Coppice pond patterns

It can be hard to find attractive photos when we seem to be having so many dull and drizzly days. I ventured up to the Bingley St Ives estate but was uninspired until I started taking pictures of the ripples on the water in the Coppice Pond. Even then, I felt they needed a little artistry.

Cool pool

Bradford City Park was looking rather splendid in the winter sunshine when I passed through the other day. It's rare to see it empty. There are usually a few children or youths splashing around in the shallow water but it was really too cold for paddling! It meant that for once you could see the reflection of our beautiful City Hall, just a little blurred by the faint breeze across the surface. Although the sun was bright, it was too cold to hang around for long, so I took a quick snap on my phone and I headed off to Waterstone's book shop in the Wool Exchange, where at least it was warm and cosy. I omitted to take any pictures in there, but you can see the magnificent building on my blog HERE.

Dam acrobatics

Another camera club outing took us to Adel Dam Nature Reserve on the outskirts of Leeds. I seem to have been making a habit, this summer, of going to places where I really need more zoom on my zoom lens! I would find it hard to carry a large lens around, so I'll just have to make do with the one I've got. I don't usually do a lot of nature photography - and indeed, the first impressions of Adel Dam didn't reveal a lot to photograph anyway, apart from the very peaceful waterside scene. It was a warm, muggy day with not a hint of a breeze so the reflections were near perfect.

Patient observation from the hides, as so often, started to unpack a little more activity. There are several bird feeding stations around the reserve and families of blue and great tits were active. At this time of year, the juveniles still look like pale watercolour impressions compared to their more definitely marked and coloured parents. We saw lots of grey squirrels too, playfully leaping about and shamelessly helping themselves to the peanuts from the feeders, despite measures that had been taken to try to keep them off.

There were a few ducks, mostly mallard, all looking rather dull and 'female', since the males all lose their coloured plumage in the summer. I think I spotted some female mandarin ducks too - much less showy than the flamboyant males but with a distinctive white eyestripe. Then (below) we saw a little grebe (sometimes called a dabchick, which name rather suits it).

Notable 'spots' at the feeding stations included some great spotted woodpeckers, by far the most common of the three species of woodpecker found in the UK.

The acrobat above, enjoying pecking at a fatball, is a juvenile, which has a much larger patch of red on its crown than the adult male. It wasn't put off by the great tit pecking away at the top of the same piece of fat.



On the left, the absence of red on the bird at the top suggests this is the adult female, whereas the one at the bottom is, I think, the juvenile again.
























The acrobatics were contagious... A jay appeared (below) and seemed quite content to feed completely upside down at the feeder! You wonder how they cling on at that angle!

Sunlit water

Lister Park lake looked such a vibrant shade of turquoise in the sunshine, I had to try some abstract images. There are always plenty of birds: geese, ducks, gulls, tracking across the water so that the surface is constantly rippling like a bolt of shot silk in the wind.

Blue sky in the park

Sunny days and blue sky make for cheerful photos, if not technically good ones. One such day at the end of May, I took a stroll round Lister Park. I always think the back view of Cartwright Hall, Bradford's civic art gallery, is rather more attractive than its front. Lawns at the rear, sloping down to the lake, were covered in daisies. Though they're a common flower, it's not often you see them forming a complete white carpet like this.

The boating lake was an unlikely shade of bright turquoise. I've never observed it looking quite like that before. There were no boats in evidence though. Perhaps the boating season hadn't started, despite the bright weather.

Y Felin (The Mill)

Back to my holiday journal: 
Wales: Nestled in the centre of St Dogmael's, beside its mill pond, is Y Felin, one of the last working water mills in Wales producing traditional stoneground flour. Probably originally built in the 12th century by monks from the nearby abbey, its history is documented from the 1640s. It was a working mill until the 1920s, when the miller, Evan Gwynne, died. After that it lay closed up and unused, until it was bought in 1977 by Michael and Jane Hall, who set about restoring it, including the laborious work of digging out the mill pond and sluice. Inside, it still has the machinery that was installed in 1820, restored by Mr Hall and now in full working order again.

