Reportage Roundup - March

Saturday 19th March

Chris Baker - founder of B.R.A.V.E

March roared in like a lion with over 300 motorbikes joining 'The Bomb Run' charity ride from Coggeshall to Carver Barracks in Wimbish, to raise funds for B.R.A.V.E.  Bikers Respect All Veterans Equally
Chris Baker, a former Royal Engineer, who became paralysed after suffering injuries when his military vehicle was hit by an IED, founded the organisation which raises funds to be shared around various military charities.

The ride was led by Chris on his special Harley trike, and riders from all over the region roared onto the windswept airfield behind him for a group photograph in front of some of the military vehicles stationed at the barracks.

Give us a wave! Just some of the bikers for the group photograph.

The all-important charity patch, to sew onto the riders cut-offs.

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Saturday 19th March

Follow the instructions for the treasure hunt.

By contrast, the gentle pastime of an Easter Treasure hunt, took place at Thaxted URC, where children were given a booklet of clues, to help their in search for letters hidden around the church. Once these had been collected and re-arranged to form an Easter greeting, families were invited to sit back and enjoy tea and cakes in the newly opened-up community space within the church.
View the gallery

Hunt the letters.

Cakes and organ pipes. The new community space opened up after removal of pews.

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Saturday 26th March

Hunt the bunny - hiding in the pak choi bed.

Continuing in the treasure hunt theme, Saffron Walden County High School Farm Club held their open day on a cold and dreary Easter Eve. This didn't deter masses of families arriving for the indoor barn activities, in an attempt to dodge the unpredictable weather. Once again, clues were provided to guide the young visitors to the hiding bunnies.

All the usual farm animals were there for visitors to become acquainted with - Dexter cattle, goats, sheep, guinea pigs, ferrets...
There was some reserve when encountering this constantly wriggling mustelids but thankfully all children went home with all of their fingers, although the farm club crew-member had nicely scratched hands (and a smelly sweatshirt!) Despite their odorous faults, I do have rather a soft spot for ferrets myself.

View the gallery

"If I stroke it, will I keep my fingers?!"

Am I pretty or what?!

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Monday 28th March

Sponsor a duck.

From furry wrigglers to yellow swimmers. Easter Monday brought the crowds out for the 1st Rayne Scouts annual duck race. These quackers, some of them veterans of many races, were assigned to hopeful custodians and over 1,000 ducks were released into a fast flowing River Brain. Storm Katie had just passed through and so the trailing wind helped to rush the bobbing bath-mates along to the finish in swift time, with the crowds keenly following on alongside the river bank.

View the gallery

Under starters orders. Over 1,000 yellow ducks waiting to float away.

Crossing the finish line - come in no.1000, you are the winner.

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As March came in like a lion, so it had to go out like a lamb, and just to oblige, one of the four-week-old farm club lambs provided a cheeky baa!

 

Little Egret

You looking at me?!!

Yep, I'm a Little Egret or in Latin Egretta garzetta and I live in the tidal lagoon at Rosscarbery in Ireland. The town is right on the Wild Atlantic Way, the world's longest defined coastal touring route, so I'm sort of used to having people stopping and looking at me, although I'm still a bit nervous when the cameras come out.

The tide is just on its way back in but before it reaches this spot, there is just time to pop along to do a bit of fishing - now that I've finished my session of must-do preening in the winter sunshine of course.

Now, there is a bit of a technique to fishing and these big yellow feet of mine come in particularly useful.

You see, I paddle about in the shallow water and as I do, I jiggle my foot about in the mud at the bottom, which hopefully will release some tasty morsels from their secure resting place.

Sometimes I have to go back and forth a bit.

But I'm always keeping my beady eye open for that tell-tale movement, aaaaaaand...

...Bingo!

Smart eh?!

Day 22 - August Challenge

Challenge - "duck" on 22nd (two little ducks in bingo I believe) in colour"

Suggested by - The Tax Father via Twitter

Two little ducks '22'

No? ...Well they can both swim and they were both eating the grain, which had joyfully been delivered at regular intervals by lots of little people.

