Mother and Child Northern sheep need to be hardy - especially if they live in Tideswell, 1100 feet up. On the Buxton plateau, farmers long ago built stone walled shelters where their sheep could huddle in snow storms. Nobody can guarantee when snow will or won't fall, even in June.
@ Mother and Child Sydney begins his photographic tour of Northern Light: Creatures.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Trish.
Sydney shook paws with Trish the Brown Owl. They both received one silver mole!
Natural Framing Ostensibly this picture is some cows in a field. But the tree trunk, branches and stone wall frame three sides. 'Natural framing' makes simple pictures look grand.
@ Natural Framing
Yellow Daisy Egg My pets are in awe of these beautiful eggs—they would love to try to paint their own one year. Easter and spring are times of joy as the earth awakens, plants are pushing forth from the soil, and the days are becoming warmer. Many baby animals are born in the spring, and life is burgeoning. May these eggs bring you joy and be a reminder of the earth renewing itself.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Mini.
Sydney shook paws with Mini the Majestic Monarch Butterfly. They both received one silver mole!
Peter Rabbit's Friends and Relations At Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's former home, only a wire fence stands between visitors and rabbits at play. They completely ignore humans, because they know they are safe. There is no better place to watch the descendants of Peter Rabbit at play.
@ Peter Rabbit's Friends and Relations David never has writer's block. Instead, he has nowhere near enough time to write all the stories he has created plots for.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Ivory.
Sydney shook paws with Ivory the Leopard gecko. They both received one silver mole!
Heilan Coo I don't know when or why these cattle were introduced to Derbyshire, but it certainly has highlands! I think it can not have been before 1990. They wander around the hillsides without hindrance. I cannot imagine they are being milked; farmers would have to travel miles just to round them up for milking. But because of their thick shaggy coats they do not need a layer of fat to keep them warm in winter, and thus their beef is very lean.
@ Heilan Coo For David, colour TV began with the Mexico world cup (1970), but he was allowed to stay up late to watch England win the previous one in 1966.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Ginger.
Sydney shook paws with Ginger the Giraffe. They both received one silver mole!
Thinking Backwards In summer, honey bees and other flying insects are on and off a flower as fast as they can. If you want a great shot on an exotic flower, you cannot chase the insect; focus is critical and you will never get the shot right in time.
Instead, wait by the flower you want an insect to land on; get the focus right, stand as still as you can, and wait for the right insect to come to you. The best place to go is a garden centre or public park, where the right kind of flowers are all around. This bee landed on a flower in Sheffield Botanical Gardens.
@ Thinking Backwards David was so good at early video games that students formed a queue just to watch him. David developed a sly habit of sticking his elbows out at unexpected moments to make them keep out of his field of view.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot swinger.
Sydney shook paws with swinger the Brown Funky Monkey. They both received one silver mole!
Pollen All Over I love to do extreme macro work. For this you need a specialist macro lens, or extension rings, or both. I usually use both. A ring flash ensures enough light and thus enough depth of focus. If I can count the grains of pollen, I have got the shot right. Macro work is 90% equipment and the technique to use it properly.
@ Pollen All Over David was brought up on plain British fare (which he still loves) and was very nervous about foreign food. He only bought his first pizza because he worked out he could get money off for late delivery by ordering just before rush hour. The pizza tasted great and he's been eating them ever since.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Inukshuk.
Sydney shook paws with Inukshuk the Arctic Feisty Fox. They both received one silver mole!
Roaming Wild I found these horses near Elton, which is close to the middle of nowhere, but not quite the bullseye. All around are tumbled dry stone walls and derelict agricultural buildings.
The only things you can make money out of as a farmer up high are wild flowers. Government subsidies are assigned by bureaucrats with no idea about farming, and the way of life up in the hills depends entirely on what they decide.
When horses can wander onto the road, they are wild. Whether they once had a home, I have no idea; but nobody has the money to mend the walls unless the government decides they make the countryside more picturesque.
@ Roaming Wild David's dog followed him to school one day, over a mile away, just by following his trail. Perhaps he should have changed his socks more often?
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Choose a name.
Sydney shook paws with Choose a name the Tabby Cat. They both received one silver mole!
Tropical Butterfly The Tropical Butterfly House at (of all places!) Doncaster gives you the chance to see and photograph exotic insects which could never survive in the British climate. The climate inside the butterfly house is so much warmer and wetter than the world outside, it took twenty minutes for condensation to quit forming on my camera lenses (and spectacles!) But the wait is well worth it.
@ Tropical Butterfly David never has writer's block. Instead, he has nowhere near enough time to write all the stories he has created plots for.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Milk.
Sydney shook paws with Milk the Holstein Friesian Calf. They both received one silver mole!
Middleton of Nowhere I said Elton was not the bullseye. Middleton, Derbyshire, is well named. It is the middle, the very centre of nowhere. The only inhabitants I saw in the village were this cat and a few chickens. I would love to retire there.
