Swan Lake Sky

 

You you spotted my WW Blog on Wednesday you will have noticed the swan

Zooming back a little gave a bigger view behind

Stand back and the swan had stuck it's head in the water but there was a nice blue sky with a few clouds behind

 

As we were staying the night I let the dog out and looked up to see the moon over the hills in the distance. Happy Skywatch

Swan Lake

 

Thatching in Blewbury

 

After some of the replies I had last week about the thatched cottages I though you might like to see how it is done. Blewbury is along the road from where I live and I used to pass though the village on my way to work. There are a few Thatched cottages along the road I went and a barn. Here is some of what you can see. the blog is a bit picture heavy as there is a lot to see.

One of the cottages

Typical chocolate box cottage with roses

One with a thatched wall

They are called Cob walls and are thatched to keep the rain off as the cob is made of mud, horse manure and straw

There are a lot of placed you can walk to in the village a network of paths

 

 

 This barn was on the London road which I drove along so I stopped to get photos on my way to and back from work

 

The new thatch is placed on the old stuff underneath which is compacted down over the years
 

 

 

It's pinned in place with wooden staples made of hazel and called spars, the thatching is normally straw though Norfolk reed is supposed to be the best

 

It is a very skilled job with is dying out
 

 

 

The finished barn

 

You can see how straight they cut the eves, bit left to do on the end
 

 

 

Mind you around this are you need to watch out for the Dragons on the roof.

 

 Taking Part in My Little Corner of the World  Our World Tuesday and Imag-in-ing, you can find all the links in the right hand column Take care everyone.

St John the Baptist Stanton St John

 

I took the time to visit this St John the Baptist Stanton St John while over in Oxford a few weeks ago. A superb looking church which I am eager to return to when it is open

Poppy Field Sky

 

 These were taken a few weeks ago when I went to look at a development in our village

These were the sky's over the Poppy Fields they will not be seen in this field any more

Turning right a bit and looking up Bill Money Way

At the end of that road you come to this walk with the sky over the Vets

Happy Skywatch

Coffee & Muffins

 

Thatched Cottages

 

 Came across these cottages while out visiting a church the other week

Taking Part in My Little Corner of the World  Our World Tuesday and Imag-in-ing, you can find all the links in the right hand column Take care everyone.

St Nicholas Church Ickford

 

This week the Church Explorer returns to Ickford to show some new photos of this beautiful old church that he did not have time to take the last time he visited.

An odd Sky Week

 

Clearly it was an odd week for our sky because on Monday morning I woke up to find the place was covered in Snow 

 Not the sort of thing I expected to see when I went down to get breakfast

From the bedroom window the sky looked grey and unyielding but by lunchtime the snow had gone and the rest of the week was mixture of cloud and clear sky's.

Tea time today I looked out and saw these sky's with the sun shining on the houses

It did not look good from the darkness of the sky

The cloud looked like it was chasing the blue away. An odd week but no rain

Happy Skywatch

Monday Morning

 

 

A New Lens

 

Last year I purchased a new camera changing from my old Canon EOS70D DSLR which was a crop  camera meaning the  sensor was not full size like on the old 35mm SLR's. I decided to upgrade to a new Canon EOS R6 DSLR mirror-less camera which was a full frame version. The camera came with a new mount that meant I would need new lenses though at least Canon made an adaptor to take the old lenses. I purchased the camera with the standard lens that came with it which was 20mm-105mm. this was a reasonable wide angle zoom. I id like how the camera responded and the lens was good enough for most things I did but I felt the zoom length did not quite do what I needed so I ordered a new longer zoom which was 24mm-240mm, the wide angle was the same but it gave a little more reach on the zoom. In March I took the new lens out for  try as day or so after getting it.

First thing I tried the lens on was the Hose Chestnut and bus shelter on the Forty. This was take at the wide setting

This what I zoomed in on, you can make it out on one of the left had branched rising up from the main trunk

The clock on the bus shelter

I went up the church yard to take some shots of the gargoyles on the tower, you can see the spouts poking out where the are

Its much clearer zooming in

You can make out what the gargoyle is

Look what happens when you crop the photo a little

You get a much better idea what it is

I always seem drawn to this monument on a grave which I zoomed in on while on the path through the churchyard

Moss on this headstone

Last view of the churchyard

On the way back I forgot to tune the camera off and found I took this by mistake

That's all for now, I was impressed with the new lens and glad I bought it, next one to get will be a wider angle one

Taking Part in My Little Corner of the World  Our World Tuesday and Imag-in-ing, you can find all the links in the right hand column Take care everyone.

St Leonard Waterstock

 

This week the Church Explorer visits  St Leonard Waterstock, a place I have driven near to many times but on this occasion  I was nearly thwarted due to a road closure.