However, when all had gone quiet again there was this secret life going on at the duckpond, and which the little ones wouldn't have been too happy to see. A whole family of rats inevitably inhabited this neighbourhood and were ducking and diving to collect the 'easy-pickings food' which was falling from the sky (as was the rain falling from this morning)!

The local moggy, whilst sitting watching the goings-on from the vantage point of the pond fence post, certainly didn't wish to appear to be too efficient in the control of these grain-fattened rodents.

Meanwhile, the ducks just dabbled away, unabashed.

The grab shot

My thanks to:
The Tax Father for the suggestion






Tomorrow, Day 23

"Seasonal plums"

Day 21 - August Challenge

Challenge - "Underwater via an aquarium or fish tank, 21st"

Suggested by - Richard via Facebook

Although I have discussed underwater housings for my G12 with today's challenger in the past, I still haven't yet taken the plunge with my cash, or the plunge with the camera for that matter. As a little camera, the G12 might be worth the risk but I certainly wouldn't consider putting my big DSLR underwater. This meant that 'underwater' would have to be approached from a different angle and seeing as it stated 'via aquarium or fishtank', it relieved me of task of doing a quick PADI qualification.

Aquarium or fishtank. Now that wouldn't have been a problem less than two months ago but some of you may have noted my glee when the fish finally left home to live with their rightful owner - our recently graduated eldest. This now left me with a slight dilemma, where was I to find a suitable fishtank. It crossed my mind to make a visit to one of those seaside aquariums, where it is possible to walk through tunnels 'underwater' and sure, it would have been rather cool to get the underbelly of a shark. However, the seaside is a daytrip, and I allowed myself one of those yesterday. Fishtanks a bit closer to home then ...my local garden centre!

Thankfully they were very obliging and allowed me to shoot away 'sans flash' (would I do anything else!). At first I was fascinated by the wonderful shimmering colours and amassed a lovely collection of abstract colour patterns from long exposures. Then I turned to the little joker - the clown fish. Cute and instantly recognisable by even the youngest of visitors, I heard the cry of 'Nemo' with some regularity. So not that one then. Eventually after visiting all of the 2 dimensional fishtanks I happened on one which I could see through three sides.

Having had a fishtank at home, I knew there would be a wonderful mirror effect which I could take advantage of. Now, to just wait for the... erm (I forgot to check but I think they were some form of Angel fish) to move into the right place. With only one 4GB card with me, I had to delete many shots of unobliging fish poses (never work with animals!) but my mantra of just 'going with them' would surely pay off eventually. After what seemed like an eternity of those pursed lips coming to greet me at the corner of the tank, and the umpteenth time I was down to the last shot on my memory card, I disheartedly fired off another last shot. A quick look at the screen on the back of the camera and I realised that "that would do it!"

(What is it? So many times, it is either the first or last shot that ends up being the one!)

On reflection, it was lovely to move back to glorious colour after a couple of black and white days.

So Richard, here for your "underwater". Are you seeing double?

The grab shot

My thanks to:

Richard for the suggestion

Maidenhead Aquatics for allowing me to lurk in their tank rooms

Tomorrow, Day 22

"Duck"

Day 20 - August Challenge

Challenge - "A proper classic yacht. Any day. B & W I think"

Suggested by - Roger via blog

When I was set this challenge, I knew exactly where the inspiration had come from and why so specific. Over the Winter months, I had watched the tweets and followed a blog about the ups & downs, the hard work, and the joys of the up-keep of an old girl. An, 80-this-year old girl to be precise. Her name is Ranger III, and she is a proper classic yacht.

Not being particularly in tune with the sailing world, I started to wonder where I might find a proper classic yacht to photograph. Indeed, I wondered what constituted a proper classic yacht anyway. A quick plea back to the challenger returned this answer:

"Anything traditionally built rather than production yacht. Almost certainly of timber construction. At least 50 yrs old. Sea or inland."

"So that includes Ranger III then?"

Thinks...
"Would the birthday-girl be around to photograph on the 20th?"

Now call it a bit of a cheeky-cheat, but not to take the opportunity to capture a lovely shot of this old girl, which I had got to know through social media, would be such a shame, and I really wanted to see her for real too.
Thinks again... A trip up to The Broads would be rather nice and I could take my old mum along for the jolly too.
"It looks like it will have to be Ranger then?!"

