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It is not often that we venture to the east of the capital, or perhaps more accurately, anywhere east of the Metropolitan line. There is some logic to this unofficial frontier that has come to dictate our walks, at least on costs and convenience grounds given that we mostly set off from Niraj’s base in north-west London. Nevertheless, it would be hard to deny that Niraj’s inexplicable preference for the West [of England as opposed to the whole world] also plays a part. That said, the Epping Forest Walk marked an exception to this long-standing convention. Covering some 6,000 acres, the forest is London’s largest open space and stretches 12 miles from Manor Park in east London to just north of Epping in Essex. The forest is also of national and international conservation importance with two thirds designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. Our walk began not far from Chingford Station at Connaught Water– one of a number of man-made lakes in the area that were formerly gravel excavation pits. The circular route took us on a well-trodden track through the heart of the forest, northwards to High Beech and back. Although famous for its ancient oak, beech and hornbeams that have stood for many centuries, the forest is home to an astonishing variety of trees - around twenty species in all. Just before halfway emerged the hamlet of High Beech, the only settlement within Epping Forest. Being Good Friday, we caught a procession heading towards the Holy Innocents Church – a quaint church entirely embosomed by the forest. On reaching, we stood for a brief while in the church’s graveyard, musing momentarily on the impermanence of all things, before entering the church for some inner repose. A little while later, we headed further on, passing the Epping Forest Visitor Centre to the King’s Oak pub for a spot of well-earned lunch. The return leg took us eastwards and back south through Loughton Camp – the site of an iron-age hideout, and along the small streamlet of Loughton Brook meandering its way through the forest, before eventually reaching the far side of Connaught Water where we had begun. Technical details: Sony a850 with Sigma 50-500mm (Bigma) lens.
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At last, a few spring-like moments creeping into our weather forecast... allowing a little more time to familiarise myself with the Pen Mini and explore the capability of these old lenses.
Last two photos taken at London Bridge, the rest are from Regent's Park. Photos are unedited, some have captions. I personally love the snow drop and crocus photos taken in glimpses of gorgeous dusk lighting. Technical details: Olympus E-PM1 with OM Zuiko 28mm f2.8 and 135mm f3.5 lenses. A small collection of photos taken over a few visits to Stocker's Lake and the Rickmansworth Aquadrome...
Technical details: Sony a850 with Sigma 50-500mm (Bigma) lens. Another cold but beautiful winter evening at Stocker's Lake, Rickmansworth. The place was alive with the sounds of birds, and I was lucky to witness the mating of Canada geese, a sight rarely seen. Having watched the two romantically courting side-by-side for a few minutes, I decided to stop my walk and wait for some action.. it paid off.
Some info from canadagoose.org: Canada geese (and swans) mate for life. Mated pairs not only raise and protect their young together, but also look out for one another over the course of their lives. One mate will stay by the other's side if injured or dying, even if the rest of the flock is moving on. They are extremely devoted to one another. And further description of the mating / courtship adapted from preservewildlife.org. These steps can be seen in the photo story below (although I've added a few captions on the photos too - hover over or click to expand and read): During mating season, couples will go off together and be alone. ... The displays that the males perform range from the Head-Up-Tail-Up (male throws his head back and jerks with his tail feathers erect) to the Grunt (male rears out of the water and slowly sinks back down while making a loud grunting sound). Both the male and accepting female then continues the courtship by performing other displays separately or in unison. Mating occurs in the spring on the water and at night time (that’s why they aren’t seen mating). Copulation begins with both sexes bobbing their heads up and down and touching their bills to the water horizontally with their necks extended. As the female extends her neck and her wings flattened out, the male “joins” her (while in the water). The female is usually partially submerged or completed submerged (with only head out of water) while copulation takes place. The male stands on her back. After copulation the female bathes while the male faces her and then he bathes. Technical details: Sony a850 with Sigma 50-500mm (Bigma) lens. Excitement to test out the new (second-hand) Bigma lens (interesting page here) took me to the Aquadrome on an unusually dry but cold winter day. This winter has taught me not to take the sunshine for granted and I was keen to make use of it, or more so the absence of bad weather (not unlike how we confuse an absence of suffering with happiness!) A long walk with this behemoth certainly gave my arms a workout, but after enjoying the 50-500mm range and seeing the results it was certainly worth it.
Technical details: Sony a850 with Sigma 50-500mm (Bigma) lens. A very belated Happy New Year everyone. Apologies for the delay - I've got a several exciting 2013 posts coming very soon! Wanted to share some highlights of the year in an end-of-year collage.Actually, I've only included the second half of the year (1/2 / 2012 ?) since the blog was started in July. Looking through, I feel privileged to have had so many stunning opportunities to attempt to capture this variety of visual beauty. Click on the images to take you to the relevant posts from earlier this year. Unusually, photos are square-cropped here so not in original shape. Alternatively you can see the images in their normal form in the slideshow below. Comments / feedback welcome - just click on the "add comments" text at the bottom on this post. Slideshow of above photos. Hover over the photo and click "play". More wide angle photos taken at the Rickmansworth Aquadrome. The second photo shows the extent of flooding on some of the paths - fortunately this young cyclist seemed to enjoy the new challenge.
