on its way ... so church street, market hall, oakhill park and Howarth art gallery and park ..

Re: Today in pictures
 

Lovely pics Jen... that poor bee looks a bit bedraggled in the last picture...probably a bit like you.

Re: Today in pictures
 

I was Margaret I was soaked by the time I got home and starving .. didn't get my dinner till 4pm ... :D but the cherry blossom is coming out .. the bluebells in oakhill park are coming out as well .. i'd seen them coming down on the bus .. that's why I thought id walk it home .. :D by the way there are a few more to come yet .. will put them on later ..

Re: Today in pictures
 

Will look forward to that Jen.
I love the Cherry blossoms...and bluebells remind me of being a little girl and being told not to risk the wrath of the fairies by picking them and bringing them into the house.

Re: Today in pictures
 

All good and interesting pictures

Re: Today in pictures
 

some more from Friday ...

Re: Today in pictures
 

Very colourful Jen...like them, they were worth getting wet for.

Re: Today in pictures
 

I just want to stop sneezing :D

Re: Today in pictures
 

All that pollen too!

Re: Today in pictures
 

Spring woods near Whalley is a veritable carpet of Bluebells at the moment, well worth a drive out. In a few weeks it'll be the Ramsons Wild Garlic taking over....

Bluebells and Red Legged Partridge (spotted in the Trough of Bowland)

Re: Today in pictures
 

My first butterflies of the year and the first time I've managed to photograph Orange Tip Butterflies...

Re: Today in pictures
 

Very well done with this picture

Re: Today in pictures
 

Thanks, they're usually one of the first butterflies to emerge and whilst I see them a lot they very rarely stay still for long....

Re: Today in pictures
 

There's a Blackbird near me (I hear it everyday) that sings literally from just getting light in the morning until disk in the evening... This isn't it, this is one I spotted in a tree at Dunsop Bridge... though it was singing just before I took this shot.

Re: Today in pictures
 

First one I've seen in many years (apart from road kill) and the only time I've photographed one. I did try and move the grass out of the way but it tried to bite me.... A Hedgehog... Now I did wonder about seeing it out during daylight (although it was about 19:30pm), apparently female hedgehogs will come out during daylight for nesting material and extra food....

Re: Today in pictures
 

I spotted this in Newton-in-Bowland, near Dunsop Bridge today.......

First image was taken using Canon 24-105mm f4, second with the Sigma 30mm f1.4 Art

Re: Today in pictures
 

Down town Accrington.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Nice one... Why were there cowboys in Accrington?

Re: Today in pictures
 

Our own native squirrel, as opposed to the imported Grey one.

Red Squirrel at Formby Point (probably the only place to see them in the North West of England), I've been a dozen or so times over the last few years and have always seen one or more of them...

Re: Today in pictures
 

...because the market was on? :rolleyes:

Re: Today in pictures
 

Tongue in cheek.
It was taken at a photo shoot I was doing for a Western group.
They had a backdrop of a Western Saloon.
They paid for the others so I can’t post them here.

Re: Today in pictures
 

A visitor to the back garden yesterday, a ragged looking Blue Tit.

Re: Today in pictures
 

More Red Squirrels from Sunday...

Re: Today in pictures
 

Lovely shots, but No.2 is fantastic, if a little sad in showing what most of us in this country no longer see. The London Zoo has a lot to answer for releasing Sciurus carolinensis (aka the 'flying rat') from their cages.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Thanks, I'd rather the see the Red Squirrels than the Greys, it's not their fault they are here. I always remember them from the Tufty Club.

Re: Today in pictures
 

A evening bug hunt from Monday...

1, 2 and 3 are Green Dock Beetles
4: Weevil
5: A Fly - possibly a Sawfly....
6: Orange Ladybird
7: Two Flies - I don't think this is an amorous clinch - I think the one on top is sucking the insides out of the other....
8: Bluebottle

Re: Today in pictures
 

Really good pics as usual...Like No 5

Re: Today in pictures
 

Thanks, apparently the Black Fly - image 5 - is a St Mark's Fly - Bibio marci

Re: Today in pictures
 

Lot of birds about in Clayton so dad put some bread out back for them to eat....

Decided to stick out my camera and remotely take photos of them...

Re: Today in pictures
 

Bread isn't good for birds, seeds and/or dried mealworms are much better for them.

Re: Today in pictures
 

I bought some meal worms for the birds and they would not eat them.
I get a fruit and nut mix to add to my breakfast cereal and it is always full of big raisins....so I share these with the birds.....maybe that is why they would not eat the meal worms.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Only some birds will eat dried meal worms - Pied and Grey Wagtails are a few, Magpies, Jackdaws and Crows will also eat them, as do Mistle Thrushes and Blackbirds. I've had all of these visit my yard for the mealworms I put out.

A lot of other bird like seeds, the problem is pigeons also like seeds - and there's a big flock that perch at the end of my street.

Re: Today in pictures
 

you would think they wouldnt eat it if it wasn't good for them

Re: Today in pictures
 

Rob, I guess it is a bit like humans having a Mc Donald's.
Not good for us, but we still munch on them.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Some interesting info here - https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wi...aps-for-birds/

Our little visitors love the meal worms, I mix it in with seed (they don`t eat the seed if the meal worms aren`t there).
We also put out suet candles & half coconut filled with fat, the bigger ones like these as well as the small ones.
We also get a couple of cheeky magpies that come down and nick Daisys uneaten dog biscuits.

Re: Today in pictures
 

A few from yesterdays bug hunt.....

1. Shield Bug - not sure what sort as it isn't fully grown
2. Mason Bee - I think
3. Green Veined White Butterfly

Re: Today in pictures
 

Some more bugs from Thursday - you might get to see a lot of these over the coming months as it's bug hunting time...

1. Female Scorpion Fly
2. Male Scorpion Fly - that scorpion like stinger is actually it's genitalia...
3. Green Dock Beetles - getting a bit amorous
4. Solider Beetle - alas there are several similar coloured ones, so not sure which one it it...

Re: Today in pictures
 

Well, these are superb pictures....though I have to say that beetles, bugs and creepy things do not really appeal to me.
If I am truthful, they scare me a bit(and not much does).

Re: Today in pictures
 

What DOES impress me though is that you know what these beetly bugs are.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Robins love mealworms

Re: Today in pictures
 

We have stopped feeding the birds as we have seen a couple of rats about

Re: Today in pictures
 

Thanks Margaret, I must admit to finding bugs and beetles fascinating purely because there's such an interesting and varied range of them and unless you look closely you'll often pass them by without noticing.

Almost every time I'm out bug hunting I get people asking what I'm looking for - as I'm usually looking at leaves or under them or in undergrowth - so as I point out things they're usually quite fascinated. Also with my macro setup I'm usually quite close to them - even bees and wasps - when I say close I mean less that 15cm away. In a lot of cases I'm usually crawling around on the floor.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Often times it's because I've seen them before or they're quite easy to id, often though I do have to post on various macro forums and hope someone else knows what the are.

Re: Today in pictures
 

A couple of holiday photos taken in Norway last week, just to see how they are treated by the website after resizing.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Bee Fly - Bombylius major

I've never seen one of these before, so initially I had no idea what it was. It is about the size of a normal bee and even with the naked eye I could see that long spike on it's head - it's proboscis as it turns out and used for drinking nectar and totally harmless...

Re: Today in pictures
 

a few I took in Bergen when the ship berthed, what we didn't know was that it was Norway's independence day and there was a mile long parade through the streets and people dressed in traditional clothes. To top it all off there was also a big fair on the side of the docks...And the sun shone all day.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Not sure I'd want to go on that upside down ride.....

Re: Today in pictures
 

Micromoth - Micropterix calthella

I spotted these on the stalk of a dandelion, it was the shiny yellow/gold colour that caught my eye and the fact that there were several of them. It wasn't until I got home and saw them on a big screen that I realised that they looked like moths.... These micro moths are usually difficult to identify.... however these were the first I saw on a website I use for identifying bugs, beetles etc

Re: Today in pictures
 

What a great shot.
They are beautiful....well when they are captured on a shot like this.
I am not sure I would be so enchanted if they were in the room with me.
(Yes, I know this fear is 'learned' behaviour )

Re: Today in pictures
 

Thanks Margaret, though to be honest I doubt you'd even notice them, they're only about 4-5mm long - they're not called micro moths for nothing.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Some random images from today - no bugs for a change... All taken in Whalley today:

A Sheep
The Flying Scotsman
A Crow fishing at the weir.

