Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: ranunculus on November 06, 2007, 12:47:04 PM
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A brief visit to Tandle Hill Country Park at Royton near Rochdale, Lancashire (U.K.) to capture late autumn colours and fungi.
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TANDLE HILL VISIT PART TWO
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What a magical place, Cliff. We are, as ever, most grateful to you and your camera skills 8)
Just shows you how speedy those elves and pixies are , though, doesn't it? If ever a spot was right for those little creatures , Tandle Hill must be IT... but in all those super pix, not a single pixie to be seen.... who'd have thought they could be so fast as to escape your lens? ::)
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VISIT TO TANDLE HILL PART THREE
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Cliff,
I had no idea you were such a fun guy.
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Cliff was there mush room on your memory card?
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Fourth and final visit to Tandle Hill Country Park.
Many thanks Maggi...you nipped in between postings. No elves, pixies, trolls or fairies but you may spot 'The Beast of Tandle Hill' on the final image.
Take care everyone.
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I have the beast - but where's the beauty ???
Wonderful photos Cliff - you have the magic eye and a good
feeling to press the button at the right moment!
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Thanks Carlo, David and Thomas (I will post the 'beauty' under plain cover to your home address Thomas).
Just four more images that I thought were too large for posting.....
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Stunning photos Cliff !!! Pure art ! 8)
Thanks a lot for sharing
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Better and better, Cliff! What a fabulous series.... you certainly had great weather for your outing... lucky for us, eh?
Bit concerned about precense of hound of the Baskervilles... I thought Baskerville Hall was in Devon, on the moors ? ???
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Thanks so much Cliff. Fabulous fungi and the whole place looks quite magical. Yes, to the pixies, elves etc. They must be there somewhere. Lurking, no doubt.
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isnt 143 upside down?
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I'll second what everyone else has said
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Cliff,
So what exactly is the "beast". Those glowing eyes are a bit of a concern.
Carlo,
Disturbing that you have the same sense of humour as me. Had already thought of the fun guy comment before I read your posting. I don't htink I'm complimenting you here, given what my sense of humour is like!! ;D ::) ;D
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I really love these photos. You have a wonderful eye for a scene/view!!
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Paul,
David's "mush room" comment was far more original than my lame attempt...
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Many thanks everyone....glad you enjoyed them. Mark....I know it LOOKS upside down, but actually it was suspended, 'bracket' like, from a tree stump.
The 'beast' simply reflected back some of my fill-in flash.....I admit I didn't even see the dog until I opened the image on the computer.
I have got to say that the good people of Rochdale would be amazed at so much attention being paid to these 'dog-walking' woods in their midst.....Tandle Hill is simply a moderate sized woodland, playing fields, children's play area and small memorial garden whch truly only gains any recognition at all on dry sunny autumnal days. I love the place at this time of year but rarely consider a visit during the other eleven months. Most towns have parks and wooded areas of equal merit. Just struck lucky this weekend.
Pixies, elves, trolls and unicorns can be seen in some of the images.....but only if you are a believer.......
I liked BOTH the puns.....just glad nobody mentioned the toad.....
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Wow, Cliff...now I'm really impressed. I was sure that the "hound" was something you added to the picture in photoshop just to tweak us.
That this monstrous beast with reflective eyes just sauntered into your picture is nothing short of amazing (why does that stuff always happen to the other photographer...). It's a classic of a picture, and only a few days late for halloween...
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Fascinating fungi and enchanting woodland.
Thanks Cliff
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Carlo,
Yeah, it was more original, but I hadn't thought it of so it CAN"T be as good as your comment (which I had thought of!) ;D ;D ;D ::)
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.....just glad nobody mentioned the toad.....
Toad? what toad? where's the toad?
I'm reluctant to leave this particular topic, especially if there are some more images to come, but I have a little something of my own, found this morning when I was weeding in my tunnel house. He's a rather plump stick insect as they go - which could indicate that he's a she - and I hope he or she is dining or about to, on the aphids which are on the disporum. If not, I'll have to relocate the stick insect and spray the aphids.
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Hate to burst your bubble Lesley, but I will...
all stick insects are....uhmmm...vegetarians
Some (at least one of the Indian species) are ALL female...they reproduce by parthenogenesis.
