Photographic news (of sorts)

• Whilst I was away, I was given notice (via email, picked up on my return) of some news that although I've been told is confidential for now, might be very exciting for me.
• I will know for sure and will be able to reveal all after October 8th.
• Keep your fingers crossed for me ('though I'm not expecting much....)
• I will reveal this news when I find out exactly what the news is - and I'm allowed to tell!
• Watch this space...

Swift Half update - 24th August 2010

• Since we've been away, the UK has obviously had a fair amount of rain as our garden (which has only needed to be mown twice all summer thanks to a ridiculously dry May and June) got completely overgrown again!
• Not that the girls (Couven and Cutlery, our hens) seem to mind!
• Malu and Yala (our cats - now one year old - we missed their birthday on August 10th) may have a couple of "cat colds" from the cattery - another reason never to take them back to that place. NB - a tip for you. Give the "Kings Cattery" in Binfield, Berks, not a penny of your business. That all said, it is a delight to have our spostles back again, and quite obviously pretty nice for them too (they won't leave us alone!)
• Good crop of pears on our trees - we shall harvest them all within a fortnight.
• Runner beans doing well - as are the damsons (that crop's over now).
• HUGE potato crop - and GINORMOUS potatos in the crop too (strange, as Mr.and Mrs.T next door but one have got a tiny crop - maybe a dozen or so of very, very small tatties). Must have been all my watering during the bone-dry May and June which saw our potatoes swell into monsters!
• No real raspberries as yet (VERY late) but a huge crop of elderberries which the pigeons like!
• All the swifts and swallows gone of course. I saw half a dozen Common Swifts on Kefalonia, on August 11th, all flying south for the winter - the last date I will see Swifts this year.
• Very blustery, showery conditions since we got back (we hear thats what the UK had during our summer hols in the med also).
• Loads of bats at dusk -feeding up before the nights get long and cold.
• One large (Hawker I think) dragonfly oochering around the garden.
• Fox poo in evidence -and I've seen one of the (not so) young cubs in daylight now.
• Female sparrowhawk landed on shed and woodpecker attractor the day I got back - nice welcome committee for me!
• Pond full of blanketweed and little evidence of frogs - but I'm sure they're still there, like the newts.
• Our one and only sunflower which we planted in the summer fruited magnificently during our Greek holiday - and has attracted the larger bumblebees - includind a tree bumblebee (photo below). What a result from our sunflower!
• Proposed projects for the autumn, in the garden - fun with Jays and monkey nuts - I'm going to try and devise some intelligence tests for them.

Summer Holiday - Kefalonia - the return odyssey

• Anna and I first travelled to Kefalonia in the summer of 2007 - and it was then that I proposed to her, on the quite stunning Myrtos beach, on August 4th, three years ago.
• Three years on and quite a lot has happened to us in that time. I've lost my mother and my stepfather, I've gained another job in my place of work (after being made redundant once), I've bought a couple of cameras and got into photography (the last time I was out in Greece I was taking photos with a mobile phone) and Anna and I have been married now for two years!
• If you want to see my photographs (and accompanying text) from our two sun-drenched weeks on the beautiful island of Kefalonia - then please click HERE to be transported to my flickr "Kefalonia -the return odyssey" set. Accompanying text to each photo can be brought up by pressing "info".
• Before you disappear to flickr though - some Kefalonian highlights for myself and Anna in the form of a list...
• Lots of very close up views of wild adult Loggerhead Turtles in the sea (photos)
• Short-toed Eagle (photo)
• Little Owl to within twelve foot of me (no photo unfortunately)
• Flock of a few dozen Alpine Swift through our high balcony (no photos unfortunately)
• Two beautiful stripey geckos on our studio walls.
• Dolphins playing in the bay below our studio (WHAT a view from our balcony!)
• Buzzards, Lanner Falcons, Hawks, skinks and lizards (no published photos)
• Swallows, martins and red-rumped swallows all day long over our balcony (photos)
• Glorious sunsets (photos)
• Not a cloud in the sky for two weeks (apart from one hour at Myrtos)!
• 35c all week!
• Fantastic food - especially the fresh fish, village sausage and skordalia.
• The Mythos (beer) and Ouzo wasn't too bad either!
• Third in the first quiz at a local taverna and fourth at the second (not too bad!)
• Silver-toothed goats all over the place (no photos)
• A return to our favourite beach - Myrtos - one of the most beautiful in the world!
• A summit conquered - Mt.Ainos - over 1000ft higher than Ben Nevis.

• All in all, a wonderful holiday and we may not go back to Kefalonia for a few decades (if at all now). Yiamas to everyone out there who made our return odyssey so special.

Swift Half update - 23rd August 2010

• Just a quick "pre-post" to say that we are back from a two week break on the Greek island of Kefalonia (where we did see a few migrating swifts - more on that soon).
• I will post properly (on Kefalonia and Swift Half) when I get more time...

Photo of the month - July 2010

Had to be one of our swift parents...


As with all the photo of the month posts, please click to see the large size in flickr, and click HERE to see ALL my photos of the month.

Swift Half Update - 1st August 2010

• I'm glad to say that in yesterday afternoon's sunshine, there were at least half a dozen swifts flying around "Swift Half". So they haven't gone just yet!