Technical details: Tokina 19-35mm lens, photos shot in raw with minor colour / white balance / vignetting edits before conversion. This breathtaking national park gains its name from the break in the cliffs, and the analogies continue - the devil's kitchen (hot and cold springs), the devil's shower (hot spring waterfalls) etc. Perhaps the most appealing aspect of visiting was that we were free to walk around, as KWS describes it "a walk on the wild side".
The harsh and dramatic scenery of the gorge has inspired much of the settings of Lion King, and Tomb Raider was shot in the gorge itself. A particular wildlife highlight was seeing some enormous birds encircling the skies: Rüppell's Vultures and Verreaux's Eagles. The former have about an 8 foot wingspan and fly over a hundred miles in order to find food in Maasai Mara and Nairobi, returning back to their nests in Hell's Gate. We were advised to take a guide as we had been warned about recent flash floods causing fatalities - the gorge can fill-up very quickly. Our Maasai guide entertained us while telling his story of a tribal boy who was more interested in nature and education than herding cows. After being outcast by his father, he grew up in an orphanage and upon reaching adulthood and coming of age he decided that he had to re-initiate himself into the society. The traditional ritual was that in order to prove his strength and bravery, he had to kill a lion. Armed with nothing more than a spear, he set-off with the men of his tribe on a week-long search for a lion. Once found, they circled it and our guide threw his spear before being given the go-ahead by the leader. Perhaps even less fortunate was the outcome - although the spear hit the lion it did not injure it and it attacked him. The rest of the group had to flee, leaving him injured but he was later helped back home (another week-long journey) and it took six months to recover using local herbal remedies. He was given honorary initiation back into the tribe in consideration of his ordeal, but he is still trying to accumulate a herd of cattle so that he can afford to pay a dowry and get married! Technical details: Olympus ZD 70-300mm and 12-60mm lenses; all unedited and straight from the camera except for some of the small bird photos. which have been cropped. When we booked our taxi boat to Cousin, we were told it was only an 8 minute motorboat ride away. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the sea was a lot less calm a few mornings later and we had quite an adventure (and soaking) when boating our way through the rough choppy sea - luckily our boatman had a waterproof back and we'd brought extra large carrier bags for the camera bag! The journey actually took us about 45 minutes. To land on Cousin's fine beaches, you have to board a speedboat (in the sea) on which you are told to hold on tight - the boat is driven at full speed, cutting through the waves like a jet ski, onto the white sandy beach. Why? In order to reduce human imprint on the beach itself.
After disembarking, everyone is strongly advised to put insect repellent on, properly - there were dozens of Odomos tubes (indian insect repellent cream) provided. Will had also given us mosquito suits but we thought we'd brave it as Seychelles seemed moderately mosquito-free compared to the lake-town of Kisumu. In fact, I've never had to reapply the mosquito repellent every half hour like I did in Cousin's dense vegetation. Cousin Island is a stunning bird island, designated as a special reserve and it was bought by Birdlife International while managed by Nature Seychelles. With no development and totally reserved for conservation, Cousin Island has the highest density of lizards per hectare in the world (although it didn't seem like this!); it is home to 300,000 nesting seabirds, the longest millipede in the world and an important nesting site for Hawksbill turtles. We had never seen such a place teeming with wildlife, and even more so, birdlife. With no natural predators and only conservationists and visitors, the birds are completely unafraid of humans - we could walk right up to nesting chicks at the base of trees and they would barely bat an eyelid - they felt so safe and secure! We were extremely lucky to see one of the first nesting Hawksbill turtles of the year - photos below capture some of the wildlife we witnessed. Technical details: Olympus ZD 70-300mm lens; all unedited and straight from the camera. Flying to Praslin - what an experience! Although the weather wasn't ideal, we thoroughly enjoyed the 15 minute flight from Mahe to Praslin in a De Havilland Twin Otter 16-seater, with hand luggage in our laps and a clear view into the cockpit. Ours was the only checked-in baggage, yet they still put it on the belt in Praslin!
Staying and spending time with Will was an absolute pleasure. He had no reservation about picking us up at 6am on a Sunday morning and giving us a morning tour of the island. But the highlight of our day was Anse Government. After lunch and swimming at L'Archipel, we drifted down the coast to an area we could almost walk out onto small rocky islands. Jumping off the 10 feet cliffs (and avoiding the rocks below) was inspired by daring local teenagers - not a small feat considering Will had only learnt to swim a few months ago! Luckily he also had his waterproof camera to capture some of the moments. Before reaching, Will had told me that he doesn't bother checking the weather here due to the micro climates - today it must have rained on and off at least 15 times in the day! Many more photos from Praslin will follow in later posts. For interesting travel reading on Seychelles, especially if you're from the UK, I recommend a visit to Will's blog - Will I Am in Seychelles. Entertaining, humourous yet informative. Technical details (first 3 photos): Olympus ZD 12-60mm and 70-300mm lenses; unedited and straight from the camera. Last two photos: Panasonic Lumix FT3, colours slightly edited to counter the cloudy day. |
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