Seal at Earith

There is a seal which comes up the river to Earith (near Huntingdon) every year and often basks on the bank at the bottom of my son's garden.  This year there is a mother and pup (which I presume must be 8 or 9 months old) which have been regularly seen on the bank by Adam and his family, but today there was only one there; I surmise that mother was out fishing whilst the youngster stayed at home, but definitely in the river. I am no expert on seals, but I thought that this one was too pale to be an adult.

Dragonflies at Burwash Manor near Cambridge

A visit to the scrapes at Burwash Manor last week paid dividends when I managed to get my first respectable shots of dragonflies on the wing; there were some very obliging male  Emperors (anax imperator) which were flying circuits around a couple of the scrapes, and chose to hover where two of us were standing to take pictures.  We also saw a female laying close to us and being mobbed by black tailed skimmers (Orthetrum cancellatum) and azure damsel flies which objected to her using their maternity wards.  I plan to return very soon to try faster shutter speeds in an attempt to freeze th wings.

A Weekend in Chichester

We went to Chichester to attend the ordination of a friend in the cathedral and decided to stay for a couple of nights.  Jane's grandfather had been the Vicar of Chichester and a Canon of the Cathedral, and her father was also ordained in the cathedral.  On the Sunday, we went to Arundel where neither of us had visited since childhood.  I spent some time trying to capture the spirit of Chichester for Jane's uncle who lives in Houston.

First, some exteriors of the cathedral

Somebody is still practising the art of grotesque as seen in these two modern gargoyles

A row of beautiful cottages in Vicar's Close within the cathedral precincts all had beautiful gardens at this time of year; these were very close to Blackman House, where Robbie spent part of his childhood

Arundel Castle and its gardens

 Some shots inside the cathedral including a couple of the beautiful tapestries behind the two main altars

The Cross, from East Street

Do you remember Shippam's Paste? This marks where it was made in East Street, close to the centre of Chichester; the original door is now a shop window, but the evidence of its history is preserved: