Shortly after we moved from Forest Hill and took up residence in a rented house near Watlington, we woke one Sunday morning to the distinctive cronk of a raven. It was sitting on top of an old oak tree and flew off after a few minutes. Since then, we have enjoyed hearing them over the garden, and watching them circling over the meadows by the Thame.
We are now in a time of the year when the sun is never far enough below the horizon to let the night sky get truly dark. However, when it does, the skies here are pretty spectacular.
This photo is a 601 second exposure on a Canon 1000D that has been modified to let more of the red wavelengths through.
I’m hoping that the Summer will give us some clear nights so that I can capture some views of the thickest, creamiest bits of the Milky Way down in Sagittarius. From our garden we can see the distinctive “teapot” asterism and the various emission nebulae and globular clusters in that part of the sky.
I had never seen a cuckoo before. This one had been calling from a clump of trees on the other side of the Thame and then flew across the field in front of me.
Does this mean everyone has to move out? And where is Nather Wichendon anyway?
This character popped up as I was walking through a marshy meadow by the Thame, ran away and then paused to look back at me.
I went out for a walk this morning and was reminded of how much joy is provided by the natural world. I have been in the habit of bunging photos, videos and sound recordings onto social media in a disorderly way, and today I wondered about introducing a bit of order.
Cuddington observations 