I hope everyone is doing well and keeping safe.

I’ve been meaning to post these photos since last week, but it seems time these days is not my friend!

Last week we had some glorious weather here (which kindly returned yesterday after a break of a few days), and that meant I got some nice photos whilst out on my daily walk around the village…If you would like to see more photos, head over to my Facebook page, which is where I usually post them – the reason being I don’t always remember to take my camera, but I always have my phone! 😉

Take care all x

Hedgerows, Wildflowers, Stormy Skies and Ruins – A Day of Photos

Posted on August 19, 2019 by sammicoxwriter

Today was spent out and about, enjoying the English countryside…walking through fields taking photographs of wildflowers and checking out how the fruits of the hedgerow are coming along. It’s not quite the season yet for picking blackberries or the berries of the hawthorn (haws). We managed to dodge the downpours, but I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of the moody sky. This backdrop really gave an atmospheric edge to the church ruins. And naturally, such inspiration has resulted in a number of poetic scribbles…

Through the mist…

Posted on February 7, 2019 by sammicoxwriter

I woke up on Tuesday morning to find my village swathed in a blanket of mist, and, recalling that one of the picoftheweek2019 prompts for the Photo Challenge hosted by Of Maria Antonia is mist / clouds, I waited for it to get light enough and then duly went outside, camera in hand to try and capture the ethereal veil…

A note about my responses for the challenge: The photos I post will be a mix of old and new. I’ve taken so many photos over the years, it will be nice to give a handful of them a purpose, but I also look forward to taking my camera out and snapping new ones too.

I’m quite pleased with this photo. You can see the mist, though it’s not come out as dense as it was in reality, but there are other things that draw the eye too. In the foreground there are the branches of a wild / dog rose, with a numbered of withered dark red rosehips still clinging on, whilst on the left and further away from the camera are the branches of a crab apple, on which you can just make out silver jewel-like dewdrops. (Just a little further left and out of shot, a blue tit was singing merrily – I did manage to get a photo and will share it here in due course, if I can find a prompt that works with it) And finally, that thick layer of moss carpeting the roof looks soft enough to sit on. If it wasn’t such a dreary-looking snap, I would say everything about it was magical…

Week 5 – Mist / Clouds

Taken: February 2019

Are you looking at me?

Posted on January 27, 2019 by sammicoxwriter

It’s been a tad bit cold and blowy here today. Although we popped out for a lovely hot chocolate this afternoon and saw plenty of deer as well as a number of birds of prey, alas there was no opportunity to take any photos. Hopefully next time. For now, here’s my photo for week 4 of the #2019picoftheweek Photography Challenge, hosted by Of Maria Antonia…

A note about my responses for the challenge: The photos I post will be a mix of old and new. I’ve taken so many photos over the years, it will be nice to give a handful of them a purpose, but I also look forward to taking my camera out and snapping new ones too.

Keeping with the wildlife theme of the past few weeks…meet this cheeky grey squirrel. Just look at those little hands! Is it posing for the camera or a posing a question, (“Are you looking at me?” or perhaps, “Did you want something?”), do you think? The photo was taken in May 2017 at The Forest Centre at Marston Vale, Bedfordshire, UK. The former site of a brickworks (the area had quite a few), it is now part of an extensive community forest.

Week 4 – Where I Stand

Taken: May 2017

Hello, Pigeon!

Posted on January 20, 2019 by sammicoxwriter

I’ve just got back in from a walk out in the freezing cold to see the super moon. Now, as I defrost in the warm, sipping a huge mug of tea, I think I better post my photo for week 3 of the #2019picoftheweek Photography Challenge, hosted by Of Maria Antonia…

This photo was taken through my kitchen window last week. The glass has given the photo a nice, soft quality to it. But how does this fit in with any of the photo challenge prompts? Well, in my house, any bird spotted out of the window is always greeted with an excited “Hello!” And no, I’m not entirely sure why. As soon as I saw this prompt on the list, I knew it was a bird photo taken from the house that I would post for it. It just so happened that last week a wood pigeon was the only bird willing to pose for me…

Week 3 – Hello!

Taken: January 2019

Birds of a Feather

Posted on January 13, 2019 by sammicoxwriter

I missed the first week of the #2019picoftheweek Photography Challenge, hosted by Of Maria Antonia, but, as I was choosing this week’s photo, I came across two related photos and decided to post both, one for this week and one for last week…

So on to the photos for Weeks’ 1 & 2…

These photos were taken at the beginning of 2017, when I was going through my moody black and white photo phase, which I think suits the personality of geese perfectly. Here we have a number of Canada Geese swimming peacefully up the River Great Ouse, which passes through my village in North Bedfordshire, UK.