Saturday 25th Bath, a Retro day

Had a great day out today, we decided to got to Bath, Yoke, Eleanor and myself. Its a lovely city with lots of very tourist things to see and do - most of which has been photo'd to death but i took a few slightly off beat to the norm shots.

                        Bath Minster from a different view to the standard happy snap

                        
                        Rooftops often get overlooked, but its worth looking up sometimes

                                  

The circus on the way to the Royal Cresent  Its nice and features in many classic dramas

Then you have the Royal Cresent - shame but the Hotel has a lot of plastic up at the moment where the stone is being cleaned - but this sort of says it all really

Around the back of the Roman Baths there are a few nice shops as you head around to Sally Lunns - this was a 1st floor window that had been bricked up - someone had used a ladder to get up and paste this into the frame - why ? dont know, no signature, no slogan, just this. I like it.

It turned into a bit of a Retro day overall with some classic transport seen along side the new rich with their Mercs, Rollers, Astons and Range Rovers

This Lambretta was one of a pair parked up - but this one had the classic two seats, an italian flag coloured wheel cover and helmet - nice 

We went to Ask Italian for lunch - this was the table in the corner - very Sixties - just had to take a shot of it, really great looking in its place

There was some classic dining and some classic music, you really do get a better class of Busker in Bath ! it started out with classical guitarist next to the minster - he was really good, then a brass trio on the way up to the Royal Cresent, they were nice and very uplifting, then this gentleman, classic Rat Pack with a superb voice, he could have been alongside Dean, Sammy and Frankie with Louis playing away alongside.

Really, really good, while I was standing and listening one young lady stopped and when he finished a song she told him she was getting married in June and asked him if he would do a gig for her at her wedding, I hope he does, it will make it a very special day for the guests as well as her very special day that bit more special.

We decided to leave after a last walk about the alleys and headed back to the car, the weather picked up with high winds and driving rain/hail so a good call as we got to the car just before it started.
All in all a really nice day.

Sunny Sunday

So today it was sunny, bit of a surprise after yesterday, heavy rain all day. We took the opportunity to take a walk to the coast, along one side of the valley through the nature reserve and then down to the beach and up the other side and back along the top. The catkins are out now looking fab in the sun

The seed pods of the stinkig Iris - Iris foetidissima are really eye catching with the bright orage seeds against the brown case

Some nice fungi, the first is a common sight, ‘Wood Ear’ – no longer pc to call it Jews Ear, to be honest, Wood Ear sounds better anyway as it grows on wood and under the right circumstances looks like ears on a tree, I cant ID the others as my youngest now has my reference book !

 This one was tiny as you can tell from the club moss growing on the branch with it 

The valley is starting to drain now but it was very flooded and the car park etc. was battered by waves and rocks - oh and yep its an estuary not the sea - thats England on the other side

A lot were taking advantage of the sunshine and the doggies were in heaven, this is a bit of a trial shot, sorry Verity, had to try it – yours is better but I quite like this

Then home to clear up and start on the garden to get ready for the coming growing season, the Hellebores are doing well with lots of buds, we have snowdrops open as well as cyclamen at the moment so some good colour in the garden and the birds have found the feeder out the front – its on a rose arch to help keep the cats away and next to a tree so they stage in on the tree – grab seed and then decamp back to the tree. I will be trying to gets some shots later. That’s it for now.

Christmas 2013 and New Year 2014 - say hello to a grand new year

Well Christmas and New Year was a bit messed up – work got in the way. Ah well it does not happen all that often and while the timing was lousy – that’s how it goes. My apologies to all my family for my absence on numerous occasions and the late night conf calls that disrupted our holiday.

So apart from that, we had a lovely time. We went to Falmouth to pick up youngest to bring her home for Christmas, travelled to Lincoln to drop of Hampers of home made goodies, saw family and then came home with Yokes mum to have some time here with us over Christmas. Having Eleanor home on Boxing day with her boyfriend plugged the final family gap so we had a day with all four of us at home, all in all a great family time despite the interruptions.

