The Girl in the Red Coat…
We’re firmly back in Scotland!
Posts from the ‘Nature’ category
The Sound of Cretan Bees
Join me at the Vritomartis Naturist Resort close to Hora Sfakion, Crete as I listen to the very busy bees and other insects buzzing around large plants close to our beautiful room which overlooks the Libyan Sea. You might also hear the occasional bird!
The Winking Chicken
The Chicken
The Hitchhiker
There is always someone who wants a free ride!
The flowers, the fungi and the odd bird…
The Weed
The Walk in the Woods…
Join me and enjoy the sounds from our dog walk in the woods near to Duff House in Banff, Aberdeenshire, this morning. You’ll hear the sounds of woodland birds, including a fine woodpecker, streams and all the other sounds (including, if you listen very carefully, golf ball hits from the nearby Dufff House Royal Golf Club.)
All sounds recorded on my parabolic (directional) microphone using a ZoomH6 recorder (My Zoom F6 still hasn’t arrived!). The sound was mixed (using adaptive noise reduction) using Adobe Audition.
The Walk in the Woods…
The Squabbling Crows
Join us as we listen to a group of crows squabbling over something…
The Toilet Seat Growth (today’s question)
We were up in the Scottish hills this morning where a number of trees have been cut down (to allow others more space to grow we think). We noticed this strange wooden-like growth (shaped like a toilet seat) growing around the top of the tree stump. Appropriately brown! We’re not quite sure what causes this growth. It is solid and is not some kind of fungus. We noticed the ‘toilet seat’ on several tree stumps. What are these growths? That question has got us stumped too. Anyone know the answer?
The Pecker
The Andy Capp’s Hat Fungi
For those people who remember Andy Capp and his creator Reg Smythe. The fungus is the right shape for Andy’s cap!
The Slippery Slope
The Chicken on the Rock
The Flower
The Woman And Her Dog
The Forest Fungi
The Grumpy Sea Chicken
The Ex-Tree
Now a nice home for insects and, unfortunately for the insects, a feeding station for woodpeckers…
The Ex-Tree – Richard Broom Photography
The Stream
Water from the stream always tastes better…
The British Conservative Party
Rotten to the core and completely stumped…
The Hole Series (2): the hairy hole…
The Hole Series (1): the puckered hole…
The Flower
The Flower
The Rock Pool Diaries (5): The rock pools at low water…
Probably the best time to visit the beach. When the tide is out, all is revealed!
The Rock Pool Day
I have a 100mm lens that I hardly ever use but I took it for a spin on the beach today and took photographs in the rock pools when the tide was out. And so, get ready for the rock pool and dog series!
The Little Critters
Vegetarians step away from the blog! Just help land 9 boxes of these little critters from a trawler that arrived at MacDuff Harbour about an hour ago. Until I started this job (harbour night-watchman), I had no idea it was possible to catch prawns this size in the waters off the coast of Scotland.
The Curly Beaked Sea Chicken
The Seal Watching Me Watching It…
A seal watching me walk the dog today off Boyndie Beach, Banff, Scotland.
The Muscovy Chicken
The Hidden Chicken
The Exploding Flower and the Bug…
Can you spot the bug?
The Chicken on its nest…
The Queue of Chickens
Queue might just be the newest collective noun…
The Surfer Chickens
The Rock Chickens
The Weed Chickens
The Deveron Dog Walk
Where the River Deveron flows into the Moray Firth
The Wave Watcher
The Warning (2)
Don’t say you weren’t warned! See previous post. There is nothing at Troup Head to stop you falling over the cliff if you get too close to the edge.
Troup Head is a RSPB sanctuary not far from where we live in Banff. Some magnificent scenery and the sanctuary is teaming with birds and other wildlife. So good that we have these protected sites in the Scotland.
The Sea State in Banff…
A little windy today and yesterday…
The Hills
The Farm
The Dying Trees
We’ve noticed quite a few trees up here in the Cairngorms that appear to be dying. Disease? Polution? We’re not sure but a pity to see trees dying off…
The Town
Grantown-on-Spey in the Cairngorms.
