Swanupmanship.

Almost as soon as the ink was dry on my last post, I looked out to see the two local swans, and their full complement of cygnets(!), sailing towards me across the water; the first time I've seen them since the end of May (see my blog dated Tuesday 19th June 2012).  I dashed out with my camera to record the event and could swear they slowed down for the photo!

Let's hope they continue to avoid predators and pass by now and then for another photo-call.  I'll be watching.

The picture shows the Hythe swans, and the five cygnets, off Hythe foreshore, Southampton Water, Hampshire, at 11:06 on Thursday 21st June 2012.

Swans.

Out for an early morning run today; blue sky, a cool breeze, the air scented with rose and honeysuckle, house martins swooping along the foreshore; I remembered the swans and wondered what had happened to them.  They came gliding by a couple of weeks ago, their new brood of five cygnets in tow, and haven't been seen since.

This local pair of swans nest in a sheltered cove alongside Hythe Marina and have marked the entire stretch of water between the marina, the end of the pier and the foreshore, as their own; jealously guarding the territory and regularly chasing off any swan interlopers.  They've nested in the same spot for the past few years and have successfully produced a brood of some five or six cygnets each year, but that's as far as it goes.  Last year they sailed back and forth, with five cygnets, every day for a week, the following week there were three and the next day there were none.  The year before, they started with a brood of six and each time they went by there was one less, until one day there were none.  I don't recall what happened the year before that, but you get the drift...

The picture shows one of the Hythe swans and the five cygnets, off Hythe foreshore, Southampton Water, Hampshire, at 06:30 on Tuesday 29th May 2012.  And this may have been the first, and last, sighting....

Click on the link below to find out more about mute swans.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/m/muteswan/index.aspx

Marylebone.

Out and about in London on Tuesday, early for an appointment and not enjoying the heat on the street, I headed for the air-conditioned splendour of The Conran Shop, but veered off at the last minute, tempted by the dappled shade of a massive London Plane in the church gardens on the opposite side of the road.  It was beautiful; cool, quiet and peaceful, an infinitely better choice, and a perfect sanctuary.

I know the gardens well, I've walked through them many times, but never stopped to sit and stare, so I did just that; except I sat and let my camera do the staring!  There were probably half a dozen people, dotted here and there; three students sitting on the grass under a tree, idly picking at the daisies, an office worker or two, a boy with a backpack, and me.  All of us just sitting, and being, and enjoying the moment; at least that's the way it felt.  And then it was time to leave.  Twenty minutes well spent, a smile on my face and another photo challenge completed.

The picture shows the side aspect of St Marylebone Parish Church, London, on Tuesday 29th May 2012, approached from the church gardens in Marylebone High Street.

To see the rest of my Twenty Minutes in St Marylebone Parish Church Gardens photos, click on the link.

http://susanvale.tumblr.com/post/24062752817/twenty-minutes-in-st-marylebone-parish-church

To read about the history of St Marylebone Parish Church, click on the link.

http://www.stmarylebone.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118&Itemid=274

To find out about my photo challenge see my blog dated Thursday 26th April 2012.

A Queen Arrives.

Queen Mary 2 arrived early yesterday and I was out with my camera in time to catch a shot of her sailing by, looking lovely in the morning haze.  Some thirty minutes later, I looked out to see that Queen Victoria had also arrived, so there were two Queens in port; an event indeed.

The picture shows RMS Queen Mary 2 arriving in the Port of Southampton, Hampshire, at 06:07 on Tuesday 22nd May 2012.

By mid afternoon, the beautifully cool morning had turned into the hottest day of the year and I was beginning to question my resolve to be outside (in full sun) to watch the two Queens leave.  But as soon as I heard their whistles blow, I was out like a shot, clutching my camera and clinging to the shadows.

It takes a while for two big ships to leave, so I decided to apply my photo challenge rules to the proceedings and headed up to my 3rd floor and out on to the balcony, where I found a cool corner to perch and take pictures.  It was glorious; Queen Victoria sailed away, the Hythe Pier Train rattled by, an isle of Wight fast cat sped off, a yacht tacked to and fro, the tide turned, there were tug boats and motor launches, another Isle of Wight fast cat, and finally Queen Mary 2 pulled away and readied herself to leave; and then my time was up.

To see my Twenty Minutes on Southampton Water photos, click on the link. http://susanvale.tumblr.com/post/23600580655/twenty-minutes-on-southampton-water-hampshire-on

To read about my photo challenge, see my blog dated Thursday 26th April 2012.

