Up close

During my short break in Upper Wharfedale, the weather was unusually bright and sunny. It's delightful to see the Dales in such conditions - pale limestone, spring greens and blue skies are a winning combination. It was, however, really too bright and contrasty for good landscape photographs so sometimes I concentrated smaller subjects - the swirls and eddies of the streams, bits of sheep's wool caught on twigs, the wildflowers and birds like the pretty male chaffinch, who posed nicely for me on a rusty wire fence.