The Jurassic Coast – Sidmouth, Devon, England

This photograph was taken looking south from Sidmouth which is a small town on the English Channel coast in Devon, South West England. The town lies at the mouth of the River Sid in the East Devon district, 15 miles (24 km) south east of Exeter. It has a population of about 15,000, of whom 40% are over 65, and a large part of the town has been designated as a Conservation area. Sidmouth's rocks contain fossils and so this stretch of coast is part of the Jurassic coast world heritage site.

Cirrus SR22 GTS

On a trip to RAF Duxford a while ago I spied this rather nice Cirrus. It's an SR22 GTS, and is a US registered plane. Empty, it weighs in at just over a ton (1009kg) and has a useful load of 553kg. It can climb at a rate of 1400 ft/min (426 m/min), with a maximum operating altitude of 17,500 ft (5,334 m). it has a maximum cruise speed of 185 knots and at 55% power has a maximum range (With reserve) of 1170 nm (2166 km).

Climb, my pretty. Climb!

Following on from yesterday’s post. We’ve not seen or heard from the cat for a while now, but I snapped this one when it was trying to climb the fence to get out of the garden. It tried numerous times to jump up the fence, and failed miserable every time. The picture above was his best attempt, and he jumped up, dug in the claws, and slowly slipped back down. It was very amusing to watch before he finally jumped up and scooted off.

Photography Details: Nikon D40. Focal length 55 mm, ISO-640, exp: 1/60 sec. F-stop f/5.6

If you liked this post, or have done something similar, why not spend a minute and let me know in the comments at the bottom of the page

Or if you like this blog and would like to receive emails when it's updater why not subscribe. You will only get an email if there is a post on this blog, and your details will not be shared. Plus its free!

Simply enter your email address in the box below:

Email subscriptions are delivered by FeedBurner

As ever, thanks for reading

What You Lookin' At...

I can't say I've ever been a huge fan of the everyday household cat. For me, the fascination has always been with the larger, more exotic cats of the world, but when this little thing strayed into our back garden a few days ago I couldn't resist. Grabbing a few prawns, being a fish I thought it'd go nuts for it, but no... Bowl of milk and some homemade toys made of string and golden chocolate wrapper and he was ours for an hour and a half. So grabbing my camera I started snapping away...

Trojan Staircase

Firstly, apologies for anyone who received a garbled email this morning. I’ve had a look into it and hopefully it’ll be fixed for the next one!

Today’s post is in relation to yesterday post. The gargoyle plant pot lies on the right of the staircase as you walk up, and can be seen just beyond the green railing..

Royalty and many other famous people have stayed at the mansion at the centre of the park. The rooms are lavishly decorated and the landscaped gardens take full advantage of the spectacular views of Romney Marsh.

For Rebecca...

Today’s post is dedicated to Rebecca, who successfully guessed what the background was in the Everyday Household Objects Series. In case you missed the answer it’s a Canon Pixma IP4000 printer, which produces fantastic photograph printouts.

Happy St Knut's Day

St. Knut's Day is a holiday celebrated in Sweden and Finland on January 13. Although King Knut has been suggested to originate from Denmark, it is not a national holiday in that country. King Knut, or more commonly, Canute IV of Denmark, who ruled Denmark from 1080 - 1086 and who claimed the throne of England, is honoured as a saint for his virtue and generosity. He declared that Christmas should be celebrated for twenty days, officially ending the season on 13 January. The days between Christmas and Saint Knut's Day are filled with celebrations. Christmas trees are taken down on St. Knut's Day, and the candies and cookies that decorated the tree are eaten.

St Knut's feast day is recognised by the Roman Catholic Church as being on 19 January.


References
The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Ed David High Farmer. Oxford University Press, 2004. See the entry on St Canute.


Photograph Details: Nikon D40. Focal Length: 20mm, exposure 1/60 sec, ISO-200 F-stop f/3.8

If you liked this post, or have done something similar, why not spend a minute and let me know in the comments at the bottom of the page

Or if you like this blog and would like to receive emails when it's updater why not subscribe. You will only get an email if there is a post on this blog, and your details will not be shared. Plus its free!

Simply enter your email address in the box below:

Email subscriptions are delivered by FeedBurner

As ever, thanks for reading

First Frost

After waiting weeks for any sign of the dreary rain to stop and a clear blue wintery sky to come I woke up this morning to finally be satisfied - the belated first frost had arrived! So before the sun rose too high and melted it all I grabbed my kit and toddled on to Hunters Hill Quarry in Lancashire.

Urban Winter Sunset

The London Eye, looking North East up the River Thames, from Westminster Bridge, London. Taken on the 7th December 2008 at 15:35. Considering the direction of sight and the direction of the sunset, the red tint in the sky looks as if it is emanating from the buildings.

Slow Roundabouts

Taken going around a roundabout. The camera was mounted on car's dashboard, and set to fire via remote control. As a roundabout approached the remote was used to shoot the photograph.


Photograph details: Camera model: Nikon D40, Focal length 45mm, exp: 4 sec F-stop f/18

Again, taken going around a roundabout with the same settings as the above photograph.

Photograph details: Camera model: Nikon D40, Focal length 45mm, exp: 4 sec F-stop f/18

If you liked this post, or have done something similar, why not spend a minute and let me know in the comments at the bottom of the page

Or if you like this blog and would like to receive emails when it's updater why not subscribe. You will only get an email if there is a post on this blog, and your details will not be shared. Plus its free!

Simply enter your email address in the box below:

Email subscriptions are delivered by FeedBurner

As ever, thanks for reading

Winter

December and it's Wintery glory is finally upon us. Over the next few months, we shall try to shoot some winter scenes - but this plan is obviously weather dependent. Snow has been seen (we experienced a brief blizzard in Paris) so hopefully some rather nice Northerly winds will come our way. Keep checking back and share winter the good way with us!

Bring on the Arctic Snows!

If you liked this post, or have done something similar, why not spend a minute and let me know in the comments at the bottom of the page

Or if you like this blog and would like to receive emails when it's updater why not subscribe. You will only get an email if there is a post on this blog, and your details will not be shared. Plus its free!

Simply enter your email address in the box below:

Email subscriptions are delivered by FeedBurner

As ever, thanks for reading

Thatched Roof

Taken on 12th February 2008 by Janet Hitchen. It was shot in Sidmouth, Devon. You can see the sea defences on the edge of the beach to help prevent erosion by the English Channel. It shows the stark contrast bewteen the aged building and the modern wave breakers.