Chloe is Growing Up!!

I can't resist showing you my Great Niece, Chloe!



She's certainly growing up fast and I'm really happy to say that she's growing up to be as adventurous and excited about life as her Great Aunty Becca!!



She always seems to be happy, even when being bowled over by the dogs... she just picks herself up, brushes herself down, looks at them with a frown and then toddles off chuckling! I am sad to say, however, that her dancing is no better than her Great Aunt Becca's!!! Probably not quite as bad as mine because I should have had a lot more practise at it over the years, but, nonetheless, it's pretty unrecognisable as dancing! Bless 'er!!



With a cheeky grin like Chloe's and her sense of fun and huge spirit, who cares if she can't dance when she's older? She's as cute as a button and we love her to pieces!



I've done incredibly well for nieces and nephews actually! Every single one of them is a gem, and they are all so different in their own ways, I love each and every one!! 5 nieces, 3 nephews, 1 great niece, 1 very proud aunty!!

Rebecca, x

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rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Pretty for the Prom!

You may remember Holly and Charlotte from our day out on the photography tutorial at the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Hampshire, but here they are in far more glamorous style getting ready for their school prom. The girls were joined by their friend Jess and all three looked totally gorgeous, I know you'll agree!!

Here's Holly...



I love the idea of dressing up for the school prom; it was just a disco back in our day and although I've no doubt the girls spent a lot of effort on their make up or whatever, it pales into complete insignificance when compared to this!

This is Jessica...



I don't even remember going to our end of school disco... in fact I'm fairly sure I didn't! I do vaguely remember an ice skating trip to Richmond (yes, that's how long ago it was, the ice rink closed YEARS ago!!) and then there was strawberries and cream on the terrace when sixth form finished, but I certainly don't remember any disco. But seeing the girls dressed up so beautifully and seeing their smiles and the way they suddenly looked so grown up and gorgeous, I think they will ALWAYS remember this!

I mean, see how stunning Charlotte looks too...


Have a lovely, lovely time Holly, Charlotte and Jess, you look absolutely beautiful and I know how proud your parents are!! Ooooh, I feel so happy and smiley looking at these photos again, thank you ladies, it really was a huge pleasure :-D

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Reds, Reeds and Reserves!

On my wanderings through the Midlands, I stumbled across an absolutely amazing sight at a place called Blackstone Nature Reserve. Just off the A456 by Bewdley in Worcestershire, there is a huge, splendid, unbelievably opulent display of poppies!



The site is managed by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust who own the farm at Blackstone. They allow a field to lie fallow each year and are actively encouraging the area to revert to its native heathland. According to Andy Harris (WWT's Conservation Officer at Blackstone), over the last 200 years, Worcestershire has lost around nine-tenths of its heathland. He states on the website (http://www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/) that it's because of this loss we need to try and conserve what's left and, just as importantly, try to re-create some that we've already lost.

Management at Blackstone Farm Nature Reserve is incredibly pro-active in its aims, where fields are managed on a rotational system and rare arable plants share space with the nationally rare Adrena nigrospena bees. Fields are left fallow on a rotation system, herbicides and fertilisers are minimised and those fields in cultivation have wide field margins to attract and retain wildlife.

Skylarks nest in the poppy fields here, so visitors are asked to keep to the field boundaries, but all are welcome and it is a wonderful sight for sure. There was a collection pot hanging on the gate post at the edge of the field to raise funds for the WWT. If you go, take a few coins with you for their pot, it's worth it!!

When you've visited the fields, have a wander across the road through the car park to the riverside walks. The Severn winds its way along from Bewdley and is particularly pretty here, abundant in all kinds of wildlife and thick with waterside plants. I was actually most interested in trying to find a kingfisher to photograph. Unfortunately I couldn't find one, but I still sat for quite a while admiring the dragonflies, damselflies, mayflies, whatever!



Flitting from leaf to leaf and darting across the water they were lovely to watch. With the sound of a steam train somewhere in the distance, and a fisherman across the way, it felt like we'd been transported back into a different time and place... or maybe the same place but definitely a different time!!



It was so peaceful and relaxing. Dipping my toes in the river and soaking up the sun I could have stayed all day! Hogy had other ideas about peace and quiet though. Jumping straight into the shallows he belted around trying to catch dragonflies, picking as much silt up onto him as he could find before launching himself back out and shaking it all over me! Glad I wore my shorts and white top!!



Bless 'im, lol.

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotpgraphics.co.uk

Boats and Barges... What's the Difference?

Probably not a question many people have thought about before, but having been out and about by the waterside these last couple of days, it's something that made me wonder.