Re: Today in pictures
 

All good pics, like the last one

Re: Today in pictures
 

I had an invitation to look around Todmorden Grammar School where I studied in 1950-55. It's been a junior school for 40 odd years since they closed the Grammar School and now a new building has been erected for the juniors the old school building will soon be no more.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Oh, doesn't it take you back?
Did it still smell like schools do....a sort of mixture of disinfectant, floor polish and chalk dust....with just a soupçon of old wood?

Re: Today in pictures
 

What a handsome building. Much less daunting than the old Accy Grammar, as I recall the latter. Hope someone with a bit of vision can keep it and find a new use.

Re: Today in pictures
 

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4420261d50.jpg
Saw this kestrel on the hunt near my works yesterday



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: Today in pictures
 

A couple from today, both I've never photographed before, the beetle I've never seen before and although I've seen Dippers quite often I've never managed a photograph of one.

1. Click Beetle - possibly Athous haemorrhoidalis
2. Dipper

Re: Today in pictures
 

Perhaps not the greatest of bird shots, but I really liked the contrast between the water before the edge of the weir and the water after, the Black Headed Gull was a bonus....

Re: Today in pictures
 

I'm slowly sorting my Norwegian photos out so at risk of boring you here are a few more.

Re: Today in pictures
 

A few pics from a day at the beach

Re: Today in pictures
 

It's just a pity you can't hear the screams.

Re: Today in pictures
 

A day out to Port Patrick and the Mull of Galloway

Re: Today in pictures
 

We used to rent a holiday cottage at Gatehouse of Fleet and loved our trips to Portpatrick,

Re: Today in pictures
 

We are at Auchenlarie caravan park, about 5 miles from gatehouse of fleet.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: Today in pictures
 

Is that on the left overlooking the sea after you pass Gatehouse?

Re: Today in pictures
 

That’s the one
Attachment 56809


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: Today in pictures
 

I should have started posting about this a year ago, the bottom end of Roy's garden has been neglected for years overgrown to extreme here's day 1 thru to more recent, plenty of work still to do.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Well, seem to be having prob with tapatalk, maybe it will be another year before I get around to showing progress?[emoji38]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5e6cc61ba8.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...818dffdb6d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9203001d9f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ef5a5502e3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...8c773a0b27.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3515d488ec.jpg

Re: Today in pictures
 

Photos taken on Inchfield moor Walsden nr, Todmorden.
I used to roam those moors 70 plus years ago.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Some from the weekend...

Battle Silhouettes

Taken at Rossendorf (Rawtenstall) as part of the battle re-enactment on Sunday, I thought I try something a bit different...

f11, 1/1600th to 1/2500th, iso400, -2/3rds ev

Re: Today in pictures
 

Rat-a-tat-tat!

I've got a machine gun and I'm gonna use it...

Taken at Rossendorf (Rawtenstall) as part of the battle re-enactment on Sunday at the ELR 40's Weekend

f11, 1/400th to 1/500th, iso400, -2/3rds ev

Re: Today in pictures
 

Let me guess, the "American fighting man" belonged to an airborne unit?


82nd AA or 101st SE, it seems that just like in Hollywood were it was the Americans that won the war all by themselves, in re-enactment circles there was only ever Airborne Divs that fought.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Yes, there were some from an American airbourne unit - no idea which one, but there were also British units and soliders from Russia as well.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Winston and Oddball

Or: I'm drinking wine and eating cheese, and catching some rays, you know.

Captain Winston Havelock (The Mummy - 1999) and Sergeant Oddball (Kelly's Heroes 1970), I've also photographed the man on the left doing a very passable Captain Mainwaring of Dad's Army in Darwen.

Re: Today in pictures
 

A hazy evening up Pendle Hill.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Love the 2nd picture

Re: Today in pictures
 

Nice to see the Pooches' are still galloping about. :)

Re: Today in pictures
 

Very busy at work means our outings are few and far between, it was nice to get out with them.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Long time no piccys, so time to change that. Visitors Furry & feathered to our garden today, then this aft, we went Strawberry picking (well Marion did) I wandered off to take some Hoss photies. :)


One of the local furry ratbags x3 - Greenfinch female - House Sparrow female - Great tit - Great spotted Woodpecker - House Sparrows, male & female - Some Hosses x2.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Today I've been photographing these cute little guys at Formby Point. Whenever I've been I've always seen at least one Red Squirrel and come away with several decent shots. The highlight of today though was one Red Squirrel came right up to me and took a nut (Ok they aren't nuts but legumes) right from my fingers, luckily he moved away so I could actually get a photo..

