Cold Comfort Wood

Cold Comfort Wood is a mainly Oak & Hazel wood, situated on the outskirts of Alcester. Passing through Cold Comfort Wood, is part of the Monarchs Way, a 615 mile, long distance footpath, which is supposed to closely follow the route of Charles the second's escape after his defeat at the battle of Worcester in 1651.

I spent a couple of hours looking around, mainly for opportunities to photograph fungi. I came across what I believe to be Shaggy Parasol Fungi (macrolepiota procera), although I may be wrong as there are several lookalikes. I photographed one specimen close up, and then another trying to show it in it's environment. On the way back to the car I noticed a clump of Fairy inkcap ( I Think) on a stump in the middle of the footpath. Again I took a close up and then an environmental shot. Once again if anybody disagrees with my fungi ID's I am happy to get feedback.

What A Cracking Day!

Went for a walk this morning along the River Arrow from Alcester towards Kings Coughton, it was a cracking morning, unbelievably warm for a November day. About a mile into the walk I spotted a flash of blue as a kingfisher flew from a branch. Thinking I might be lucky I set the camera up on a tripod and pre-focussed on the branch, I hid in the trees and hoped it would return. About half an hour later the Kingfisher did indeed return, I pressed the shutter release and absolutely nothing happened, the batteries had depleted, AAAgh!!!. I changed the batteries convinced I had blown my chance, but decided to wait a bit longer. I dont know how long I was waiting for when a Goldcrest appeared, feeding on the Lichen covered trees where I was hiding.I watched it for quite a while it seemed oblivious of me being there even though it was only inches away. Sometimes as it moved from branch to branch it almost hovered like a humming bird, of course my camera was down the bank on a tripod, with me thinking this is good I am not going to get a picture of anything. Then all of a sudden a flash of blue and the Kingfisher had returned and this time everything functioned as it should and I managed to get three or four shots,making my day!.

Alcester Farmland

Took this today while taking the dogs for a walk on the outskirts of Alcester, It is four shots stitched together in Photoshop to make a panoramic picture of Alcester farmland. It is my first attempt at doing one of these and is hand held, so it is probably a little bit soft. quite enjoyed doing this though so I will have another go sometime, with a tripod etc. The pic appears very small on the Blog, but does look a bit better when you click on it The field I am stood in is used by Skylarks for nesting, and is valuable hunting territory for Kestrels being a sort of corridor between the industrial estate and the arable land. Unfortunately at the moment it is in the process of planning and it looks likely that it will soon disappear to become a housing estate.

Enthusiasm or lack of it

I haven't posted anything for a little while , I have been struggling to find enthusiasm for photography down at the nature reserve lately. So to rekindle my interest I have taken a little break and been concentrating on other things. I have had a go at Band photography for a friend's rock band, and have covered a couple of their gigs. Also I have been playing around with some black & white portraiture. I have really enjoyed doing something different, but have felt the need to start posting on here again. Today I took a walk up Oversley Wood just out side Alcester and found these pics, I am not totally sure of the ID on the Fungi but I think it is Beefsteak Fungi. If any one knows I would be grateful. Also I came across this unseasonable Foxglove obviously confused by this warm weather. UPDATE I have just looked at the Fungi ID websites and now think that this one could be Blushing Bracket (Daedaleopsis confragosa)