Imagine that...they are more evolved than human females...they've figured out how to do without us!
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Mark requested a look at some Aussie birds, including parrots, so here's a (poor photo of a) crimson rosella, but often referred to as bloody rosellas for other reasons than colour!
Cliff,
really enjoyed your pics (as always) - I decided you'd be the person to call on to find a party as you'd be able to find the fun guy! (variation on Carlo and Paul's bad punning!)
cheers
fermi
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Hate to burst your bubble Lesley, but I will...all stick insects are....uhmmm...vegetarians
Some (at least one of the Indian species) are ALL female...they reproduce by parthenogenesis.
Imagine that...they are more evolved than human females...they've figured out how to do without us!
Oh well, I'll move the presumptive lady to another plant and squeeze the aphids. As for doing without the male of the species - where's the fun in that?
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guess you have to ask the stick-girl
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.....just glad nobody mentioned the toad.....
Toad? what toad? where's the toad?
Lesley, Lesley? I was TRYING to be a gentleman (doomed to failure, of course).....please complete the phrase; 'Mushrooms and toads _ _ _ _ _'
Your stick insect has very attractive legs but few feminine charms...!
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As you seemed to enjoy the images from Tandle Hill Country Park I will post a few more.....the first batch will feature no imps, pixies or trolls but you may spot a few in the final shots of the second batch......all from the Oldham or Rochdale elfin brotherhoods, of course.
All images remain untweeked (save for a bit of cropping and focusing) except for the final image which has been contrast enhanced for effect.
Hope you enjoy and autumnal greetings to you all (pixies included).......
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Final batch....(until the next lot)....?
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Fermi in the UK that Rosella is also known as a Pennant parakeet. They also come in a blue form
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Jings Lesley. Wild stick insects. :o The eggs off that beastie would sell for a fiver a dozen on the Entomolgical Livestock Group forum! I have leaf insects from the Philippines at the moment, but the male is mature and will have probably 'popped his clogs' before the first female is adult. :(
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Glad to see in some of Cliff's pix that there are actually people out there enjoying those stunning woodlands, though, perversely, the "empty" shots ( no offence meant, Pixies) are more beautiful!! ::)
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Oh yes Maggi....I totally agree! It would have been even quieter if the darn photographer and his wife had stayed away.
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Beech forest is surely the most beautiful of all kinds. I frequently take a detour on my way from town to home, in order to drive through the beeches on Three Mile Hill. If I had a few spare acres I would plant one. For now I'll make do with my one copper beech (pink at the moment) and two greeny pink seedlings grown from some beech leaf compost Roger brought home a couple of years ago.
Anthony, what would you suggest I do to relieve Sticky of her eggs? Massage her tummy? Build a little egg cup sized nest and place her in it, hoping for the best? Actually, if she lays anything anywhere here I'll be delighted to have more of her kind. In another garden I had a hedge of Olearia but I could never bring myself to cut it as there were hundreds of stick insects, smaller and paler than Sticky, and I didn't want to cut them as well. So, a shaggy hedge.
Apparently we have 9 native genera and about 22 species but maybe more as the boffins are dividing and sub-dividing, and there are some as yet undescribed anyway.
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Two NZ species have been introduced and naturalised in southern England. They usually lay two or three eggs a day. Most just drop them, but one species from Oz 'pings' them using a scoop-like ovipositor like one of those things in that strange (Spanish?) ball game.
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Pelota good that is Anthony! ;)
I used to know a bloke with a scoop-like ovipositor....had it treated in Germany, I believe. They wouldn't touch it on the National Health!
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Apparently we have 9 native genera and about 22 species but maybe more as the boffins are dividing and sub-dividing, and there are some as yet undescribed anyway.
EEEEEEKKK!!!!
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Didn't think the pun was THAT bad Maggi?
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Cliff, I thought the sight of the buttercups from Andalucia in the Flowers and foliage thread might have diverted your punning mechanism for an hour or two... vain hope it seems!
