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Hobbies 2023/24

Mark Tooze said:
I had a go this afternoon at using this big lens with teleconverter to photograph the blue tits going in and out of the nest box we put on one of the trees on the railway embankment at the bottom of our garden.

This was how it is set up - I have ringed the nest box so you can see how far away it is (about 50 feet from the camera):-
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These little birds are VERY fast and you have to be very quick to capture them (note - I am not a bird watcher - probably the first time I've tried photos like this). But I got 3 nice ones which are not too bad for a "first try":-
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I also got a half-decent shot of a passing pigeon at the top of one of the trees (this one was hand held resting the end of the lens on the top of the fence):-
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Impressive photos! I have looked at similar lenses on US Amazon, excellent pricing value.
 
Phone picture. I tried to up my game with wildflowers during lockdown, so I was pleased to identify this beauty as Viper's Bugloss. It is growing at the side of a towpath footbridge over a canal dead arm which used to go into Stoke Works on the Worcester and Birmingham canal.

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Radiorails said:
Actually it is surprising how many of those 'wild flowers' we have in our gardens. You just accept them as it is felt they belong there.
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And the reverse too. Garden and botanical garden escapes. Some desirable, others like Himalayan balsam, we can't eliminate.
 
Stokkie said:
Phone picture. I tried to up my game with wildflowers during lockdown, so I was pleased to identify this beauty as Viper's Bugloss. It is growing at the side of a towpath footbridge over a canal dead arm which used to go into Stoke Works on the Worcester and Birmingham canal.

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derek i will take a photo but i think that is what i have in my garden..lovely pink and blue flower..got a couple of mixed boxes of wild flower seeds from asda and they have done really well

lyn
 
Stokkie said:
Phone picture. I tried to up my game with wildflowers during lockdown, so I was pleased to identify this beauty as Viper's Bugloss. It is growing at the side of a towpath footbridge over a canal dead arm which used to go into Stoke Works on the Worcester and Birmingham canal.

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Looking in the big book Flora Britannica, Richard Mabey…

“Viper's-bugloss, Echium vulgare, is a viperish plant in all its parts. The sprays of flowers that spiral up the stem are half-coiled; the long red stamens protrude from the mouths of the blue and purple flowers like tongues; the fruits resemble adders' heads. Even the 'speckled' stem (it is hairy in fact) suggested snakes' skins to early herbalists. Viper's-bugloss prefers dry, sandy soils and can put on spectacular shows of colour. Carl Linnaeus adored fields of Echium, 'surpassing in splendour anything that can be imagined' Part of the Marske sand-dunes in Yorkshire is called 'the Blue Mountain', because of the abundance of bugloss.? It will grow on bare or disturbed patches of chalk grassland (on Salisbury Plain, on old tank-tracks especially)' and is prolific in the East Anglian Breckland, lining open forest rides in company with weld (see p. 157).

It also seems able to colonise and tolerate polluted soils, and I have seen sweeps of it growing from tar-contami-nated concrete in an abandoned gasworks at Beckon in east London. It has even found its way to Australia and America: 'I have read that in parts of the USA it is known as Blue devil. And an Australian friend saw a picture of viper's bugloss. "Crikey, we've got that. It's Paterson's Curse."
 
Astoness said:
derek i will take a photo but i think that is what i have in my garden..lovely pink and blue flower..got a couple of mixed boxes of wild flower seeds from asda and they have done really well

lyn
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Lyn, they are sold in packets for the garden and in wildflower selections. Derek
 
Pedrocut said:
Looking in the big book Flora Britannica, Richard Mabey…

“Viper's-bugloss, Echium vulgare, is a viperish plant in all its parts. The sprays of flowers that spiral up the stem are half-coiled; the long red stamens protrude from the mouths of the blue and purple flowers like tongues; the fruits resemble adders' heads. Even the 'speckled' stem (it is hairy in fact) suggested snakes' skins to early herbalists. Viper's-bugloss prefers dry, sandy soils and can put on spectacular shows of colour. Carl Linnaeus adored fields of Echium, 'surpassing in splendour anything that can be imagined' Part of the Marske sand-dunes in Yorkshire is called 'the Blue Mountain', because of the abundance of bugloss.? It will grow on bare or disturbed patches of chalk grassland (on Salisbury Plain, on old tank-tracks especially)' and is prolific in the East Anglian Breckland, lining open forest rides in company with weld (see p. 157).

It also seems able to colonise and tolerate polluted soils, and I have seen sweeps of it growing from tar-contami-nated concrete in an abandoned gasworks at Beckon in east London. It has even found its way to Australia and America: 'I have read that in parts of the USA it is known as Blue devil. And an Australian friend saw a picture of viper's bugloss. "Crikey, we've got that. It's Paterson's Curse."
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A great book, entertaining and educational. 'Bugloss' seems to come from ox-tongued. This plant is growing at the base to a bridge wall next to a cobbled path.
 
Meadowsweet on the canal. Worcestershire folklore suggests that the sweet enchantment may lull you to sleep from which you may not wake! John Gerard wrote: 'The leavs and floures farr excell all other strong herbs, for to deck up houses, to straw in chambers, halls, and banqueting houses in Summer time; for the smell thereof makes the heart merrie, delighteth the senses...'

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Stokkie said:
Meadowsweet on the canal. Worcestershire folklore suggests that the sweet enchantment may lull you to sleep from which you may not wake! John Gerard wrote: 'The leavs and floures farr excell all other strong herbs, for to deck up houses, to straw in chambers, halls, and banqueting houses in Summer time; for the smell thereof makes the heart merrie, delighteth the senses...'

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Well done with the focus and field depth! I think we might have those here( not in our garden) but neighborhood, I will check.
 

loverly pics thanks Stokkie​


Meadowsweet has painkilling properties thanks to compounds similar to aspirin. It was steeped in water as a relieving tea before medicines for pain were widespread.
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk

Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) - Woodland Trust

Meadowsweet is a flower of damp soils and grassland. It is popular with foragers and has a distinctive sickly sweet scent. Find out how to ID it and much more.
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk www.woodlandtrust.org.uk
 
Nice to see some fellow photography enthusiasts here. When I'm not exploring the interesting little corners of history my family tree takes me to, I'm often out and about in my nearby nature reserves either side of the Severn Estuary. Birds and bugs are my favourite subjects, but happy to point a camera at whatever wildlife is nearest, which is usually squirrels. Here's one (non-squirrel) from a nice sunny afternoon on the Gwent Levels:
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