Egyptian

With a UK population of about 1100 pairs, the Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) is not all that familiar, but with a little effort, or luck, they can be found dotted around the south-eastern quarter the country. We are sometimes lucky enough to find a couple of these beautiful wildfowl on our local lakes - situated as we are at the north-western limit of their UK distribution -  and this morning was one of those occasions.

A pair had arrived to spend some time on the lake at Straw's Bridge and were quite happy mingling with the usual ducks, geese and swans.
A native of Africa - from Egypt southwards, as the name suggests - they were introduced to the UK in the late eighteenth century as an ornamental species on private lakes and avian collections.

Considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians, they are small, neat geese with various colourful splashes on their wings and conspicuous pink legs.

Their diet consists mainly of vegetation including cultivated crops, but these were happy cropping the grass at the side of the lake.

A beautiful and somewhat exotic addition to the bird-life of Straw's Bridge and a source of wonder to the local Coots!

At Last!

Finally!  After so many days waiting for the rain to stop long enough for us to get out for a walk, this morning, we managed to get a walk round Shipley Hill. The skies were rather grey and threatened yet more rain, so to be on the safe side, we took our brollies.

Looking across the fields towards Shipley Hill, the colours of autumn are still hanging on despite the strong winds. In the foreground, the Rose Hips add their own colour to the hedges along Slack Lane.

Onward to Mapperley Reservoir and the rich gold and red of the trees are still good, even in the dull, sunless gloom.

Thinking we had bread to share, the swans and ducks were soon paddling over to us. Sadly, they were disappointed to find we were empty handed.

Adding a little digital manipulation, the scene looked rather dramatic, both the reservoir...

... and the view to the hill.

Glad to say, we got home again without needing our umbrellas.

Dull, Dull, Dull!

It has been a few days since I last posted on here, due mainly to the continued, dull, wet and miserable weather which has kept us from our usual walks. This morning, despite the forecast which was for more dull weather, we nevertheless set out for a short walk to Straw's Bridge. Even this proved to be rather more wet than we expected and we returned damp, but glad to have got out, however briefly.
So, with a lack of photos, I thought I'd take a look back at my posts at this time in previous years, starting with 2014. Last year, we had just had a bright and sunny Guy Fawkes day...

Two years ago, on this day, we had been on a short walk to Straw's Bridge as the weather was as dull as it was today. The ducks were not too bothered, as they weren't this morning...

In 2012, my interest was caught by the rising moon in a chilly night sky, accompanied as was by a bright Jupiter, shining beside it.

Back in 2011, we were experiencing a chilly spell and following our walk, we had a medicinal brandy - to keep out the cold .!!  The Black-headed Gulls at Straw's Bridge were not too bothered by the chill.

Back to the present, it doesn't look likely that the weather will improve any time soon, but at least it remains unseasonably mild - so the gas bill will look a little better than usual!

Rained in

It has been a frustrating few days. After a fairly dry autumn so far, we have now been subjected to quite a lot of rain making our walks brief at best. It does however give me a chance to post a few pictures of the spectacular autumn colour, not yet featured on the Blog. First of these was taken a few days ago, looking down from the bridge across Shipley Lake, to the 'overflow' lake.

The Beech leaves overhanging the water, were looking at heir golden best, as were the Maples close by, as we looked towards Shipley Hill.

Playing with the images again (is this becoming an obsession?) you get some interesting effects. here, from a walk we took through Shipley Park a few weeks ago...

... And here, from the entrance to the old 'american Adventure' car parks...

With all the recent rain, the leaves have been falling and the colours fading rapidly, so I expect there will not be very many more chances to capture the colours of autumn. Next it will be the harsher beauties of winter frosts - something we have been spared so far this year. It's not often we get to the end of October without having had a frost!

Seven Years on...

Today marks the seventh anniversary of this Blog.  It certainly doesn't seem like seven years ago since I was getting to grips with the first Blog post of 'Random Jottings' and I'm sure I didn't expect to be still posting pictures and comments seven years later.

Seven years ago, I was just as gushing about the colours of autumn and the first picture I posted, caught the mood...

I was also taken by the colourful berries of the Guelder Rose...

And the heads of the Great Reedmace growing along the banks of our local lakes...

Shortly after starting this Blog, I posted some pictures from our walk around Ilam Hall. I seem to remember enjoying exploring that area and with the 'new' photographic technique I was talking about yesterday, My picture of Ilam Hall has been transformed. See the original HERE and now...

So, here's to the next seven years.!

Over the Hill

Our walk this morning, took us up and over Shipley Hill before returning home via Mapperley village. With the sun shining on us, it was a glorious morning for a walk. Sadly, it seemed that everyone else had the same idea, so things were rather more busy on the paths than usual. The Nottingham Lodge was looking good in the sunshine and with a little digital manipulation, it puts a whole new 'dimension' on things...

Over the other side of the hill, we viewed the scene looking north across the fields towards the opencast mine workings beyond.

Once again, looking at the same scene through a little bit of digital trickery, it looks like this...

You might have noticed that I've discovered a 'new' way of altering these images so you can be sure I will experimenting further with this technique in future.

Odds and Ends

Having not taken many pictures during the last few days - there are only so many views of autumn foliage that anyone can take - I thought I would clear up a few odds and ends from previous walks. Starting with that other indicator of Autumn, the Holly. Perhaps more suited to a Christmas theme, the dark green leaves and bright red berries are looking great right now.

It looks as if it has been a good year for this particular Holly bush. Berries cling to the branches all over it, waiting to provide handsomely for all those hungry birds. Lets hope it's not an indication of a bad winter to come.

Secondly, a creature with a face 'only a mother could love'. Commonly called a Harvestman or sometimes Daddy-long-legs (not to be confused with the Craneflies), this long-legged little arachnid becomes rather abundant at this time of year. This one was sunbathing on our wall a few days ago.

There are over 6,500 species of Harvestmen or Opiliones to give them their proper name and is difficult to identify them with certainty. When viewed close-up, they are the stuff of nightmares.

Another rather odd-looking creature was seen on our patio doors some time back. This is a Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis).

Its strange mouth parts are perfectly evolved for scavenging on dead insects which it frequently steals from Spiders' webs - a seemingly risky strategy, but one which obviously suits it well.