What makes a barge a barge and not a boat?

Apparently it's to do with it's bottom! Barges are flat-bottomed and designed for narrow channels with shallow draughts, but, nonetheless, a barge is still a boat. So, all barges are boats, but clearly not all boats are barges. Just to confuse the issue, I've been reliably informed that submarines are boats too, and ships aren't... ships are ships (or targets if you're in a boat under the sea!!), submarines are boats. Confused? I am!! However, Ratty knowingly informs us that "there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats" (from 'Wind in the Willows' by Kenneth Grahame), quite which boats you choose to mess around in probably doesn't matter, so long as you're enjoying it!

My niece and nephews enjoy it very much indeed. With their dad being in charge of their local Sea Scouts, they spend a lot of time in and on the water. I went up one evening a couple of days ago to watch them in action at Redesmere in Cheshire,



just a few miles out of Macclesfield by Capesthorne Hall. Hmm, another question then... what's the difference between a mere and a lake? Well, apparently a mere is usually man-made and is wider than it is deep.



A lake can be as deep as you like and is often a natural feature created by local geomorphology and resultant water-course characteristics. Or something. It may be that there isn't any real difference at all, but there is certainly a difference in origin of the words. 'Lake' comes from the latin lacus, meaning a large body of inland water, and 'mere' comes from an old scandinavian word meaning 'pool'. According to Wikipedia anyway, and it sounds good to me!

So, anyway, messing about on the water is fine but I'm rather more suited to watching others messing about on the water... at least when it comes to boats with sails on and stuff anyway! I love to watch and I also like bimbling round the edge looking at the wildlife and waterlife.



It's always beautiful and always relaxing... so long as I stay on the edge!! I'm not unhappy on canals however, having spent many a great holiday on narrowboats when we were kids. I loved it, and would love to do it again now given a chance (and a lifejacket!!).

It's my fondness for the canals that led me to Bratch Locks just outside of Wombourne on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.



The canal was first opened in May 1772 and is the result of a labour of love by the great James Brindley, canal engineer extraordinaire! He envisioned a 'Great Cross' that would link the sea ports of Hull, Liverpool and Bristol, using canals to connect the rivers Trent, Mersey and the Severn. Genius!!

Bratch locks are unique in Britain. Although they look like a staircase set of locks, each lock is in fact separate, albeit by a few feet. A staircase flight of locks, such as Neptune's Staircase at Fort William, is created where the bottom gate of a higher lock also acts as a top gate of the lock beneath it. Bratch locks however are quite separate, with a few feet between gates and each lock having its own top and bottom gate. The gap between them allows room to open the gates, but not to allow boats to sit or pass (unless you're on a lilo or something of course!!). It's also not enough room to allow water to drain from the lock above, so a system of side ponds has been devised that allows the locks to drain safely and not to flood. These side ponds are pretty as well as functional, with reeds and moorhens and brick-built weirs.

Another lovely feature at Bratch locks is the octagonal tollhouse at the Bratch Upper Bridge.



It is a fantastic wee building and the lock-keeper still uses it today. What a great place to go to work every day!! Yep, there's really nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats!

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Elbows & Knees, Nettles & Sunburnt Noses!

You're right, I never will be a poet!! Anyway, the title does rather sum up the day, as did the bruises, the scrapes, the friction burn on my elbow and the rosy sunburnt cheeks and nose! It was a smashing day, I had a whale of a time!! Hopefully Andy did too, as it was a day out in Derbyshire on his first landscape photography tutorial.



Of course I'd prepared the day meticulously, planned a route, set out an itinerary, got the maps... left them in the car! Oops!!

I did have a printed route with some photos on it and an extract from the map, so we set out in good faith and high spirits... how hard could it be? A 5 mile circular walk to the highest points in the area which could be seen for miles around! Oh dear!! We parked in a leafy lane next to the church in Elton and were instructed to go through the church yard into another lane where the footpath would assuredly be signposted. Hmm. Three circuits of the churchyard later, plus numerous routes back to where we'd parked, it was getting a little ridiculous. We stopped to ask someone the way and were sent off in the direction of a farm track... you guessed it, back round by the church and within a few feet of the car!! Ho hum.

Chuckling at ourselves (I like to be optimistic and think that Andy was laughing with me!), we carried on. It very quickly became apparent that this was the wrong path, but we carried on because it also seemed apparent that it was the return path and so all we had to do was read the directions in reverse. Which would have worked really well if it had actually been the right path that we were supposed to return on. Obviously it wasn't, and obviously we didn't realise until at least a mile or two down the wrong road. Ho hum again!