The Magic Spotted Mushrooms
A strange spotted mushroom found in the Cairgorms today whilst out on a dog walk. No sign of any red squirrels yet…
The Strange Dead Old Tree Picture
….it just turned out the way it did…
The Patient Rock
It occurred to me that this Scottish rock has been waiting patiently for, perhaps, millions of years for me to happen along with my camera. I can’t help wondering if anyone else has ever photographed this particular lump of broadly unspectacular but colourful rock. It is a bit of a geological jigsaw puzzle…
The High-rise
Twice a day the sea rolls in and covers these rocks which, it turns out, are high-rise blocks for marine wildlife. Also, something of a smorgasbord for the local sea birds when the tide rolls out…
The Uncooperative Chickens…
These somewhat dim chickens are clearly lining up for a group portrait but why did they choose a rock so far away?
The Scottish Orange Legged Chicken
The chickens here in Scotland seem to be well-adapted to living in the shallows where they dig up worms and other tasty morsels. Some of the Scottish chickens even fly!
The Tail Waver
A seal waves its tail in the air whilst sitting on a rock close to Banff, Scotland.
The Sea State…
The sea state this morning – moderate with a strong Westerly wind blowing towards Banff…
The Dawn
Image inspired by John in Nevada who does interesting things with his images.
The Red Breasted Chicken
The Black Chicken
The Grumpy Rabbit
The Pussy
The Chomper
The Sunbathing Stripy Tailed Short-Eared Rabbit
The Short-Eared Leaf-Eating Rabbit
The Questionable Behaviour…
The Orange and Green Strawberry Eating Chicken
The Fan Dance Chicken
The Critter…
Just one of the critters who scamper up and down on the grass next to where out boat is tied up.
The Camels Bottom
The Pointed Nose Chicken + Two Babies Onboard
The Head on Backwards Chicken…
The Oak Processionary Moth
We’ve spotted a number of these ‘nests’ made by the Oak Processionary Moths in nearby oak trees here in the Netherlands. We’ve never seen them ever before. That’s global warming for you Mr Trump!!!
But, before blaming Mr Trump too much, it looks like we British might be responsible for introducing this particular (and toxic) pest into Europe. More information here.
The Short Eared Rabbit
The Naughty Bunnies
The Other Fluffy Chicken
The Bee and the Thistle
The Orgy
The Tired Chicken Yawns
The Red Faced Blue Chicken
The Chicken and the Lock Gate
A chicken hiding out on (in?) one of the lock gates nearby.
The Woman and the Dog
The new Adobe Camera RAW Texture Slider – The flower
Still having fun with the new Texture Slider in Adobe Camera RAW. It’s a fun tool and it worked well on the flower below. I love taking photographs of flowers with a very narrow depth of field – it makes the flower pop out of the background. The new texture slider gives the image a bit of extra pop!
The Thief
The Yellow Chicken
The Mean-Spirited Chicken…
Don’t mess with this chicken!
The Fluffy Chicken
The Buzzards
The Pussy
The Swimmer…
The Purple Jobs…
The Monkey Face
“You lookin’ at me???
The Leaf Map
The veins (?) in the leaf look like a city roadmap.
The Dog Walker
The Not Stinging Nettle
Sue tells me that, whilst the plant/weed shown in the first image below looks like a stinging nettle, it isn’t and you would not be stung if you touched it. I will not be testing this hypothesis. If it looks like a stinging nettle, then it will sting you. I apply the same logic to snakes. If it is a snake, it is poisonous!
For comparison purposes, the image at the bottom of this post is a stinging nettle.
The Big Chicken Lurking…
A big chicken seen lurking in the reeds today…
The Strange Growth
I am sure somebody will know what kind of plant (weed?) this is. Spotted near Monnickendam (Netherlands) today. Almost like some kind of alien creature!
The Walk in the Park…
The Bud
The Owl’s Eyes
The Owl’s Eyes
The Other Big Chicken
Another one of those big chickens…
The Other Big Chicken
The Big Cat
The Big Cat
The Ball Chucker
The Ball Chucker
Richard Broom Photography 