To find out where RMS Queen Mary 2 is now, click on the bridge web cam link. http://www.cunard.co.uk/Ships/Queen-Mary-2/Bridge-Web-Cam/

To find out where MS Queen Victoria is now, click on the bridge web cam link. http://www.cunard.co.uk/Ships/Queen-Victoria/Bridge-Web-Cam/

Queen Elizabeth.

My photo challenge continues (see my blog dated Tuesday 1st May 2012) and on a choppy ten minute trip across Southampton Water on the Hythe Ferry yesterday, I planted myself on deck, determined to stay put for long enough to hold my camera steady and grab a few shots of this and that.

The outlook was overcast and misty, it was cold and windy and I had to hang on, but the ten minutes passed in a twinkling, it was exhilarating, and I loved it.  There were a handful of roll-on-roll-off cargo vessels in dock, a few tugs, a sailing ship, the tall ships Lord Nelson and Tenacious (the largest wooden ship afloat), a yacht, and three cruise ships; Oriana, Adonia, and Queen Elizabeth.  I love to see all the ships, especially close-up from the ferry, they're so BIG.  But for me a Queen is always an event and Queen Elizabeth just stole the show.

The picture shows MS Queen Elizabeth, alongside in the Port of Southampton, Hampshire, at 13:52 on Friday 18th May 2012.  To see the rest of my Ten Minutes on the Hythe Ferry photos, click on the link below.

http://susanvale.tumblr.com/post/23356403295/ten-minutes-on-the-hythe-ferry-hampshire-on

To find out where MS Queen Elizabeth is now, click on the bridge web cam link below.

http://www.cunard.co.uk/Ships/Queen-elizabeth/Bridge-Web-Cam/

To read more about the largest wooden ship afloat, click on the SV Tenacious link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SV_Tenacious

Bluebells.

I love scented flowers and I love blue flowers, and a blue scented flower is a winner all round as far as I'm concerned, so you can understand why I love bluebells.  You can keep white bells and I don't much care for the pink, but those bluebells, they're a sensation.  I think it's the powdery blue against the bright green that I find so appealing, the fragile drooping heads, and the promise of that sweet scent.  And I've seen so many this year; there are clumps in the village hedgerows, drifts by the roadside and carpets through the New Forest.

The picture shows a drift of bluebells, close-up, on a village roadside in Hythe, Hampshire, on Sunday 6th May 2012 at 13:58.  I did have a concern that I might be photographing Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica), rather than the native British variety (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), but it seems that the difference is in the pollen colour; creamy-white for the British and blue for the Spanish; and I'm happy to report that my bluebells have the British creamy-white pollen.

To read more about the British bluebell, click on the Natural History Museum Endangered Species link, below.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/biodiversity/endangered-species/hyacinthoides-non-scripta/index.html

London.

My photo challenge continues (see my blog dated Thursday 26 April 2012) and on a trip to London yesterday, I parked myself on a bench in Grosvenor Square for twenty minutes and happily snapped away at anything that caught my fancy.  I particularly like this picture of the eagle through the trees; it's a bronze sculpture of the American Bald Eagle, by Dame Elizabeth Frink - a monument to the American Eagle Squadron pilots of World War II.

I'm certainly enjoying the challenge and refine the rules as I go; I now include taking photos from any fixed position (not just from the inside of a parked car), and I've relaxed the time constraint to allow a ten minute segment.  This is largely due to the fact that on my way through Manchester Square I spotted an empty bench in front of the Wallace Collection and couldn't resist sitting on it and taking out my camera, even though I had a scant ten minutes to spare!

I found another ten minutes later in the day, at Waterloo Station; I'd arrived in good time for my 16:05 train, so found a seat in the quiet carriage and whipped out my camera to rattle off a few more shots.

To see the rest of my Twenty Minutes in Grosvenor Square photos, click on the link below.
http://susanvale.tumblr.com/post/22199211877/grosvenor-square-london-monday-30th-april-2012

To see the photos of my Ten Minutes in Manchester Square, click on the link below.
http://susanvale.tumblr.com/post/22207513145/manchester-square-london-monday-30th-april-2012

To see the photos of my Ten Minutes in Waterloo Station, click on the link below.
http://susanvale.tumblr.com/post/22208526782/waterloo-station-london-monday-30th-april-2012

Dibden Purlieu.

