Olympic road race!

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Rachael

The pack arrives

The Olympics got off to an exciting start for us today as the road race came through our village, Oatlands, Weybridge, Surrey.

Motorcycle riders for Olympic road race 2012

Outriders

The motorcycle riders who preceded the cyclists were very jolly, waving to the crowd and sounding their sirens or horns. One even zig zagged down the road, much to the crowd’s delight.

The leaders

It was very exciting when the cyclists finally appeared.

A steely stare from the USA!

One of the USA riders seems to be staring at me but he is in fact looking at another rider moving up to his left, out of frame.

Australia was leading the front group

Twelve riders were out in front as the race came through Oatlands.

Determination

But at this early stage there was still everything to race for.

Silver medalist in action

The Columbian rider caught here near the very back is Rigoberto Uran who come through to collect the Silver medal.

Cavalcade of support vehicles for Olympic road race 2012

Support bikes, reflections and shadows.

After the riders came all the support vehicles and a multitude of spare bikes and wheels. Notice how the shadows bottom left seem to be forming some Olympic rings?

Steward takes family's photo Olympic road race 2012

Olympic spirit

Afterwards the crowds dispersed in very good cheer.

A smiling steward, Olympic road race 2012

Friendly steward

The stewards were really friendly and good humoured – doing a great job.

Tomorrow it’s the ladies’ turn and we’ll be there cheering them on.

By evening’s light

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Rachael

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.

William Wordsworth, ‘Ode: Intimations of Immortality’ (1807)

All of these images were taken in my garden yesterday evening.

In small proportions

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Rachael

In small proportions we just beauties see;
And in short measures, life may perfect be.

Ben Jonson, The Underwood (1640)

Robber fly

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Rachael

This fine fellow is machimus atricapillus, the Robber Fly. He perches waiting for a hapless and punier insect to fly by and then darts out – game over. He is not fussy in his choice of perch, even making use of handy humans, but he does not bite people. Here, he is enjoying a spot of evening sun in my garden.

Golden

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Rachael

Evening light by the River Thames.

Gasteruption jaculator

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Rachael

This bizarre creature is gasteruption jaculator. Whoever named it should be banned forthwith from all future namings. I am grateful to afrenchgarden for the I.D. I was wrongly was calling it a sand digger wasp. I have never seen one in my garden before this year. Yesterday I noticed one feeding on fennel pollen but was unable to get a decent shot before it flew away. So, today, I returned to the fennel plant at the same time of day and, low and behold, there it was. And I was delighted to be able to capture it in flight!

It is an elegant creature with its long spike looking not unlike a cigarette holder from the 1920s (or is that just me?). I am assuming this is the female. Her consort, a much smaller beast without cigarette holder, is below. (It’s a lousy shot, I know, but illustrative.)

For an earlier post on other wasps found in my garden, see here.

The weekend summer arrived

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Rachael

This weekend, summer finally arrived in our little corner of the British Isles. And with it came the butterflies. This Comma (polygonia c-album) just loved the verbena bonariensis in my garden.

I played around with the image in Photoshop. Well, why not?

It was a tatty fellow, even for a Comma, with a notch out of its rear right wing, but that didn’t seem too much of a handicap.

The honey bees were enjoying the verbena too. Nice to see some more about today. They have not enjoyed our very wet and cold weather.

How did you enjoy the weekend? I hope yours was as good as mine. 🙂

Victoria by night

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Rachael

A panorama of beautiful Victoria on Canada’s Vancouver Island.

The golden lair

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Rachael

Evening light gilds a spider and its web.

The spider’s touch, how exquisitely fine!
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line.

Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, I (1733), l.217

All that glisters is not gold,
Often have you heard that told.

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, II.vii

The Cobb

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Rachael

Our summer holiday this year will be spent at Lyme Regis, a lovely little town on the coast of Dorset. It is steeped in history and features in Jane Austen’s Persuasion:

the principal street almost hurrying into the water, the Walk to the Cobb, skirting round the pleasant little bay, which, in the season, is animated with bathing machines and company…are what the stranger’s eye will seek

The Cobb is Lyme Regis’s famous harbour wall. In Persuasion, one of the characters takes a tumble off the Cobb. In a later novel, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, John Fowles immortalised “quite simply the most beautiful sea rampart on the south coast of England”.

Lyme Regis is on The Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site for its wealth of fossils from the Jurassic period. It was here that Mary Anning (1799-1847) discovered, at the tender age of twelve, the first complete ichthyosaur. She went on to become a renowned palaeontologist when the science was in its infancy. Lyme Regis Museum, a fascinating place to visit in its own right, is built on the site of Mary’s home.

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Yearly Archives: 2012