Deciding that we couldn't actually be terribly far from where we were expecting to be (albeit off the little map I'd printed out), we decided to carry on and look for the mahoosive set of rocks known as Robin Hood's Stride.



Rocks that could be seen for miles and miles away. Apart from where we were... oh dear again! Being of the adventurous sort however, and the scenery being very pretty anyway, we carried on in the general direction that must undoubtedly be the right one... hurrah! Eventually we saw the Stride and strode off in a rather more positive fashion, praising ourselves on our navigational skills (well, not really, but at least we hadn't found the car or the churchyard again!!).

Andy was a great student, picking up the technical points really easily and getting stuck into composition to lift his photographic skills into a much better place. Not having used his camera off of auto settings before, and not knowing anything about composition, Andy had always been disappointed in his images. A few hints, tips and tricks later and he was producing some stunning photographs, all done manually and all with an eye for a picture that he didn't even know he had!

The rocks at Robin Hood's stride are great for practising with, as well as scrabbling about on. Having always just stood and taken snaps before, Andy was very enthusiastic to explore all angles, getting down in the grass, and climbing up high into the rocks.



A few nettle stings and bruises later, we headed across the fields to Birchover, mindful that it was lunchtime and the pub stopped serving at 2.30pm! We had a huge lunch at the Druids Inn, and a couple of very welcome pints of the landlord's finest ales! The Druids Inn was chosen as the guide said that the way to Rowtor Rocks was through the garden of the Inn, so of course it would have been terribly rude not to have eaten there! It turns out that you can get to the rocks perfectly easily without going into the pub garden at all, but hey ho, you don't know 'til you go!!

Suitably refreshed, we set up to explore Rowtor Rocks. What a strange, fascinating place that is! People have obviously been coming up here for centuries. There are bronze-age carvings, Romano-British artefacts have been found here, and, most unusual of all is the man-made carvings that blend seamlessly with the highly weathered gritstone rocks. Caverns, tunnels, rooms, terraces, and even some armchairs! There are local stories about Druids using the rocks as a site for worship, and the proximity of the stone circles and carvings in the local area would certainly back that up, but the main piece of sculpting was done by the Rev. Thomas Eyre sometime in the 17th century. Apparently in those days it was considered quite the thing to have druidical relics on your property, so the slightly bonkers Reverend set about creating his own druid relics and monuments at Rowtor Rocks, which happily laid on his land.



It's believed that these armchairs were carved by Rev. Eyre to commemorate William of Orange and Mary's ascension to the throne in 1689. Whoever and whatever, they are actually incredibly comfortable!! I could have sat there all day and looked at the view!



But, the day wasn't done yet and we still had a couple of miles to go on the return to Elton. We decided to climb down from the rocks through one of the wee tunnels and staircases that were carved into them... well, someone had gone to a lot of trouble to put it there, so it seemed the right and honourable thing to do! It was very, VERY steep though, and narrow, and also probably full of spiders! Not wanting to put my hands against the rocks I used my arms to help me down the steeper bits... hence the friction burn on my elbow! What a super little place though! Totally hidden amongst the trees, but well worth finding if you're not too bothered about heights... and spiders!

Next stop was a beautiful meadow on the way back to Elton.



Incredibly pretty and full of wild flowers, it made a great place to talk again about apertures and composition and the need to try different angles... hence the rash on my arms!!



All in all, a great day out, some very interesting places and a fantastic location to learn about landscape photography. Thanks so much for your company Andy, and I am really looking forward to the next practical photography day of your 3-part course! P.S. I'll remember to bring the map next time, lol.

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

A Wonderful Surprise & Hair-raising Adventures in Dovedale!

Me and the pooch have been on our travels again, this time up into Dovedale in the Peak District.


Although only an hour or so from my sister's house in Bollington, I'd never been across to Dovedale and so thought it was about time I jolly well went!! It also happens that I was doing a photography tutorial in the Peak District the next day, so it was a good excuse to come and recce the area and find out how long it would all take. Wow, what a beautiful place!



I'm guessing that many of you may well have already been, as it is one of the most-visited places in England, but if you haven't been yet, I can only say "go... as soon as ever you can!!!" It's really, really lovely!

Having parked in the car park at Thorpe, first stop (after the toilets of course) was the little shop for a homemade ice cream. Mmmmm, strawberries and cream and it was so much creamily dreamily silkily (eh?) gorgeousness! Yum. Yum, yum, yum. Mmmmm, guess what? It was soooo good! Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, we were out for a walk along the Dove valley to Milldale.
The path follows the river all the way and twists through the most incredible landscape.