And thanks to Roger and Mrs Crew, (whom I have finally met too, after only reading about her) that is exactly what we did today.

A stunning August day, with wonderful cloudscapes.
Four of us for a sail along in the old girl (and mutt came too!)
A shoot with Ranger III passing back and forth on a beautiful stretch of water, with windmills as a backdrop.
A sail back, with me being offered the helm (A brave man letting me do that - if only he knew the problems I had had on a barge holiday!!!)

Beautiful!

Now which image to choose? So difficult as Ranger III is truly a stunning boat. First I selected one with the iconic windmill in shot. It was lovely but the windmill was stealing the show, and it is Ranger III who is the star. Then I remembered what Roger had said.
"There isn't much wind around today, choose one with wind in her sails"
To which I replied
"I will choose one with you smiling in shot ...but then you should be looking happy anyway if there is wind in the sails"

Close-up detail

...I think I chose the right shot!

The grab shot

My thanks to:

Roger for the suggestion
Roger & Mrs Crew for giving up their time to take the motley crew (me, mum & mutt) on Ranger III

Tomorrow, Day 21

"Underwater via aquarium / fish tank"

Day 18 - August Challenge

Challenge - "Weeping Willow"

Sugested by - Ian via Facebook

Today I have gone for the traditional picture postcard look. After all, weeping willows are part of the scene in the traditional English countryside, and where could be more traditional-feeling than Byron's Pool in Grantchester, on a summer Sunday. Families were quietly fishing around the waters edge this evening where, apparently Lord Byron would swim. This fact is said to have been written about by Rupert Brooke, the Edwardian poet, who, many years later, lived in the near-by Old Vicarage.

Unfortunately for me, the sunshine, which had earlier been playing through the weeping branches of the tree, decided to curtail its appearance as I began to photograph at the pool. Unlike the picture postcards of yesteryear, I have refrained from hand tinting the sky, even though Photoshop would be the perfect tool. I prefer to leave as-is as much as possible. One day I will return to capture the image with a perfect sky, but for today, I'm afraid I will have to present a less than perfect white sky.

The grab shot

My thanks to:

Ian for the suggestion

Tomorrow, Day 19

"Love"

Day 8 - August Challenge

Challenge - "Waterfall / wet"

Suggested by - Hilary via blog

A waterfall ...in East Anglia?!!

Well, there are certainly none of of any consequence in this region. For anything spectacular, I would need to be in The Peaks, The Lakes, Wales, anywhere but here, and I was destined to be here in East Anglia today. So I thought... There are natural waterfalls and man-made waterfalls, and I was more likely to find the latter, here in this region.

Sewage out-flows? No!
Weirs? Possibly.
No, wait! What about water leaking through lock gates? After all, the whole point of locks it to allow water to go up ...and down. Water levels fall = waterfall. Yes?

Well, too bad, that is what I decided anyway and I took myself off to the nearest lock on the River Stort Navigation. Sure enough, I found a leaking lock and was able to apply a little bit of the 'milky water' treatment to the escaping river. Whilst it isn't my favourite technique, it worked quite effectively in this situation, although I would have liked the lock to be rather more leaky!

Knowing who suggested this challenge, I'm sure the choice of locks would be appreciated, having spent many hours, even days walking the canal paths of the Midlands. However, I cannot compete with what was the inspiration for this challenge - the Angel Falls in Venezuela, the place her daughter was actually visiting when challenge was posted.

...Lucky her, I'm not in the least bit jealous!

The screen grab

 

My thanks to:

Hilary for her suggestion

OS map 167 for guiding me to the nearest lock (And jolly nice it was too! I will certainly be going back)

Tomorrow, Day 9

"Dog"

Needle in a Haystack

 The Fastnet Rock and light house which was to be the turning point today- quite literally!

We had motored our way along the Southern West Cork coast this morning, in conditions which could only be described as perfect. So glassy-calm was the sea, it was possible to catch the reflections of the clouds in the water. Despite the glorious sunshine warming our backs, the air was still chill but after all it is only March. 