There are many nuts that look the same but this one is mine....

The last image the squirrel came and took the nut from my fingers, I've never had that happen with grey or red.... The Reds are extra cute....

Re: Today in pictures
 

I made a special trip to Formby point to photograph the red squirrels and I’d no sooner got set up when 6 large coaches turned up.
Each coach discharged at least 50 screaming children, probably 8 and 9 years old, all wearing high vis vests and screaming and running around so that was the end of my photographic session.
Anyway I went the short trip to Crosby beach to see Antony Gormleys statues in the sea and got some great shots of them with the tide lapping around their legs.

Re: Today in pictures
 

I can image that being quite annoying. I've only ever been late afternoon 5pm onwards on either a Sat or Sun, I usually go after visiting Martin Mere and RSPB Marshside at Southport.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Spotted this extremely rare Double Headed Gull Catcher today .... (I've only ever heard about them on Cryptozoology websites ...)

Re: Today in pictures
 

Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits

Re: Today in pictures
 

Be careful if you are travelling down the North Wales coast.
It seems pirates are back.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Saw her (Duke of Lancaster) last year by Mostyn as we were travelling home from Porthmadog after visiting friends. We like to do the coastal road when time permits. :)

Re: Today in pictures
 

Its changed slightly since last year Dave. They have slapped a bit more paint on her and put those large signs up.. There is a big portacabin just through the heavily locked and guarded gates. Security men at each end.

I was told the ship houses a few art studios.

Re: Today in pictures
 

A bit too windy for this guttering in town!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...57d1722771.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...145f505f11.jpg

Re: Today in pictures
 

One from this evening, the view from Jeffrey Hill...

Re: Today in pictures
 

I was asked a few weeks ago to be the photographer for various activity groups at The Todmorden NHS medical centre.
Last week they had a visit to Ossy Mills. this week the art group visited the Yorkshire sculpture park where these photos were taken.
I haven't a clue what it all means but the art group enjoyed the day,
A lot of the photos I took were of the groups posing with the statues so they now belong to the Medical centre.

Re: Today in pictures
 

Right there with you brother! A heap of spuds is art? :confused:

Re: Today in pictures
 

Of course it is, just not as cultural as an unmade bed with used tampons strewn around the floor, or a perfect set of bricks that the artist couldn't be bothered to put mortar in the joints, the only things lacking from the pile of potatoes is a naked lady with a peeler in her hand. What a night that would be! Chips with everything!
[emoji106]

Re: Today in pictures
 

There's gold in them thar spuds!

Re: Today in pictures
 

In Yorkingshire? It'll be stained & much used tin foil ftom their baked spuds! :D

Re: Today in pictures
 

Heron Fishing at a weir in Whalley

Re: Today in pictures
 

Well, it was flippin scrochio today, first I went to Embsay Steam Railway as there was a classic/vintage car rally on

1. A 1970 Dodge Charger and in the background a Morris 'Woody' Traveller - I hired one in Plymouth in around 1985 for a week when I lived there to travel around Devon and Cornwall (I was a student at the time so couldn't afford my own car) for a week. I remember there was no synchromesh on 1st gear, which meant you had to be stationary to get it in first gear - cost £5 a day to hire....

2. Watched some steam trains..

3. And as I had time to spare I went to Brimham Rocks - as the last time I went it rained after the first hour of being there - today though was absolutely scorchio.... and was like an oven up there - mind you it seemed like every man and his dog where up there climbing the rocks...

Re: Today in pictures
 

1. What looks like a cloud over Darwen
2. Is actually smoke from the fire on Saddleworth Moor :(

Re: Today in pictures
 

Blackbirds Fishing and a Mink at Whalley...

I've seen Crows fishing, and Dippers and Herons and Gulls, but this is the first time I've seen Blackbirds do it. I guess they've been watching the other birds...

First time I've ever seen a Mink let alone photograph one, fairly hefty crop as it was 80ft+ away

Re: Today in pictures
 

Oh dear, we don’t want mink about.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk