The beach

This is a glimpse of Exmouth beach in the late afternoon, and my first this year.

Switch of focus

Enough of birds, flowers, bricks and taps. It's been a few weeks since our return from Australia and definitely time for another adventure. Don't get me wrong, the evenings are much lighter, blossom is appearing on the depleted cherry trees (post the harsh winter freeze) and the pile of indoor bricks is now in situ out of doors. Picture to follow.

So, first things first. I find it necessary at the planning stage to put a shape to a country, and here it is, courtesy of the Birds of Nepal (2009, 2nd edition) by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp.

There are several second most important things. I've been wearing walking boots indoors for two days, to help me decide on appropriate footwear. Of course this breaks one of the major house rules. As I make the rules I reckon that I'm allowed to break them, with cleanliness provisoes. The aforementioned items are super clean.

Another second most important pair of items are ear plugs, to block out night-howling Nepalese dogs and loud snoring. I wonder which will be the loudest of the two? I spent ages carrying out research at http://www.snorestore.co.uk/  this afternoon and will report back on how successful this was in due course.

I ordered a more exciting item which falls into a first category, last week. This is a contraption to enable me to progress my enthusiasm for digi-scoping. It should enable me to transform my telescope and tiny camera into a giant version of the previously mentioned binnocular/camera onesy. I have practised this technique in the past, but have not used anything more sophisticated than an adapter made from a section of cardboard from a toilet roll. I used the toilet roll method to capture (not literally) the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl in the picture below, taken in the Pantanal, Brazil in August 2006. It is a tiny little owl and was about thirty feet above the ground, semi-hidden in the foliage of a tree.

Because you are so interested by now, I'll include one more owl picture, photographed with no toilet roll adapter - just the little camera and the telescope. This time it's a Scops Owl a long way up a tree (take my word for it), photographed on the Greek Island of Lesbos in the Spring of 2010.

Aren't they just so cute?

A technological 'onesy' (pronounced 'won')

As you can probably tell by my the lack of pictures over the last few days, the little camera has been lying mostly dormant. This has been mainly due to incessant torrential rain. This has had an unfortunate affect on my creativity, rendering it as soggy as the world outside. During a recent cloudy interval when the rain took a break, I set about practising what I would like to believe are technical skills in the photography department. As someone with advanced qualifications in this area, Philipa might not necessarily agree - although in my opinion she doesn't have argumentative tendencies.

I practised using my camera and binnoculars, joined together to increase the magnification to enable me to capture distant Avocets on the Exe. Those interested in fashion could describe it as a onesy (like trousers and top combined), whereas most serious minded ornithologists refer to it as digi-binning - ha ha, how silly does that sound.

The first photograph, where you need a magnifying glass to see the bird is taken with only the camera. The bigger bird, with many visible features, is taken with the camera/binnocular combination.

When I've worked out how to include a slide show, I'll treat you to some more.

Unusual guests

There's not a lot you can say about a pile of very wet bricks which have managed to invite themselves into the warm hallway. They are only interesting because they are so uninteresting. Create something with them, preferably useful or easy on the eye,  and that's another matter. Hopefully I'll be able to give you a glimpse of the next step before too long.

Windy, wet and dingy

The above is a snatched piece of the Exe Estuary on a tempestuous day - with motorway in the background. It was so wet and windy that the pockets of my supposedly waterproof jacket filled with water, providing impromptu swimming lessons for my camera and phone.

On carrying out a more thorough search of the garden, I found these snowdrops which resemble mini-light bulbs. As I write this,  I can hear a Tawny Owl hooting and making a general racket in the background and would like to be able to include the sounds to add atmosphere.

Garden centres and hardware stores

Yes, I know we (in this country) don't generally call shops stores, except for British Home Stores, which is in a category all of its own. However, in Australia shops are generally labelled stores, and believe me, I have plenty of photos to prove it. I'll save a superior selection for another day.

As you may notice from the labels attached to the above flowers, these are not from my garden, or any garden for that matter. I was reminded recently by one of my daughters that "I remember being dragged around these (garden centres) all the time when I was little". What a cheek! As far as I was concerned, it was a privilege. Nowadays, they are convenient places to meet up with people such as sisters. It's definitely not all about plants. A sandwich and coffee is important, accompanied by plenty of catching up, and then a saunter amongst the garden/pet furniture, ridiculously inappropriate stuff and clothes that could only be worn unseen at the bottom of the garden.

I can't say that garden centres have the same effect on me as hardware stores, which I have always had a natural affinity with. The time of year is unimportant where nuts and bolts are concerned, whereas the urge to plant isn't strong in a February gale and torrential rain (today). Instead, I behaved slightly out of character for a garden centre visitor today, photographing flowers in bloom as a substitute for not being able to plant them. Unfortunately I still haven't worked out a way to capture the strong fragrances, but I'm working on it.

Gothic Exeter

This is the best of yesterday's gothic images, snatched on the way home from Exeter, through the high metal fence currently surrounding the area, to keep people like me out.  I had been using the camera to take a picture of the sole of a foot (!) and hadn't changed the settings, which may go some way towards explaining how this turned out. The Cathedral is to the left - so use your imagination, and the rooftops are also whatever you want them to be.