We managed to get out for a walk at Southerndown on Christmas day to show Yokes mum the sea, bit of a tradition, it was pre ‘storms’ so took a few photos with Verity. 

                          Shooting into the sun - gives a great black and white effect 

                            Big waves - seriously impressive, the power of the sea

                      Always some nutter who likes to play - think he had lots of fun that day

                                        The Ice Tower in the walled Garden there

 Honey Fungus - this is under the bark and what kills the tree in the long run, by the time you see the fruiting bodies its way too late

                   Tresillian bay in the distance, the rock formations are great - Lias Limestone

We took Yokes mum home to Lincoln for her birthday party with her friends. Then we took Verity back to Falmouth. A long drive done every weekend from the week before Christmas until the week after Christmas, loads of miles, but worth every one of them to see everyone and be close for a short time.

Decided to leave Verity to re-connect with her friends on the Sunday of the weekend we drove to Falmouth to drop her off at Uni, Yoke and I went to Eden before driving back home, might have mentioned this before but, we love Eden there is always something to see and photograph, we have gone there every year since 2002 looking at my photo records, I think we did go in 2001 but cant find any photos on my computer so will have to search my archive. On this day I finally managed to get the classic tree frog in a bromeliad shot. You always see it on wildlife programmes but never really expected to get it but here it is, how cute is that ? 

Then there are all the usual suspects - there was story telling going on in the Med Biome, the children love it and to tell the truth I think a lot of the adults do as well - reminds them of when mum and dad told them stories - this guy was the 'support' he sang background songs and played the incidental music, it was really nice

The Roul Roul's top one is Female - bottom one Male, there used to be three of them when we first spotted them - i think today there are 8-10 of them at least as they are free ranging and breed in the biome.

Part 1 of the aerial walkway is in - the photo was taken from the highest vantage point, not for those that dont like heights it is a walkway suspended on wire and is grating type of metal so you can look down between your feet to the tree tops below - oh and it sways as you climb the steps up to it

A couple of flower studies and as its a new year - New Life 

New life need the nutrients of old life so here are some of the team that put the food back into the cycle for the next generation - these micro fungi are so important and so overlooked normally

and finally no visit to Eden is right without at least 1 lizard 

The weather for the drive back was torrential rain so it was a bit of a ‘stormy’ evening, we have not suffered any flooding where we are but I can see why lots of people have, all that rain has nowhere to go as we seem to delight on building houses on floodplains. Hey guess what, they are called that for a reason ! Ah well it’s the future, all these years and yep its global warming, remember we said so 20 years ago, no one listened except the ‘nutters’, and eco freaks, smile and say I told you so !

Sunday Brew day

After a bit of a lazy start I was prompted by my lovely lady to get a brew on – given the lead times for brewing and needing to build a stock up for the great summer we are going to have next year ( I can dream ) now is the time to get the first one into the fermenter and then plan the next one in 4 weeks time and the third 4 weeks after that – then they will all be in place ready for relaxing on the deck or at my brothers around his wildlife pond. 

With All Grain BIAB brewing the brew process takes most of the day when you have not prepared in advance so the Kitchen gets taken over.  Getting all the gear in and ready – sterilise the bits of kit that needs it – weigh everything out and get your head around the tasks and the order and making sure everything is in place to hand – very much like cooking a cake or a meal, the more you have in place and ready for each step up front the easier and smoother the process goes.

So first off a light IPA / Golden Ale style – using Vienna lager grain and Pearl base malt grain with a single hop,  El Dorado. I will use a Safbrew S33 yeast to give a neutral brew leaving the hops to come through – the yeast is used in Trappist style beers so should give a good length to the taste. Looking to be about 3.8% abv so a nice summer drink, a long store in the bottle in cold temps is good for it – hence doing this one first to get it into the garage store in winter. It should be a light golden ale with fruity undertones and a sharp clean finish. It is a repeat of an earlier beer I created, Baroque, with a slight change to the hop bill – 30% more hops so that it will store longer and should smooth out and balance nicely with a bit more of a hoppy finish. It’s a bit of a hybrid beer this one, not an IPA, not a Lager not a English Ale, a Golden beer is probably the best description of it.