On Tuesday afternoon I found myself in Dibden Purlieu, sitting in a parked car, with twenty minutes to spare and no desire to investigate the local shops, or indeed to leave the car.  I had my camera with me and set myself the challenge of taking an interesting picture of whatever I could see through the windscreen, the side and rear windows, or the sun roof; just for fun, to pass the time.  And it worked; the twenty minutes seemed like seconds, I had a lovely time, it was a really interesting project, and I rather like the look of the photos.

The picture shows one of the views taken in Beaulieu Road, Dibden Purlieu, Hampshire, on Tuesday 23rd April 2012, through the windscreen of my parked car.  It was a showery day, cloudy, sunny, and wet in turns.  To see the rest of my Twenty Minutes in Dibden Purlieu photos, click on the link to my tumblr blog, below.

http://susanvale.tumblr.com/post/21853423751/beaulieu-road-dibden-purlieu-hampshire-tuesday

Solent Seal.

As I looked out across Southampton Water last Friday morning, I was thrilled to catch sight of a harbour seal.  The water was choppy and it was quite difficult to spot, but when its sleek head popped up through the waves it was unmistakable.  I grabbed my camera and watched for a good half hour, willing it to come closer; each time it disappeared I wondered if it would vanish for good, but my perseverance paid off, nearer it came and I rattled off a few shots before it slipped beneath the surface and was gone.

I've since discovered that the Solent area has a population of 15 to 20 harbour seals, or common seals, and a few of them were tagged in 2009 as part of the Solent Seal Project.  To find out more, click on the link to the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, below.

http://www.hwt.org.uk/pages/seal-project.html#solent

For general information about UK seals, click on the Marine Conservation link below.

http://www.marine-conservation.org.uk/ukseals.html

The picture shows a harbour seal in Southampton Water, off Hythe foreshore, Hampshire, on Friday 20th April 2012 at 11:11.

Titanic.

What with the Easter Holidays, general comings and goings, and the Titanic Centenary, time has flown and I'm astonished to discover that it's been over two weeks since my last blog! I've written quite a few in my head, and taken lots of photos of ships, sunsets and stormy skies.

I've seen a dozen or more cruise ships pass by; watched MS Balmoral sail off on her Titanic Memorial Cruise, packed to the gunnels and looking lovely in the afternoon sun.

I've seen Saga Sapphire stranded in the docks for days on end while her strike-hit re-fit overshot its deadline, delaying her inaugural cruise and causing her to slide quietly out of port, no bells or whistles, under a plume of thick black smoke.

Then came the thunder storms, rolling in from the west and unleashing torrents of rain, hailstones the size of marrowfat peas and tremendous flashes of lightning.

And, of course, I've seen the Titanic Centenary tribute; the flotilla of ships, large and small, congregating alongside Ocean Terminal, blowing their whistles, forming a procession and easing away down Southampton Water to the Solent, led by the steamship Shieldhall to mark the day and the hour that RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton 100 years ago.

I saw it all and watched and wondered, and when I looked back at the photos, I expected to be drawn to the Titanic Centenary tribute and SS Shieldhall, but no, it was Saga Sapphire and the plume of black smoke! There are all sorts of ecological and environmental reasons for me not to like it, but it makes such a good picture - I just love it.

The photo shows MS Saga Sapphire leaving the Port of Southampton, Hampshire, on Tuesday 3rd April 2012 at 17:45.

Stop Press: Saga Sapphire now has engine problems! She's had to cut short her inaugural cruise, due back in Southampton today (Wednesday 18th April 2012), and fly everyone back to the UK from Valencia, Spain, where she's awaiting repairs. Click on the link to read more about it.

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/news.cfm?ID=4801

To see my gallery of photos from the last two weeks, click on the link to my tumblr blog below.

http://susanvale.tumblr.com/post/21319999326/two-weeks-of-ships-on-southampton-water

To read more about the MS Balmoral Titanic Memorial Cruise, click on the link below.

http://www.fredolsencruises.com/Our-Ships/Balmoral/Titanic-Memorial-Cruise-MS-Balmoral/Titanic-Memorial-Cruise-Itinerary

To read more about SS Shieldhall, click on the link below.

http://www.ss-shieldhall.co.uk/Welcome.html

To read about Southampton Titanic Events 2012, click on the link below.

http://www.southampton.gov.uk/news-events/events/allevents/Titanic-2012.asp