As ever, thanks for the giggle, supplied with your usual generosity :-*
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In some forests at certain times of the year, falling stick insect eggs can sound like rain! Once I get my new study............... ;D
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I was going to ask what the eggs looked like, in little patches like moth eggs or singly on leaves or what? but from the sound of that above, they're just dropped and abandoned anywhere? (She's still in the tunnel though moved along from the Disporum.) I'll keep an eye out but don't really know what I'm looking for. I've sent a pic and email to a gentleman in NZ's Landcare Research who works with stick insects and who should be able to idendify my Sticky.
Maggi, they're not at all EEEEKKKKy. In fact, quite benign and friendly when standing on one's hand. They don't DO anything much except sit there, in the day time at least.
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Lesley, something ( okay, since you like them... someone) with that many legs is by my definition eeky!
Two legs okay, four legs better, anymore... eeky... simple as that :(
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Well yes, I like them a lot. Very cute and interesting and I hope to have a lot more around. I've seen the occasional one here and there in this garden, perhaps one or two in a year but I'd like lots.
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Stick insect eggs are very like seeds, often with a little operculum on one end. They are usually quite large - e.g. McLeay's Spectre (Extatosoma tiaratum) from Queensland has eggs nearly 3mm diam. The males of this species are one of the few which can fly up from the ground. A friend had a big female which laid over 1000 eggs.
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Scary!!!
So if I find any, what do I do with them? Not sow them in a pot, covered with grit I suppose? :)
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I had stick insects when I was pre teens
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Curiously, some stick insect eggs have evolved similar mechanisms to seeds by having a tasty 'titbit' attached to the operculum so ants drag them into their nests. Young tiaratum behave and look like demented ants when they hatch. I usually keep eggs as you would narcissus seed - on dry sand. They usually take several months to hatch. The species that Mark (probably) kept would be the Indian or laboratory Stick Insect (Carausius morosus). Males are as scarce as hen's teeth. One of the few species that is not usually fed on Bramble in the UK (preferring Privet or Ivy). It was new to Science about 100 years ago.
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I had stick insects when I was pre teens
So - I'm a late developer.
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Lesley,
21 isn't far past your teens, so you're not that late!! ;D 8)
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Well Paul, that's certainly true. But I'm really 39. Have been, for years. :)
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I've had a short email conversation with a nice gentleman in Landcare Research, name of Thomas Buckley. I sent him a picture of Sticky, whose name, he tells me, is Niveaphasma annulata. Certainly the bands around her body are very prominent and obvious. I shall now call her Nivea for short, after the hand cream I use daily.
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Greylag geese are a pretty common sight for us but this, perhaps, is a pretty impressive skyfull one morning during the week. If I had wider angle lense then I would have shown at least three times as many. The geese overnight in the neighbouring Findhorn Bay where the hunting 'gentlemen' shoot the hell out of them.
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Another day, another set of autumnal images.
These photographs were captured (yesterday) much nearer to home than some of my previous essays.
Cowm reservoir is only ¾ of a mile from our house in Whitworth, Lancashire, but could be many miles away from the urban sprawl that is Rochdale (which is actually less than three miles away to the south west).
Cowm is now being used as the base for a water-ski centre for the disabled, but it’s past is steeped in an industrial history of mining and quarrying that has littered the surrounding moors with tunnels, screes, ruins and bogs.
This was my first foray (this year) onto the moors (beyond the dog and grandson walking circuit around the reservoir) and I was thrilled to find a host of fungi and other photo opportunities less than a mile from the parking area at the head of the lake.
There was a tree that had taken a lightning strike in the past couple of years; the jawbone of a sheep enveloped in fungi; an infinity pool created many years before such an idea had even been conceived and reflections in the reservoir that I had never witnessed before.
I hope you enjoy these three batches of images and that you may be inspired to seek out similar photo opportunities in your own neck of the woods?
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Batch two from Cowm reservoir....
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Batch three from Cowm reservoir....... Please enjoy the reflections if nothing else.
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What a lovely place, Cliff. Fabulous images, as ever..... a reflection is a wonderful thing, is it not?
Glad you had such a good day of weather to capture these vibrant photos and share them with us :-*
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Heavens, Cliff. Enjoy ain't in it!!