Photos of the process – hey beer and photos – guess I had better make some beads soon then to meet the blog name

 

The big pot on the gas ring to get the water up to mash temp

The grain, as I dont brew very often I buy it in 3kg bags makes it easy to use and not hang about 

The hops - they went into the wort in three stages, 1st at the end of the mash the 2nd set 20 mins before the end of the boil and the last set at the flame out until the wort was cool enough to add the yeast then all the hops come out - my lady kindly made me some hop bags so they were easy to remove compared to the last brew

Once you get the water up to 75 degrees c the grain goes in this cools the wort to the optimum temp of 66c - the Mash, this is then left for 60 mins at a temp of 66c to get the sugars out of the grain. Holding the temp of the pot at 66c for 60 mins means you need to insulate it so it gets a thermal blanket, a lid and then wrapped in two more heavy wool blankets

60 minutes later - Bang on - means I have got pretty much the best out of the grain and not induced any bad elements that can cause the beer to taste 'off'

And now with the grain removed the wort is boiled for 90 minutes - a rolling boil that reduces the liquid down and concentrates the sugars - it is also the time you add the Hops to extract the flavoids and oils to act as preservatives and add distinct flavours to the beer

 Then you cool the beer as quickly as you can and bring it to a safe temp for the yeast to be added - you can see the hops in the bags, from this point its when things can go wrong if you dont get the temp down fast and the yeast in and started quickly wild yeast and other bugs can get in and ruin the lot. My chiller coil is copper pipe and I run cold water through it - in goes cold water out comes hot water - a basic heat exchanger that helps rapid cooling and reduces the time the wort is at risk from infection.

The brew is now in the fermentation vessel with an airlock so with a bit of luck in 4 weeks it will be beer and a few months later it will be drinkable beer !

A day at Slimbridge WWT

It was a cold day but a bright sunny one, so we decided to go to Slimbridge WWT and take our eldest daughter, Eleanor.

As you may imagine loads of photo opportunities but I cannot say I am really happy with any of the resulting shots, despite the light being good I had problems pushing the shutter speed with the aperture I wanted coupled with a low iso – ah well future rule – if you carry the tripod – use the damn thing !

Anyway, hand feeding was done, the moorhen has a gammy leg so was happy to sit down to eat , sweet.

 I saw it around the same place last time we were here, lots of people feed it so it survives, in the wild it would be long gone so rather nice it is looked after. 

The mallard on its front at their feet had a go at jumping for the grain, being greedy, none of them can say they are not well fed ! The landing was less than graceful.

 It was feeding time with the otters, these are American river otters – although they now have evidence of UK otters on the site – a dog otter south end and at least one female to the north so a bridal suite (holt) has been built within the reserve and they await developments.

The Kingfisher hide allows good views of a couple of feeders and the local birds make good use of the opportunity. A few nice- ish studies of our ‘ common’ birds.

Male Goldfinch

Male Chaffinch

Great Tit

As can be expected the hides give good views of visitors and the captive birds give good views with no need to get muddy or use long lenses. I can cope with that, on a cold day I don’t really want to creep in the undergrowth and I don’t have the silly money for a mega lens

Lapwings

mixed bag

Eider male seeing off a competitor

Eider male head detail

Flamin bingos- Flamingoes

Comb billed duck - Sarkidiornis melanotos

This is the back of a pintail - the feather patterns are really lovely

Pintail detail

The café on site is good and an enjoyable lunch was had by all – a great day, most enjoyable,  some reasonable photos but many missed opportunities so a return visit will be planned in the neat future.

Last but not least a very small fungi - would not be me if no macro shots - its on deadwood and you can see the ice bottom righ - sunny but cold !

Calocera cornea