@ Middleton of Nowhere David’s parents tried to have a child for seven years, then gave up and left the matter to God. David arrived shortly afterwards. They chose his name from the bible to give thanks for being given a son.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Hansi (Icky Bird Who Can't Fly).
Sydney shook paws with Hansi (Icky Bird Who Can't Fly) the Playful Penguin. They both received one silver mole!
Hansi (Icky Bird Who Can't Fly) and you found 5 Travel Tokens!
Snowdonia Pony Grazing on the undulating lowlands of Anglesey in front of the mountains of Snowdonia, this Welsh pony was probably the first animal of any kind which gave me the impression it wanted to be photographed. It posed more like a human than a horse. Once I had taken a photo it got on with grazing. I prefer the natural shot to the posed one!
@ Snowdonia Pony David started programming on a mainframe in 1974. He has spent his adult life trying his best to avoid computers and trying to be a people person, but somehow he always finds there is a need to do more programming, no matter what he does.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Jaylee.
Sydney shook paws with Jaylee the Chocolate Milky Moo Cow. They both received one silver mole!
Vivid Dragonfly I have often seen dragonflies in pastel shades. This just doesn't happen in the Lathkill Valley. Maybe they have all the minerals it takes to be so colourful here? I don't know. But for once the sun was out by the little pool at Monyash, and I caught this one lazing on a rock.
@ Vivid Dragonfly David still thinks prog rock is great. He shares this belief with Jeremy Clarkson and probably no-one else alive.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Jake.
Sydney shook paws with Jake the Black Feisty Fox. They both received one silver mole!
The Compleat River In later editions of "The Compleat Angler" (first published in 1653), Izaak Walton's young friend Charles Cotton described the "Lathkin" as "the purest and most transparent stream that I ever yet saw … and breeds, it is said, the reddest and the best trouts in England."
However the river often disappears into mines delved beneath it when there is little rain. Then the trout are stunned by electric shocks and transported downstream by dedicated conservationists. If that happens anywhere else in the world but here, I will be amazed.
@ The Compleat River David's favourite book of the Bible is Hosea.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Dong Dong.
Sydney shook paws with Dong Dong the Grey Playful Kitten. They both received one silver mole!
It's an Upside-down World Ladybirds, or lady bugs as they are known in the USA, are the gardener's friend, because they eat aphids. They can eat as many as fifty a day! My father taught me never to kill one. If you can't find one on top of a leaf during summer, try looking underneath it.
@ It's an Upside-down World At age eight David lost almost a whole term due to a life-threatening illness. The pain hurt so bad he calmly told his mother he understood his leg must come off and she must not feel bad about telling him. Despite this he was still top of the class that year, by a single mark.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Mirabilis.
Sydney shook paws with Mirabilis the Luscious Lilac Dolphin. They both received one silver mole!
Ravenous Caterpillar If it's ragwort for dinner, then this must be the caterpillar of the cinnabar moth. Anyone can get a picture of a caterpillar. But why not try to see the world from its point of view?
I like to show them with a sense of purpose, going somewhere or doing something, not just being looked at from far above. Their lives are filled with purpose. Eat!
@ Ravenous Caterpillar David's favourite book of the Bible is Hosea.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Sunflower.
Sydney shook paws with Sunflower the Vibrant Signal Butterfly. They both received one silver mole!
Cat's Eye Taking a picture of a cat's eye is easy with macro gear. But it is almost impossible to do so from the front without getting a reflection. Ring flashes can be dialled down to very low intensities - this ginger tom was not the least bit bothered when I shot this picture with a ring flash.
@ Cat's Eye Oh look ... you won a little pet!
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot 震震.
Sydney shook paws with 震震 the Brown maned lion. They both received one silver mole!
Carsington Fly I went out for the day to Carsington Water, a manmade reservoir that takes water from the rivers in winter and gives it back in summer. There are plenty of things to do there, but as usual the sky went iron grey as soon as I got near to it. So following my own advice, I looked for insects. Just look at the colours in those wings in an enlarged version of this picture! When you meet the very small on its own terms, there is so much to see.
@ Carsington Fly David was brought up in the English countryside in the 1960s. Outside toilets were still a thing, nobody had divorced parents, and illegal drugs had not even been heard of. He first realised people killed one another when JFK was assassinated just before his fourth birthday. His aunt lived in a nearby village and never locked her door at night until the 1980s; there was no crime.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot ~kaliki~.
Sydney shook paws with ~kaliki~ the Party Fowl. They both received one silver mole!
Water Dog There are so many breeds of dog, I cannot keep track! I think this one is an English Setter. It was playing in and around the River Bradford with its owner.
@ Water Dog David was born in the 1950s (just 13 days short of the 60s!) The US number one was “Heartaches by the Number” by Guy Mitchell. There were TWO UK number ones: "What Do You Want?" by Adam Faith, and "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?" by Emile Ford and The Checkmates.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Slushie.
Sydney shook paws with Slushie the Blushing Koala. They both received one silver mole!
