Autumn comes...

It's a Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK and as you may know that means bad weather...yep...forecast is dreadful - I look out of my office window at grey skies a moderate breeze and rain imminent...hey ho. Moving away from the weather it has been an interesting week - most of it spent writing ecological reports for the surveys I carried out the week before and desperately trying to get out and shoot pictures...Reports at clients for proof reading but pictures have been tricky... weather has been poor for plants and insects...I hope you like what I have managed to shoot...

sure sign of Autumn - hedgerow berries...these are on white bryony (Bryonia dioica)

...the garden escape Chinese lantern...

common rock rose...

...the menacing berries of deadly nightshade...

...rose hips - it's taken me many years to take a picture of these with which I'm happy...I will take more, but this one is OK for now...

sloes - the fruit of the blackthorn...they look delightful and when added to gin and left a while taste good too; but straight from the tree? urggghhh!!!

All these above were taken along a public footpath that runs along the bottom of our garden and over the golf course...that will be my local patch for the next year or so...not quite Wicken Fen, but at least it's countryside...
Speaking of Wicken Fen, I did manage to get down there this week in an attempt to count some dragonflies - the weather was against me with a cool wind and only sporadic sunshine (can we have some heat again and some sun please...). I managed a few shots after aborting the survey...

the pyralid moth Agriphila tristella

hogweed seeds...

a new plant for me - trifid bur-marigold (Bidens tripartita)

two different lichens...love the colours here...

But in general it was a frustrating trip...next week? Let's hope...

Last weekend we went up to Scarborough for a brief trip...I managed to take some seaside-type shots...

to the lighthouse...

thrift - usually pink, sometimes white...

I call this one "Which way Doris?"...

That almost sums it up for the week...except for yesterday...because yesterday we went to London. The British Literary Society has placed a number of benches around the capital in celebration of books and great literature. Each bench is decorated as a separate theme based on an author or a specific book. Mid September will see them auctioned so we went to have a look at some - Quinn wanted to see the one for How to Train Your Dragon - his favourite books (not the films) so we chose the Riverside Trail. In the process we walked over 5 miles along the Southbank and back...

how to train your dragon...

The biggest discovery yesterday was the realisation that when on a day out with Lucy and Quinn...I don't need to take a camera with me...my Blackberry Z10 smartphone is perfectly capable of taking decent family pictures...these last three were from the phone...not the same quality as the others but good enough...

So we start the last week of the holidays - Quinn seems to have more energy that ever despite yesterdays extensive walking though the streets of London and Lucy is gearing herself up for a new intake plus all the other things that a head teacher has to do... 

My work will always be found here or here depending on your tastes and I have also entered one of my pictures in a competition here... so if you feel so inclined you can visit this site and vote for me...

I hope you all have a good week...and I shall hopefully see you all again soon...

TTFN...