As we have come to expect, here is another excellent video in the series, this one concentrates on the pruning of Japanese Maples.

Mar 19 2012

Yesterdays Walk under Blue Sky

Some may think it strange to mention a blue sky. but it’s a real rarity here! I think it’s now safe to say that Spring has arrived. Plenty of flowers to share. Here’s the usual offering of photos to entice you to the Ards Peninsula.

Feb 29 2012

Further Inspiration

My go to guy for good photos is Hugh from the club. Recently converted to bonsai, Hugh has been scouring his back catalogue of photos looking for inspiration. He came across these two from a trip to America a few years back. I think he said they were taken at the Grand Canyon, I may be wrong!

Feb 12 2012

Sunday Walk Inspiration

Here follows my usual offering of photos taken this morning during my Sunday walk.

To start with, some views from Scrabo Tower

Gorse in Flower

My Usual selection of Fungi, most of these growing on the gorse.

An old Hazel

Birch Bark

Nabari on the shohin tree, Stephen for scale 😉

Bluebells already!!

More Fungi and just check out the shape of the cut stump, truly amazing.

Uro

Being watched

The overgrown sandstone quarry where all the famous Scrabo Stone was quarried from. It’s now home to 100’s of Jackdaws.

A tunnel cut under what used to be the railway line used to take the stone from the quarry.

Scrabo Tower peeking over the hill.

Jan 8 2012

More Tree Inspiration

As usual for a Sunday, I snapped a few pics on my walk today. It was an early start to get down to Gosford Forest Park in Armagh. Here are a few of the trees that caught my eye within the park and on the way back home again.

A big old fella in the open area of the park.

His little mate.

Some of the farmed deer lounging around in the open grassland area.

Some beautiful trees to admire.

A stand of Scots Pine

Old Beech

Tall Fir of some sort.

An ivy choked Larch with very unusual upturned branch tips!

Deadwood on a large Hawthorn.

The previous generation, beautiful in it’s own way.

Moss choked beech.

Two branches that fused many years ago creating a hollow on this old beech.

Same tree, beautiful in the sunlight this morning.

And the beech next door, tree after tree worth admiring.

An old heavy limb that has fallen in the high winds. The top of the branch has ferns growing along it. Using the moss as soil.

I can’t take a walk without getting some fungi in there somewhere.

and a nice nebari to finish off.

Hope you enjoyed the walk.

Jan 3 2012

First Walk of the New Year

Sunday just happened to fall on New Years Day this year and, never to be deterred, we had our usual walk. About 9 miles along the coast from Holywood to Bangor, I must admit I could feel the holiday excess eating taking a toll!

As usual here are a few snaps taken along the way.

Some of my usual attempts to capture birds in flight or otherwise.

A goose

A hooded Crow

A normal black crow picking through the rock pools for sea snails .

and most unusual, these two different types of crow were together. First I’ve ever seen this.

Perfect wind for little sailing on the lough.

Hawthorn still carrying it’s harvest.

A nice mixture of moss, grass, heather, sedum etc growing in among the rocks. Natures kusamono .

Most important on a good walk is good company. My two brothers..

My mate Stephen, out with his new camera. Watch this space for his new bonsai blog coming very soon 🙂

and lets not forget my two best mates, Smudge and maggie 🙂

Dec 11 2011

Todays Walk in Pictures

Here is some from my usual Sunday walk. We revisited the Clandeboye Way. We haven’t done it for a while as it can get water logged but today was enjoyable even with the mud.

I didn’t think the sign meant cameras so I snapped away when I could. Nice to see the dog using the pedestrian gate instead of going through the main one 🙂

I spotted these Fungi on an old fallen Birch log. My brother Sam thought they looked like Octopus.

On old rotten stump with beautiful deadwood.

Some of the landscape we crossed. The sheep moved away when they saw the dogs appearing.

Old Gate pillars made from Scrabo Sandstone. No longer used as a gate as the gap isn’t wide enough any more for modern machinery. New gate beside it.

We saw many trees along the walk that had fallen since our last visit. This one blocked the path.

Stephen wondered why I stopped to take a photo of the ground. I found it beautiful in it’s own way. It captures the season well. Can’t wait to see what he snaps with his new camera from Santa 🙂

Loved this old gnarly tree trunk. It tells it’s own story of life in the wood.

A birch full of witches brooms.

Just as we left the wooded area to walk along the coast, this Jay appeared in a tree. I snapped a few quick shots thinking it would only sit a few seconds. It was close by the path and was working hard to get grubs from a rotted branch. I quickly changed the lens to get a closer shot. Just As I was ready, it buggered off! Never get a chance like that again 😦

Birds were the highlight for the rest of the walk. Here are a few we saw.

A few other feather free shots.

My 2 dogs loved the water and enjoyed drying out in front of the fire back at home too 🙂

Nov 21 2011

Uro Inspiration

On my walk yesterday I saw quite a lot of deadwood on deciduous trees. Here are some examples.

This was a large Linden Raft with rotting ground hugging branches.

Oak.

Beech

What’s this one?

It’s a Japanese Maple Bonsai 🙂

Nov 20 2011

This Morning on Cavehill

Stephen and I took a walk up Cavehill this morning. I was hoping to get a clear view of Belfast but the cloud moved in during the 10 minutes we stayed at the top. It did however lead to some interesting photos.

Here’s some scenic shots.

Looking at the top.

Hawthorn silhouette