The pond is fed by a stream coming down off the hill behind. Water then runs through a sluice gate to power the water wheel that, by a series of interconnected cog wheels and shafts, drives the mill machinery.

Even the door is ancient, marked with signs that have been authenticated to the 15th century.

The mill not only sells bread and flour but second-hand books too! 

Come back tomorrow and I'll show you round... We had a tour.

Spring notes for Easter Day

Photographs from a walk around the St Ives Estate above Bingley, on a fine, warm spring day. There are plenty of signs of spring, though everything goes at its own pace.

Primroses in the hedgerows:

 Trees bursting into leaf (this one's a beech, I think):

whilst the oaks are slower to respond to the warm sun:

I'm always glad that our northern hemisphere's spring coincides with the Easter festival. 

There's tangible evidence of Christ's resurrection power all around. 

HAPPY EASTER! 

Reservoir views

It was a wonderful day for taking photos around Fewston Reservoir: sunny intervals with gorgeous reflections of the clouds in the water, and enough good light to bring out the soft winter colours.

It's odd how some trees (beech mostly) seem to hang on to their leaves all winter. The touches of rusty colours are rather attractive, especially when the sky is blue.

Bright stems of willow and cornus add highlights against the evergreen trees. In the woods, the dappled light was very pretty.

Fewston Reservoir

Fewston Reservoir looked stunning in the sunshine. I had a very pleasant walk round the perimeter path, which is wide, smooth and largely flat. It's about a four mile circuit and then I went in search of the snowdrops in the woods, so I walked about six miles altogether, very satisfying. The reservoir is a popular attraction for runners, dog walkers and those of us oldies wanting an easy constitutional. I passed a lot of people on the way round, some twice - haha! Most were friendly and said a cheery hello. Many of the dogs were friendly too, one so much so that it jumped up with its muddy paws on my coat. That does annoy me, that people can't control their animals. (Reservoir dogs - yikes!)

The reservoir, built in 1879, is one of four in the Washburn Valley. It was good to see it more or less full, though Lindley Wood, further down the valley, looked a bit low. I don't know whether the water stocks have been replenished this winter or not. We've not had much snow and I'd say the rainfall has been somewhat less than usual. After the dry summer we had last year, there is always the possibility of water shortages if we have similar weather this year.

Three angles on Lower Laithe

Lower Laithe Reservoir, west of Haworth, was constructed in the 1920s by building a dam across the Sladen valley, just above where Sladen Beck joins the River Wharfe. It supplies water to Keighley and the surrounding area. It is a noticeable landmark when seen from the higher moorland around it.

The valve tower is quite distinctive - and its walkway provides a roost for flocks of black-headed gulls.

There was hardly a breath of wind when I was walking there, so there were some interesting reflections in the water.

Tarnfield Park

I don't know when they started calling it 'Tarnfield Park'; it's always been known locally as Yeadon Tarn. I haven't been there for a while and I'd forgotten how much higher up it is. Here in the valley the snow soon melted but up there it was still very icy. My walk was more of a slide and a slither on the icy paths, which had been tramped down and polished by many feet. It's a very popular spot with families and dog walkers, as the wide tarmac paths are usually good for kids' bikes, pushchairs and wheelchairs. Despite the cold, there were still plenty of people enjoying the mile or so circuit of the lake, which was almost completely frozen over.

The lake is normally used for watersports and one end has been developed into a small nature reserve with reedbeds and ponds.

It adjoins the Leeds-Bradford Airport main runway, so walks are enlivened by sightings of taxiing aircraft.

All the waterbirds were down at the far end, where there was a small area free of ice, perhaps due to its proximity to the town centre of Yeadon and the nearby buildings. Unless they were after the bread that people were throwing, the swans seemed to prefer standing on the ice to being immersed in the cold water. It's always comical to watch the ducks sliding about; they seem a bit puzzled by the ice.

Tong Park

My camera club will hold its biennial exhibition this summer, so I've been choosing a few photos to have printed. Stage two of the process is to get them mounted, so I trotted off to the picture framer that I use, in Baildon. It was a very cold, frosty day but, as the sun was shining, I also took the opportunity to have a short walk round nearby Tong Park.

