Ducks

Collection of photos of ducks.

Starlings

Collection of starlings photos featuring the birds in different locations, male and female, juvenile, adult and old.

 

Robin looking for Food in the Grass

Shots of the most popular and friendly british bird, the robin redbreast, in my friend’s back garden. He was hopping around looking for food and eventually found it in the form of a nice juicy worm.

The Deer Park at Boughton Monchelsea

The Deer Park is situated near Boughton Monchelsea in Kent. The pictures were shot at the back of St Peter’s church, in the graveyard. The graveyard sits some 4 metres above the park and shows a great elevated view of the deer and surrounding landscape as the ground falls away downhill. There are a large amount of deer on display, adults and children frolicking about and eating the green grass contentedly. The park is owned by Boughton Monchelsea Place, a nearby manor house of which the park is part of its estate.

Pigeons

Various assorted images of pigeons showing them in various situations and styles, some are close up picks, others are further away. Some of the pigeons have crazy speckled and spotted markings and strange colours. Others are your common grey variety. Some refer to them dismissively as “rats with wings” due to their large numbers and supposed uncleanliness :- pigeons may be common (in the UK at least) but they can still be beautiful. Did you know a white pigeon looks an awful lot like a dove? Doves are pretty aren’t they. And pigeons can be pretty too. If you look closely at a large group of pigeons you will likely find they can have a wide variety of different colours and patterns, white patches, speckles and freckles. Does this variation come from cross-breeding with doves? Could be.

 

Garden Birds

Collection of garden bird photos featuring finches, tits, robins, blackbirds and hopefully woodpeckers among others.

Steam Train and Boat Journey from Churston to Dartmouth

The trip starts at the village of Churston near Brixham in Devon. It seemed a good idea to take the trip to Dartomuth by train because, a) it seemed fun to go on a steam train journey and b) there is no parking in Dartmouth. Also, we needed to take a boat across the mouth of the Dart River to the main town on the west bank and the best way to get a ticket was a package deal with the steam train.

The train stations, both at Churston and Dartmouth, were decorated in the old fashioned late victorian style with old piles of luggage and old adverts. When I first stepped onto the platform I felt a strong urge to grow a handlebar moustache and smoke a pipe. I also briefly scanned the area trying to find a young urchin to clip round the back of the head for no reason. But my search proved fruitless. Ah well.

Totnes

Totnes in Devon is one of those towns known as transitional or – “A Transition Town” . This has something to do with the promotion, participation and encouragement of new age, hippy-dippy, alternative and ecological thoughts and feelings through the medium of town. A Transition Town is ideally a town emboldened by self-sufficiency and community, a town ready to withstand the future socio-economic problems and pitfalls of climate change and peak oil. How does a town do this? Via the application of ecologically sound and green-friendly ideas such as permaculture and alternative economic ideas such as local currency to encourage and sustain local business.

totnes pearly king
totnes pearly king

Needless to say there was a pleasantly alternative atmosphere in the town with plenty of dreadlocks, tye-dye clothing and attractive women wearing big, ugly, doctor martin boots. I hate to stereotype but its true! To be fair, there was a good mix of all types of people – posh out-of-towners, locals, the young and the old.

It was market day in sunny Totnes when we visited. One could buy loads of old carpentry tools and/or teeth-shatteringly expensive vegan cuisine if they so wished. I had spicy hot bbq chorizo wrap which was nice. I met a pearly king – he must have got lost down an alley at a London market and ended up in a Totnes Market – I suspect Mary Poppins had something to do with this sorcery. He was a very nice chap and we chatted for a while about photography.

I nearly purchased an old manual lens but did not have the adaptor needed to try it with my camera. So i gave it a miss and in hindsight i’m glad i did. Buying old manual lenses can be quite an addiction. They can be quite cheap and very good but i think this one would have been mediocre at best.

We had a nice devonshire cream tea on Totnes High Street. The scones where the size of buns and served with loads of clotted cream and loads of strawberry jam. It was diabetes on a plate. And it was good!

At the end of the visit we met a couple of street performers outside Totnes Castle. I took a few pictures of them, they didn’t mind as long as i sent them the images later. They were really nice people ( and a bit drunk! )

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Torquay

Torquay is the jewel in the crown of the “english riviera” , an area in South Devon situated around the Torbay area of Brixham, Paignton and Torquay.  The large harbour dominates the sea front, with a fantastically big, big wheel nearby, just like one found in London – the London Eye.

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Lots of tourists – including me and my family.

The whelks were mediocre – and expensive.

Brixham in Devon

Took my hols in Brixham, Devon recently, very nice little fishing town. Nice whelks. Its difficult to get good whelks nowadays it seems. When they’re good they’re very good but when they’re bad – ugh! I have found via experience this rules seems to apply to most seafood. But I’m not sure about jellied eels though – i’ve never eaten any nice jellied eels.

Anyway, the harbour is very pretty as is the surrounding area, and the people are very friendly and laid back. This makes a change from my area, where many people seem to busy and/or self possessed to give a monkeys about anyone else. 🙁 Or is it just me?