:-* :P :) :)
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I enjoyed every one Cliff, you have an artist's eye and the photographic skill to go with it. :D
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Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou. Stunning pictures and I endorse the others' comments. I especially like the way all the colours blend beautifully; the glorious browns in particular, of beech leaves, fungi and the little brown duck; the tree trunks and the stone trough with the ruined buildings and fences.
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Stunning pics as always Cliff...... but these are even better than normal. :o Excellent!! 8)
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Many thanks for all your kind words folks...they really are appreciated. Just nine more images from Cowm to brighten your weekends....some 'arty' adaptations included....you will either love them or hate them....?
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The image entitled 'Coloured by what'? is as I discovered it on the moors....could sheep urine cause this colouration?
The 'Reflection' image is a natural enigma....is it the right way up? The answer is yes, but only the photographer could really be categorical about it!
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Cliff,
The Reflection is quite amazing. I'm glad you clarified it was right way up, as I was going to ask. I'm still trying to work out where the reflection starts and the "real" finshes. There just seems to be too many things going in too many directions. Quite amazing that it's "natural" and not altered. :o
Great Stuff.
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Great pictures, Cliff, I have enjoyed looking at them.
'Coloured by What' seems to show a patch of moss, the green being alive and the brown dead - just as with some of my mossy saxs!
You could be right about sheep ( or a walker/dog etc) peeing on it, but to kill the moss rather than just change its colour.
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Surely the Ruddy Shelduck and Greylag hybrid weren't in the wild?
Just home from another brilliant AGS Dublin Group discussion weekend. 175 Euro £116 well spent. The scramble for the Aberconwy stand was unbelievable. His van came packed out and he went home with less than 100 plants. After ZZ's slide show on Friday - members mini lectures - all Daphne's were snatched up in a couple of minutes. I got the blame for lifting too many and passing them back but I'm totally innocent.
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Hi Mark,
Both birds were photographed on the reservoir (the goose was one of three and the Ruddy Shelduck was on his own), but they were joined by an array of other ducks and gulls........all certainly 'in the wild' as far as access to East Lancashire goes!
Glad to hear that Keith and Tim Lever did well at the Dublin weekend....Aberconwy Nursery remains the by-word for excellence in the alpine world.
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Hi Mark,
The best images I have of those particular birds on the reservoir unfortunately.
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The soil is very sandy, isn't it?
And, how is "Cowm" pronounced, please?
Glad you had a good time at Termonfeckin, Mark, we were thinking of you all. Ian said yesterday that since he'd been down in the South West, he was nearly there and should have just snuck across! So he should!
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Hi Maggi,
The soil around here is actually a very claggy clay but the water ski centre has created a miniscule 'beach' area with sand where a jetty juts into the water, the birds congregate here for access to the 'bread givers'.
And, as disappointing as it sounds, Cowm is pronounced like the bovine creature with an 'm' at the end....no fussy 'queue'ms' in this neck of the moors!
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Aha! I thought the sand was a bit suspicious!
This Cowm is a funny old name though... sounds a bit Welsh to me ??? Do you think it is a corruption of coombe ?... ye olde English for "a deep valley"... which a reservoir would be!
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You could well be right Maggi.....there was a booklet in print entitled, 'Cowm, the valley that died' and I shall be making enquiries of my father-in-law (who is heavily involved with the Whitworth Historical Society and museum) regarding the history of the area and, if possible, the derivation of the name. As it was a quarrying stronghold then perhaps Welsh artisans were involved?
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Cowm is pronounced like the bovine creature with an 'm' at the end....
We all know there are some really outlandish pronuciations in the English language, especially as practiced by the English. I'll bet there's some idiot out there trying to say "bullm."
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Here's the latest sample of wildlife at my house, another stick insect.
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Found first on the green timber of a raised bed, she happily transferred to my finger tip (first and fifth, then I deposited her into a patch of a Clematis marmoraria hybrid. This clematis is just a couple of centimetres high and the leaves are about 1-2 cms across. I've no idea whether she's the young of the Niveaphasma I found earlier or whether she's a different species altogether. There are some green native species I think.
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Well, if that's as big as she gets, I suppose she's quite cute really....love the green match with the paintwork, very chic! Still don't think I'm quite ready to get up close and personal, though... thank goodness I am only required to babysit for the neighbours' small furries and fish and not any multi-legged critters!
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I thought of you Maggi the other night while watching a news item about a new golf course at Queenstown. It is being used as a "gallery" for some wonderful sculptures of insects and other things. There were two magnificent metal dragonflies poised just above the surface of a large pond. Each was perhaps 60cms in length, or more. But especially for you, was an enormous spider, the angled legs maybe 2 metres long and the whole body lifted up so that one could walk under it. I was sure you would enjoy that. ;D It was made of bronze or perhaps corroded iron as it was a lovely warm tan colour.
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Young stick insects are often differently coloured from the adults and sometimes the colour is dependent on the type of vegetation. I know that European mantids (no mantids in the UK) can be apple green or light brown to match lush or parched vegetation. The colour will only change at a moult as I have tested it by changing the cage decorations from brown sticks to living plants. That stick looks quite young.
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Cliff, just caught up with your pictures of Cowm, lovely-it's yonks since I was last there. Shows that the North of England is much more than cloth caps and whippets!
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Aye David....we 'ave cough drops, mufflers, pigeons and sooty snow. Thanks for the kind words sir.
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A few pictures from a trip to Loch Ken today
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You've had a better day than here, Tom... wet cold and very windy... this evening it is snowing. Yuck!
Super pictures.... Ian tells me he was very disappointed that all he got to see of your new guitar last week was a photo, though... bad show, that!
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Lovely pictures Tom. Nice to see red squirrels instead of the more common greys - not that I see ANY squirrels of course.
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Aw, aren't they so CUTE!! (of course I likely wouldn't be saying that if they were in my garden and making off with my Crocus bulbs when I wasn't looking!!)
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those are very dark reds
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The red squirrels tend to get very dark in the winter. I just wish I had some red squirrles to eat our bulbs.... it would be worth it ! We have a couple of visiting greys, which are, admittedly cute to watch, but they are furry vermin!
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The winter coat of Red Squirrels is mainly darker than the red summer coat. The last time I was at Benmore , there were Red Squirrels everywhere with predominantly black backs. According to one of the foresters, these are juveniles and will attain their red colouring by summer. There are also colour variations amongst the various population groups throughout the country.
I believe that there is a population around Formby, in Lancashire which are quite dark. These were reintroduced from a German source.
The darker colour, in winter, may be a form of camouflage as it matches the bark of the trees. In our recent spell of mild winters, the Red Squirrels have been seen in every winter month. Years ago, they would hibernate in their dreys from November until March with an occasional foray in milder spells.
After Loch Ken yesterday, we went on a Wildgoose chase. The difference being I knew where to find them. We found a flock of 160 Greenland White Fronted Geese and 400 Greylags. Leaving Castle Douglas there were 64 Whooper Swans in a field outside of town.
At Mersehead, on the Solway, there were thousands of Barnacle Geese. We got within 15 yards of them, from behind a hedge and they did not spook. Other highlights were a male Hen Harrier quartering the fields and a female Merlin sitting up a tree 15 feet from the visitor centre window. This is where the bird feeders hang. The small birds stopped feeding and just sat further into the tree keeping an eye out. It was status quo until a female chaffinch flew off - bad move. As soon as it was in the clear, the Merlin gave chase and it was a race to the hedgerow 50 yards away. I don't know who won. Just as we were leaving for home, a flock of about 5,000 Starlings went through an aerial ballet before diving into the reed beds.
Today, we went north up the coast to look at some Snow Buntings on the beach. Farther up, at Portencross, we watched a pair of Peregrines scaring the life out of the local bird population. The weather today was beautiful with blue sky, windless and sunshine. The temperature varied from -1c to + 2c
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That sounds like quite a day!
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My daughter's violin teacher and her husband were on a trek to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania earlier this year and sent me this pic taken at 700m by a friend. It looks very like Danaus formosa (a poisonous species), but on closer inspection I think it is an imposter: Papilio rex. This is a mimic of the danaid and comes in various guises in different parts of Africa, depending on which 'model' it mimics.
http://home.att.net/~bret72/P_rex.htm