Tong Park was a mill village that was built by the Denby family around their Tong Park Mill in the 1850s. Unlike Saltaire, little now remains of their empire. The mill finally closed in the 1990s and is now an industrial park. Some of the original village was demolished from the 1960s onwards and now the area is a pleasant and mixed residential zone. There are a few rows of Victorian terraced houses still dotted around. Interestingly, I noticed some of them are 'back to backs', where the houses share party walls on three sides, with only the front wall having a door and windows. They were often badly built and came to be considered unfavourably, so most have now disappeared.

What does remain is the mill dam, nestled in the Gill Beck valley. It provides a tranquil focal point in an area of grassland and woods, rich in wildlife and unusual plants that thrive on the glacial moraine.

The ducks were rather bemused that the lake was completely frozen over. They just stood around, seeming rather fed up with things. 

Climbing out of the valley, there was a good view back over the lake towards the Hollins Hall golf course and, to the left, the rather picturesque cricket ground. On the hillside (where the evergreen tree is) stands a war memorial, erected by the Denby family to commemorate the men from Tong Park who died in WWI.

Practising at Ilkley Tarn

I met with a friend from my camera club one afternoon and we walked up to Ilkley Tarn. Both of us are keen to improve our photography and I'm still on a learning curve with my new camera, so we were trying out manual exposures - with limited success in my case! It was a dullish day and the light wasn't great, but we still enjoyed chatting and learning together. Coffee and cake in one of Ilkley's lovely coffee shops rounded off a very pleasant afternoon.

The Tarn sits on the edge of the moor, above the town, and was created out of a bog in the 19th century, initially as a mill dam. It then became a popular place to walk - and skate when the water froze in winter - and was 'prettified' with shelters, lights and paths. It even had a fountain at one time. It has been a popular meeting spot too. Emmeline Pankhurst, the suffragette leader, spoke at a rally there.

It's still popular with dog-walkers and those seeking a gentle walk along decent, mud-free paths. You can happen upon it unexpectedly if, anticipating a moorland walk, you follow the path from the town. Indeed, beyond it there is access to Ilkley Moor proper. It always seems a little odd to me to come across the old Victorian lamp-posts that line the path. A bit of Saltaire in Ilkley or even a touch of Narnia in them.

Chellow Dene

Some attractive autumn colour on the path around Chellow Dene. It's a local beauty spot between Shipley and Bradford, popular with dog walkers. It has a good path through woodland and around two Victorian reservoirs that once supplied water to Bradford. I don't think they are used now, which probably explains why these lakes are fairly full with water whereas the reservoirs higher up on the moors have very low levels.

Ogden Water

A beautifully warm, sunny autumn day meant I had to get out and enjoy it, so I took a trip to Ogden Water, a reservoir and nature reserve on the moorland up above Halifax. Built over 160 years ago, originally to power mills, it was adapted to provide drinking water for Calderdale. The bad news is that they are running out of it! I was quite shocked to realise the impact our dry summer has had on our water reserves. Normally the reservoir would be full up to the treeline.

The surrounding estate and woodland is managed as a nature reserve, with a small visitor centre and café, and walking and orienteering trials. The path round the lakeside is flat and suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs so it is a popular spot. (Rather a pity that the car park is quite small, rough and difficult to access.)

I didn't get the autumn reflection shots I'd envisaged... but the colours in the woodland were attractive and I really enjoyed the sunshine.

Channelling Monet

I went with a friend to the RHS garden at Harlow Carr near Harrogate again, this time to visit a flower show, where there were plant stalls and other exhibits. It was very crowded and popular but interesting and lively too. I took a few photos there but I was so busy chatting and looking at the stalls and marquees that my mind wasn't really focussed on photos. Not many shots turned out well but I did quite like this one of the waterlilies on the small pond. Rather 'Monet', don't you think?

A picture postcard view

A picture postcard view from Whisby Nature Park, Lincoln.
This is one of the former gravel pits that have been flooded to make lakes. It's a pretty scene that I enjoyed giving a painterly look with some texture.

Gibson Mill

One final post from Hardcastle Crags... This shows Gibson Mill from the back, beautifully reflected in the mill pond.