It always surprises me how hard some people find it to identify these widely-grown crops, even those who live in the countryside. They are all species of grass bred over thousands of years, and generically known as corn (as in cornfields). Just to add to the confusion, their…
Category: photography
Spent a sunny evening here in this lovely informal garden with glorious views across the Marshwood Vale towards Jan’s Hill and Pilsdon. Full of interesting plants, I took my macro lens and decided to concentrate mostly on close-ups of flower forms. Next time, I need to take a…
Making the most of the hot dry weather, I did a clifftop walk along part of the South West Coast Path. We started in Bowleaze Cove, which is bordered by a strange mixture of expensive upmarket housing and budget tourist accommodation, plus a rather intriguing Spanish-style building of…
A baking hot summer’s day was perfect for spending time on the beach, dabbling in rock pools and enjoying the sea breeze. The Hartland peninsula on the north coast of Devon has a rocky foreshore with strongly folded strata of Carboniferous sandstone and shale, which run out to…
Tonight I visited one of the many Iron Age hillforts in the local area. The one atop Pilsdon Pen (one of the highest hills in Dorset at 277m, second only to Lewesdon) has a commanding view over the Marshwood Vale to the sea southwards, and far into Dorset,…
Sometimes, it’s the tiniest thing that makes an image work. I’ve banged on before about how a sunset sky often makes a boring image even though it was lovely to behold, and such a photo usually needs something pretty definite in the foreground to be compelling. We’ve had…
or …. happiness is a full washing line Shibori is a Japanese word for what many aging hippies will know more commonly as tie-dye – although it is often practised in a far more sophisticated and subtle way than the T-shirt with concentric circles you may remember from…
A quick walk to see the last of the bluebells on my way to the shops today. Whilst much of the population was glued to their TVs watching the Royal Wedding, I was wandering happily in the sunshine through a sea of fragrant blue, and admiring all the…
One of the few densely wooded hills in this part of the world, this is a wonderful spot to visit in May, when the woodland floor is carpeted with bluebells and ferns, and the tree canopy is just bursting into fresh leaf. It’s a bit of a hike…