Collared Doves (after the storm)

October 29, 2013 by Words | 2 Comments

The Big Storm of 2013 didn’t really happen for Sussex. We had strong winds, gusts up to around 70mph, and minor damage (some trees and fences down). We missed the brunt of it, but things were a lot worse elsewhere. Locally we were pretty much unscathed, and the worst of the damage I saw was a panel hanging loose on the roof of the Amex Stadium (seen here being fixed before Brighton’s game this evening).

Amex Stadium

The ground this morning was sodden, and the pond at Falmer has filled significantly. I spotted one broken branch and plenty of leaf debris on the ground. The usual birds were around, but the most noticeable sight was the flock of collared doves who were gathered in a large group on the willow in the centre of the pond.

Collared doves

Collared doves

Collared doves

The cormorants are still around. There were three at the pond today, two hiding at the edge of the small island.

cormorants

The third was busy doing exercises 😉

British Coastal Birds

cormorants

Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Posted in Amex Community Stadium, Birds, Landscape, water birds Tagged , , |

Lou Reed 1942-2013

October 28, 2013 by Words | 5 Comments

I was shocked to hear this evening of the passing of Lou Reed. We knew he had been ill and was recovering from a liver transplant, but the reports had been that he was doing well. He’d been out and about at symposia and book signings in recent weeks, and was talking about more music in the future.

Lou Reed 1979

I’ve been a fan of Lou since the early 70s, like so many others being introduced to him via David Bowie and the Transformer album. Most – if not all – my friends from that era met in one way or another through a love of Lou’s music.

I saw Lou many times but never met him, unless gate-crashing a press conference for The Blue Mask counts as a meeting. I asked an inane question and got a one word answer back from Lou. I’m pretty sure that one word was ‘No!’ That was Lou, never an easy person, but always utterly straight talking. And he was like this to the end. There’s a short video on line of Lou and Mick Rock (the photographer) at a book signing earlier this month in which Lou berates the audience for not listening. That was Lou. And we miss him.

As for the music, Lou influenced just about everybody who is anybody. Bowie obviously, the entire punk movement and a host of indie bands. Always uncompromising, always edgy, Lou brought a new urban landscape to music. His sounds and words were a counterpoint to the idealism of the 60s. He was upfront in his lyrics and introduced literary structures – and subjects – to rock and roll; but his songs were imbued with a fundamental grasp of the rock and roll medium. Simple structures, richly populated, real places, real people: Walk on the Wild Side is the obvious choice, but in many ways only scratches the surface. Check out Street Hassle for a later take on not dissimilar territory.

My personal favourite album is Berlin, but the most important album is undoubtedly The Velvet Underground and Nico without which the the history of rock would be very different indeed. Neither sold well on release. Both became classics with the passage of time. To quote Lou: ‘Like a good wine, I’m better as I grow older’.

Lou Reed 1979

Today we have lost one of the true icons of rock. Lou, we will miss you.

Photos taken at the New Victoria, London, 1979

Posted in Lou Reed Tagged |

The Incredible Levitating Newt

October 27, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

If I hadn’t seen this with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. But it’s real, and I have the photographic evidence to prove it. Apart from a minor bit of cropping, I have done absolutely nothing to this image. It’s as shot from the camera and – as you can see – it shows a newt standing in mid-air.

levitating newt

I spotted it last night out in the garden. The wall behind it is near our back door, and the newt was quite literally standing in empty space. It was there for several minutes… long enough for me to go and get the camera, take a few shots and then investigate what was really going on.

On closer inspection what seems incredible becomes rather more prosaic. The newt is hanging in space in an area between a large rubbish bag and the garden wall; an area not only frequented by newts, but also by spiders. Somehow the newt had managed to clamber up the bag and was attempting to traverse the gap to the wall by walking along a mass of very fine spider webbing. Its progress was slow, and after watching for a few minutes I intervened with a piece of card and gently lifted it away. There were tangled remnants of sticky webbing around its tail and legs. I removed what I could and placed the newt back on the ground. It stayed motionless for a few minutes, and then started to move away, slowly at first and then with greater freedom as the final fragments of webbing around its leg broke away. Later we watched it scurrying around happily with a couple of other newts.

While all this was going on, Pretty was pacing around as only a fox can. Here she is standing just above the part of the wall where the newt was hanging.

fox on wall

Newt saved, Pretty retreated to the rear of the garden.

fox and apples

She’s been back again several times today, but we had nothing quite as exciting as last night’s rescue to hold her attention.

fox yawning

A big storm is heading our way on Sunday night. Much of the south of England will be hit, as well as more northern parts as it progresses up the country during Monday. Take care if you are out and about.

Camera note: shots 1-3 taken with the Canon 7D and EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens. The big yawn was taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Posted in Amphibians, Behaviour, Foxes, Newt, Wildlife Tagged , , |