kimbofo

9 snapshots of Niagra Falls (and one movie)

Place: Niagra Falls, Canada.
Date: May 3, 2012.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.

I wasn't sure what to expect when we went to Niagra Falls earlier this month. I hadn't realised that the falls are comprised of two separate waterfalls — the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls — and that they would make so much noise and be so impressively, well, big.

Of course, the best way to appreciate the falls, if not from the window of your hotel, is from the open deck on board the Maid of the Mist. Oh. My. Goodness. What an exciting, funny, wonderful way to get up close to the roar of the water and to feel the spray of it raining down on you. Any wonder a disposable blue-hooded waterproof poncho is included with the ticket price. We would have been completely drenched without them.

Whe we took to the water, standing on the top deck, I got a bit excited taking photographs and filming the action. It was so wet that my camera shutter got stuck and for a moment there I thought I was finally going to have to say goodbye to my five-year-old Panasonic.

Here's a mix of pictures snapped before my camera decided to die temporarily — and after it dried out.

Brighton, 17.37

Place: Brighton, Sussex.
Date: April 21, 2012.
Camera: BlackBerry Curve.

Yesterday. Just after 5.30pm. We were in Brighton at the tail end of a pub crawl to which we'd been invited by one of T's former colleagues. We nipped out to photograph the sea just as these lovely fingers of light were coming down out of the sky and shining on the ocean and the old pier.

Bird on a bouy

Place: Kensington Palace Gardens, London.
Date: April 15, 2012.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.

Snapped this today on the return leg of an 8 mile walk to Mayfair and back. I can't believe the size of his feet!

A carpet of yellow jonquils and purple crocus

Place: West London.
Date: February 28, 2012.
Camera: BlackBerry Curve.

I love this time of year. The purple crocus have been out for a few weeks, but now they are joined by yellow jonquils. The result is a delicate carpet of patchwork flowers.

Snowdrops at the Chelsea Physic Garden

Place: Chelsea Physic Garden, London.
Date: February 11, 2012.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.

Do you know what a galanthophile is?

Apparently it's someone obsessed with snowdrops, those lovely little white flowers that pop up in late winter, of which there are nearly 100 different varieties. The botanical name for snowdrops is Galanthus — from the Greek meaning milk (gála) and flower (ánthos).

This weekend the Chelsea Physic Garden is throwing open its grounds to the public specifically to celebrate the humble snowdrop. The garden was founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries so that its apprentices could study medicinal plants. It is London's oldest botanical garden.

We arrived late this afternoon and took a wander around the garden, which covers 3.8 acres, features numerous greenhouses and beds of plants labelled with their botanical names arranged in systematic order.

The sun was shining and there was still  snow on the ground from Thursday night's snowfall, but it was ice-cold and my hands quickly became frozen, even in my gloves, as I took these photographs: 

According to the leaflet that came with our entry ticket, you can distinguish the different variety of snowdrops by "subtle differences of markings, leaf shape and fullness of flower". At the risk of offending galanthophiles everywhere, I really couldn't tell one variety from another. But that didn't stop me from admiring these beautiful and delicate flowers.

Roll on spring!

Swan on the Serpentine

Place: Hyde Park, London.
Date: February 10, 2012.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.

I disappointed this pristine-white swan this afternoon. She came swimming over to me as I stood at the side of the Serpentine in Hyde Park to take a couple of snaps. I think she thought I was there specifically to feed her. When she realised my pockets were empty and I had no bread on offer, she swam off towards an old lady and a little boy further downstream — they were probably a better prospect.

Frosty landscape

Place: Richmond Park.
Date: January 16, 2012.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.

Taken mid-way through a 15-mile cycle to the park and back earlier today. Beneath the winter sky the ground was covered in a light dusting of frost — even at 11am.

Boxing Day sunset

Place: West London.
Date: December 26, 2011.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.

Taken midway through an afternoon stroll — which turned into a sort of pub crawl — along the Thames.

A dancing flock of starlings

This is rather spectacular footage of starlings "dancing" in the skies over Loch Ree in Ireland as they prepare to roost for the evening. The hundreds of birds appear to move as one, expanding and contracting, in a dynamic, hypnotising and rather magical display.

It's a long film but it's worth watching in its entirety — the action and the film-maker's language heats up at around the 5.10min mark.

(Via Irish Central)

The phenomenon is known as murmuration. The Danes call it sort sol, which means black sun.

Sky over West London

Place: West London.
Date: June 22, 2011.
Camera: BlackBerry Curve.

I snapped this photograph through the bedroom window at 8.15pm. The sky was a weird mix of white fluffy clouds in the background, dark storm clouds in the foreground and a canvas of pale blue beneath.