So what were we doing? On Monday, there had been a sighting of a new Humpback whale just off Baltimore. Whilst this sub-adult whale was feeding, it had been possible to catch photographs of the dorsal fin which confirmed it was indeed a new visitor and was numbered HBIRL22. For the second year running, the Humpbacks were in the waters where they had not been recorded during March or April before. To the IWDG this was exciting news and a research trip on the Holly Jo was quickly convened for today. Fortunately for me, I was still going to be in West Cork and jumped at the chance to go and be a pair of eyes in the search for HBIRL22.

All along the coast, past the Stags where I had watched the early whale visitors last year and on past Baltimore where this new little fella had been spotted on Monday but we saw nothing. We knew from the start that it was going to be a needle in a haystack search but undeterred, we kept our watch as we motored on towards the Fastnet Rock, which became the turning point on our trip. The circumnavigation of 'The Teardrop of Ireland' was a first tick for me. Some 17 miles as the crow flies from our bedroom window, and from where we can see it flashing at night, it had become a definite must visit, although this wasn't what I had been expecting to photograph today. Rather we had hoped for the fluke shots to complete the essential cataloguing for research purposes.

Meanwhile, the ever opportunistic Colin Barnes threw a fishing line overboard, and along with Padraig Whooley of the IWDG, they amassed a box full of pollock, enough to feed everyone for dinner tonight (apart from me as the' low fares airline' wouldn't be too impressed with me stinking out the cabin on my home bound flight tonight!).

So this became the overriding memory of the trip today.
Calm seas, sunshine, Fastnet and pollock, but no Humpback whale.

Such is wildlife life.




Here is a link to a GPS tracking of the route we covered.
My thanks to fellow IWDG member Robert Newton for letting me share this.

Havergate Island, Suffolk

Havergate Hare

Looking for peace and quiet?
Wanting to be at one with nature, birds and hares?

Then Havergate Island in Suffolk is the perfect destination, and that is exactly where I was headed last Saturday morning.

Passing through West Suffolk on my way to the coast, via the A14, I was quite relieved to see that the chimney at the Bury sugar factory was chuffing straight up into the early morning air. This meant one thing.
Calm.

Calm was exactly what I wanted for my next encounter with the Suffolk seas. My previous visit had been altogether more, well, shall we say 'bouncy' when I had been out on a shoot with the RNLI back last November. Saturday was looking a promising 'my-kind-of-sea' day.

Along with three other photographers, we had been specially invited by Suffolk Coast Events Officer, Monika Koch to visit Havergate Island, owned and managed by the RSPB.

Located in the River Ore, right on the Suffolk coast and sandwiched between Orford Ness and the land, meant technically I wasn't actually going out to sea. However, anything which involves a boat on tidal waters is 'sea' enough for me. We climbed aboard the the RSPB boat, the October Storm to make the twenty minute trip from Orford Quay to the only true island in Suffolk. An 'exclusive' bird and nature reserve.

Noted for being home to a breeding colony of avocets, it is also home to wide selection of resident and migratory gulls and wading birds, including, in season, the spoon bill. With a resident pair of barn owls and a famous colony of 'Havergate hares' I was going to be like a kid in the proverbial sweet shop. So what to a piddly little boat ride!

Being a tidal estuary, sea levels were working against us to land neatly at the island jetty and so it became a boat clamber and a jump onto the shingle shore with all of our gear. (We shouldn't complain, this is the way everything comes and goes to the island, and when I say everything, I mean everything)

Thankfully it was so calm on Saturday morning, that even the oar splashes lingered on the water long after the rowing boat had moved through.

As a group, we were there on a specific mission as well as acquainting ourselves with the facilities. The island has no mains services but boasts a small visitor centre, with picnic area, an all important warden hut, and a number of roomy hides set alongside the series of carefully managed lagoons.

 However, I wasn't there to specifically photograph the bird life...

...more shall we say, to take rather a closer look at things.

As for the hares. Well, they just presented themselves in such a way that I couldn't avoid a photograph or two.

Truly captivating!

All too soon, it was time to bid adieu to this wonderful little haven in the estuary, and as we all headed back, our minds were buzzing with the possibilities, and plans for another visit.

The plans?

Very soon, all will be revealed.