Doncaster Meerkat The Doncaster Butterfly House is home to far more than butterflies. For meerkats, community is everything. This one appears to be making political judgments about who it should suck up to and whose beetles it can get away with stealing. They are very expressive creatures, and a lot of fun to watch.
@ Doncaster Meerkat As a small boy, David believed he was going to marry his mother's sister when he grew up, because she was so nice.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Butterfly Lady.
Sydney shook paws with Butterfly Lady the Butterfly Blue. They both received one silver mole!
Border Collie I have a deep affection for this breed. They want a lot of exercise, but are very entertaining. My father owned one; it would be tied up on a rope so it could go inside the barn or lie outside. When there was rain, it invariably stayed outside because it could.
This one was playing in the River Bradford, and I got the camera set to a fast shutter speed ready for the inevitable shake!
@ Border Collie David would like to drive a Lamborghini, maybe once; but he could never justify owning one.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Rosco.
Sydney shook paws with Rosco the Tabby Cat. They both received one silver mole!
Bull in the Sun What a magnificent coat this bull has. The rare sun has picked out so many subtle shades.
My aunt kept cattle. My cousin showed me how to bring an entire herd in for milking with little effort. You need to know which is the 'boss cow', get her attention, and she knows what comes next. She starts moving and the rest of the herd follow her.
@ Bull in the Sun David left the Methodist church in his early teens because they convinced him God did not exist. Then he did a physics degree in the hope of explaining to everyone exactly why this was so. Three years later he got saved.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Mia.
Sydney shook paws with Mia the Grey Playful Kitten. They both received one silver mole!
Bradgate Stag One of the first brick built mansions in England, Bradgate Park was once the home of the De Grey family. They are best known for Lady Jane Grey, the nine day Queen, unwilling centre of a plot to prevent Queen Mary from taking the throne.
Bradgate Park is now preserved forever as a gift to the city of Leicester. It is a deer park where you can encounter red deer and fallow deer. The fallow deer are a gentle lot which like the woods. The red deer have a very strong sense of territory. If one of them gets up and looks at you, you go round it. After taking a picture, perhaps.
How big are they? I once walked out of the toilet block and nearly walked clean underneath one.
@ Bradgate Stag David's favourite place is Lathkill Dale in Derbyshire, England.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Stella.
Sydney shook paws with Stella the Midnight Happy Dragon. They both received one silver mole!
Fish Flash The River Wye at Bakewell runs fast and furious under the bridge. As a result it is very hard to see the large fish which swim beneath. But for the duration of a flash, a ten thousandth of a second, the water is almost perfectly still. Then the camera can see right through it, and all is revealed. You will need a powerful flash to get a result like this; not the midget mounted on your camera by the makers.
@ Fish Flash David's father drove steam trains and his grandmother ran the village toy shop. As a small boy, David thought nothing could be better.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Tiara Maxwell.
Sydney shook paws with Tiara Maxwell the Midnight Happy Dragon. They both received one silver mole!
Might is Right I have followed wild red deer round swamps and into them. After trying long enough, you realise it would be better to go to a deer park and watch them where they do not run away.
Once you do, you will be doing the running. This stag and many others could look down at me with their neck raised. When they get to their feet and hold their ground, you go where they want you to, not vice versa. But when they are solely concerned with one another, you can take all the shots you want.
@ Might is Right David ended up in IT because he only got an average physics degree. The main reason was the exams were set on the wrong syllabus and the entire year of graduates was wrong-footed. David was furious for the next twelve months. Then he did a Master's degree in IT.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Boo.
Sydney shook paws with Boo the All Hallow’s Eve Kitty. They both received one silver mole!
Winner Takes All Even more interested in the stags than the cameraman, the rest of the herd watches inter-stag conflicts attentively. Who wins, rules. Who rules, breeds.
@ Winner Takes All David decided to cycle every road in Derbyshire when he was about 18. By the time he was 24 he had done three quarters of a county road network of 3500 miles. Much of the time he had to cycle thirty miles out and thirty miles back just to find a road he had not cycled before. After he turned 24, he learned to drive and got a life.
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Julius Cheeser.
Sydney shook paws with Julius Cheeser the Mouse in Trousers. They both received one silver mole!
Julius Cheeser gave you 1 "'Northern Light' Travel Token"
Pole Dancer Times were hard. I struggled over whether to buy a second hand macro lens on the internet. When it arrived, I thanked the Lord for it. That night, this strange beauty flew in through my barely open window. She then settled down for an hour, just twiddling with her feelers.
Those little balls are a sixth of an inch apart. I have never seen anything like her before or since.
@ Pole Dancer Sydney has now completed his viewing of Northern Light: Creatures. As he prepares to go home, he receives a wonderful gift!
Sydney has enjoyed his photographic tour of Northern Light: Creatures, but it is time to go home now! "Northern Light" is over now, but there will be more events in PnF soon!
While peeking through the viewfinder, you spot Sluggish.
Sydney shook paws with Sluggish the Pink Snail. They both received one silver mole!
Sydney has completed the quest of