Caves, pinnacles, arches, and all kinds of limestone formations (er, at least I think it's limestone, apologies if I get that wrong!!); naturally weathered geological sculptures that are breathtaking both in scale and beauty. Tourists have been flocking here for years, and so much has been written both in poetry and prose, and artists have sketched, painted and drooled over the landscape ever since people first started sketching, painting and drooling over a landscape! There was a story attached to a sign halfway along the path to Milldale, relating the story of a hapless couple who decided to climb out of the valley on horseback.



Oops, bad choice! A hair-raising adventure indeed; the luckless... or lucky depending on which way you look at it... female was saved from death, quite literally, by her hair!! I didn't really believe the story, so have looked it up now I'm home and it turns out to be true! If you visit peaklandheritage.org.uk you can read a lot more detail about the story, but I'll show you some extracts from the letter Miss Laroche wrote to her mother in 1761. It's a story that Jane Austen would have been proud of... well, the old and rather chubby Dean would have to be replaced by a younger and more swarthy companion, but otherwise, it's straight out of the pages of a period novel... or from the script of a BBC period drama!!!

To set the scene... it is 1761 and a party of gentlefolk set out to explore the Dove Valley and to dine by the riverside. Leaving their equipage at the top in the lush meadows above the cliffs, the party wandered down on foot. They dined at 5, as is right and proper, and then started out to re-join the party at the top of the cliffs. The Rev. Mr Langton, Dean of Clogher in Ireland was rather old and rather rotund, and decided to return on horseback. Young Miss Laroche complained of feeling tired and was persuaded to mount in front of the Dean upon his steady old horse. All seemed well at first, but I'll let Miss Laroche tell the rest in her own words!

"Prepare yourself my dear Mother to hear a tale that will make the stoutest tremble and acknowledge the wonderful hand of God".

It's no surprise to imagine that the horse travelled faster than the rest of the party who were on foot, and very soon they found themselves separated from the group and accidentally upon the wrong path.

"I began to be afraid, we stopped but saw nobody and when we were within 8 or 10 yards of the top I was seized with a horror of it being almost perpendicular. I expressed my fear and the poor Dean bid me rely on him that he would carry me safe...

but God Almighty for our presumption hurled us down... I rolled and was dashed from rock to rock... when within a few yards of the bottom a furze bush so entangled my hair that it stopped me and I hung by it...

I have broke no limbs - my stays preserved my stomach and breasts the other parts of my body bruised as you may imagine... I was blind for 2 days and my head the worse... My face mends very fast, they say I shall not be disfigured. The poor Dean though alive has very little chance of recovery, he is still at Ashborn being old and bulky though he did not fall half so far as I did and good ground comparatively. N.B. The Dean died at four the next morning - he never spoke after he was found".

If you read the (very) old guide by W. Bott, written in 1800, ('A Description of Buxton'... or a new Guide), it tells that happily "The horse was more fortunate than the riders, for tho it rolled to the bottom of the precipice, the only injury it received from the fall, was a few bruises on its sides".

Mr Bott then goes on to say that "I would therefore advise the company that resort to Dovedale, to walk up the dale, and send their horses to meet them at the top, which is near New Inn turnpike, fifteen miles from Buxton".

Very good advice, but having no horses, no stays to preserve my stomach, fairly short hair and not knowing where New Inn turnpike was, we settled for a cup of tea at Milldale and returned to walk back the way we'd come.



I don't usually enjoy straight walks so much, preferring circulars where the scenery changes, but this walk is so incredibly different when viewed from the opposite direction! It actually feels like you're in a different place altogether. Quite bizarre!



Incredibly pretty though. On the way out, we'd noticed that there were tree stumps with coins bashed into them,



and saw several more on the way back. It seems every available stump is fair game for a penny or two! They also make handy perches for birdies and boxing bugs!!



It was fairly near to this stump that we bumped into Paul and Margaret, totally by accident and totally, shockingly , wonderfully unexpectedly! You may remember Roxy the Husky that our Hogy fell in love with in Lincolnshire? Well, he darted off in pursuit of a curly fluffy tail that looked so much like Roxy; in fact, I was within a breath of saying how much she looked like Roxy when the chap holding her lead turned around. It was Paul. We stood open-mouthed and staring at each other for a jaw-dropping surprised few seconds before leaping into the hellos and the "what the... ?'s".

Margaret had chosen that moment to have a stop for the necessaries (ladies will know what I mean), up the slope behind a bush, and she shrieked when Paul said who he'd found!! She came running down the hill, doing up her trousers (ok, so now gents will probably know what I mean as well), and gave me the biggest hug I've had in ages! It was so blooming lovely and wonderful to see them there. So unexpected but so perfect! So there we are, surprises for us and a hair-raising adventure for Miss Laroche (who, in true Jane Austen style, went to recover at Bath where she met her hero and married him to live happily ever after!). What a fantastic day out. Perfick!!

