Framedlight

Things not being so great insect wise at Paxton Pits I decided to turn my attention to the plants. We were in a meadow looking for the elusive wasp spider which we had been told had taken up residency there, but was hiding from us. As it was September the grasses were looking autumnal and everything was going to seed. I start with an overview of the meadow and then come the plants, finishing with a picture of one of the ponds I took on the way out, attracted by its vibrance. The macro pictures have been taken using a shallow depth of field to get that lovely creamy look.

Last week the Cambridge Camera Club had a trip out to Paxton Pits in Little Paxton, Cambridgeshire. This is a nature reserve based around some old flooded gravel pits next to an active quarry. The weather forecast was originally sunny, but by the time the day came, it had changed to cloudy, although dry. The hoard of insects we were hoping to see were all deep in the bushes waiting for the sun to come out and so the pickings were rather mean. We also hoped to see wasp spiders which had been reported on the reserve but these too were not around. The pictures are of a more common variety of insects - a damsel fly, frog hoppers, a bee, garden spiders and a hunting spider.They were taken using the 105mm Nikon macro lens.

Over the course the August Bank Holiday, while staying near Holt in Norfolk we made a couple of trips to Burnham Overy Staithe with the kayak. The sky often threatened rain which never came but gave good lighting conditions. Burnham was busy but we took the kayak down to where the inlet met the open sea and the waves were breaking. The first three pictures are of Langham Dome, built in 1942/3 to train pilots for fighting in the second world war. Moving images were projected on the interior wall of the dome and the trainees tried to 'shoot' them down. The airfield at Langham has gone - Bernard Matthews found the tarmac a good base for turkey sheds. The dome was decommissioned in the fifties and went into disrepair but was saved by an enthusiastic team of volunteers and opened to the public this year. I could not resist a multiple exposure of the building. The last three pictures are from my phone of the edge of the sandbank where it meets the sea, the rest are taken with a DSL...

Baconsthorpe Castle is managed by English Heritage and lies off the beaten track near Holt in Norfolk. It was built in the 15th century and now lies in ruination. The Heydons who built and occupied it for 200 years overreached themselves and having run into debt, were forced to demolish part of it to sell as building material. There is a lodge building which was occupied up until the 1920's and this gives way to a bridge over the moat leading into the main castle enclosure. I photographed it one morning and then went back the next day at sunset when it was only occupied by bats, an owl my daughter and myself.