Rebecca, x

http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Hawks, Owls, Vultures, Teenagers!!

Friday was fantastic! I took two young ladies out for a day's tuition at the Hawk Conservancy Trust by Andover and we had an absolute ball! Holly and Charlotte are both starting their 'A' level Photography next year, but wanted a bit of a heads up on some of the technical aspects plus tips on composition and how to get their cameras off auto and get manual.



We started off with a bit of a chat over a cold drink when we got there; got their cameras set up for manual shooting, a few pointers and we were away! The Hawk Conservancy Trust is a great place for a day out as it is, but as a place to learn the basics, the skills and the fun of photography, it is an immense place for a day out!! Holly and Charlotte started off the day photographing birds in the aviaries, getting used to aperture, shutter speed, ISO and composition. We then moved on to the trickier stuff and went for the flying displays to capture birds on the wing.

The girls did an absolutely amazing job! Their confidence grew visibly hour by hour... brows unfurrowed, smiles broadened, the number of shots taken significantly decreased and the number of 'keepers' significantly increased! To add to the day, (after a rather delicious barbecue lunch), we were extremely fortunate to be included in a small group allowed in to the field to get up close and personal to a few of the birds.


image copyright Holly Card

Including Dave, the Secretary bird. What a character... what a name!


image copyright Holly Card

Isn't 'Dave' just a great name for a bird!!! Made us laugh anyway! Another highlight was the falconery on horseback display. What a sight!


image copyright Holly Card

The commentary was so interesting too... can't actually remember any of it (I'm getting on a bit now... I can tell you what I was doing in 1977, but not what I did yesterday!!!) however, we did say "ooh, I never knew that" several times! Anyway, it really was a great day out, and Holly and Charlotte were such good company and very easy, eager students.

We finished the day with a trip to Ludgershall Castle on the way back.



Landscape photography is so completely different to wildlife photography,



so combining the two disciplines in the one day was good experience and a useful way of experiencing how knowledge of aperture and shutter speed, combined with ISO can make so much difference to your final images.



A massive well done and thank you to Holly and Charlotte, and the best of luck with your 'A' levels!

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Wheels at Wollaton!

I was back at Wollaton Hall in Nottingham last Sunday for Autokarna 2010... no, I'd not heard of it before either! I'll definitely go again though... what a show!!



It's a classic car show in the grounds of the very stately Wollaton Hall, and was easily a match for the show at Glamis Castle (which, for those who have been I'm sure you'll agree is also a fantastic show!).

Given the wild, wild night on Saturday, it could very easily have been a no-show, but the thunder clouds left, the rain stopped and the sun came out. There were a few puddles, but nothing to get in the way of a smashing display!

The cars were many and varied, but all were special. Not all to my taste, I must admit, but you can't help marvel and respect the huge amount of loving hours that go into restoring and keeping these cars going.

If I could have taken just one home? I don't really know which it would have been. There are so many that would suit so many different occasions or moods... not in a girly 'which shoes today' kind of way, but in a 'what kind of day is it today... nostalgia? speed? air through the hair? memories?'... that kind of way. Pretty high on the list would be the Austin Healey, it was absolutely beautiful!! Joining it would be the 1948 Jaguar, what a gorgeous, gorgeous car, lovely lines,



big beaming face,



and loads of personal happy memories of another big cat of the same breed. The Jag has always been really important to me...



That leaping cat will always remind me of Grampy, of Somerset, of sunny days and country lanes, the warm smell of leather and that amazing purr!

There were more than classics at the show though. It was also a family fun day out, the biggest ice creams in the world (well, not really but it was a big one, yum), and a stage for all the latest in the auto industry... and of course the AA, RAC, and all the other associated trades and groups. Talking of which, there was a fabulous old ambulance on show that is maintained and shown by the East Midlands Ambulance Service. Apparently they have a few vehicles and it was lovely to see them there (for those who don't know, I was a paramedic for quite a few years and loved it). The two very nice chaps showing the ambulance were out of uniform (quite rightly) and not obviously associated with EMAS, as this is a voluntary thing run by a group of enthusiasts, and not an open advert for the service. I love that, and I was so impressed to see the vehicle and the warmth that came with it. I hope EMAS continue with it, and that if you ever see them at shows, take a wee while to have a look and chat to the guys.

Autokarna will be back at Wollaton next year... and I'm rather hoping that I will be too!

Rebecca, x

http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk