Oct 21 2012

Photo’s From Cavehill, Belfast

Some photos from my walk this morning up Cavehill over looking Belfast and Belfast Lough. A bit misty at the top and some mist floating around the docks giving it a spooky look just in time for Halloween approaching.

Three photos in one using photomerge. Click it for a bigger image on FlickR.

Belfast docks

Holywood, County Down peeking out of the morning mist

Had to laugh at this 🙂 Bonsai Baker down on his knees to get a decent shot, then …

Enter Smudge stage left who whipped him round the face with a wet tail on the way past 🙂 …

and the look of, ‘WTF’ on Stephen’s face 😀

Inspiration in an old Scottie

Why they call it cavehill

These two cavemen heading home! Spoke to them briefly on the way up. Both obviously high as kites from last night and have gone for a wander up the hill. They tried to pet my dogs who managed to give them a wide berth! [Yes Stephen, I’m taking credit for the cavemen joke 🙂 ]

Haws catching the sun.

Hooded Crows catching the thermals

McArts Fort with a misty top.

Spooky!!

About the only splash of colour

Maggie splashing in the puddles at the top

Looking over the flat top, I’m a shadow of my former self 😉

I said to Stephen, ‘Look a Chestnut Horse’. He said, ‘You mean a Horse Chestnut?’ Nope 🙂

Finishing on the down slope.

Oct 11 2012

Beach Bums

A few shots from my Sunday walk. As you can see, the star of the show was my dog Smudge 🙂

View Point

Old Crow

Abandoned castles

Sails ahoy!

Acrobat!

Wana Dance?

UFO!

Moon Walk

Two hours later…

Sep 26 2012

But it’s Wednesday!

Some photos taken on my Sunday walk in Redburn Country Park overlooking Belfast Lough. Yes, it’s Wednesday. How could I be so slack in taking 3 days to post? Easy 🙂 I’m up to my neck in work, don’t be surprised if I even miss a daily post ❗ Like you’d even notice 😀

Here’s a panoramic from the top of the park overlooking the docks.

Only two walking partners on Sunday, Stephen, the Bonsai Baker, on the left and my much older brother Philip on the right 🙂 Don’t know if he looks at this much, but I guess I’ll find out !

I love spotting trees that inspire for bonsai and this park is full of them. Old beech trees can found everywhere and there’s also Pine, Larch, Rowan, Linden, Birch etc. This first one reminds me of the bank that the hobbits hid below in Lord of The Rings when being chased by Ring Wraiths!

This is like a Dr Who Baddie or some sort of giant octopus

This one is.. just darn pretty

The view overlooking Harland and Wolff Shipyard were the Titanic was built and launched.

Rowan berries in the process of getting stripped by the birds.

Interesting tree, hollow shari on this side but looks pretty whole until…

….you see the other side.

And here we return to the Lord of The Rings theme with Bilbo the Hobbit finding a new home.

My usual hunt for fungi

This is the usual sticker on dog waste bins…

But then some local vandals with a sense of humour decided to make a few alterations making it more of a Bullshit Bin 🙂

But this was the best of their efforts.

Sep 17 2012

Portstewart Strand

On my little trip out last Tuesday I took a few photos of local attractions. I’ll add them here as I get the time.

These were taken at Portstewart Stand on the North Coast. The good lady featured is my wife. This is one of our favourite places to take a walk.

The doughnuts on the beach weren’t mine. Allie wouldn’t let me 🙂

Spotted this chap spraying in the dunes. National Trust work hard to maintain this habitat. I wondered why some of the bushes were blue!

Fishing for sea trout.

Musenden Temple peeping between the hills.

Shags on the pier.

Emerging from the dunes onto the beach

Geese in flight

Stormy waves

Man Friday?

Wind blowing the sand along the beach.

And then it rained and I got soaked 😦

Sep 10 2012

Walking Again

You’d think a dodgy shoulder wouldn’t stop you walking, but it did! I have been back at it for a few weeks but didn’t take the camera. Yesterday normal service resumed.

Our usual path on this walk has seen a few changes. Plenty of big beeches have taken a tumble. This one took a smaller one with it.

I love fungi at this time of year. Never miss a chance for a photo.

The green grass of home

Onwards to the beach at Helen’s Bay

Stephen had an extra dog for the walk

and just to repay the favour, here he is contorting himself for a photo.

Sep 8 2012

Happy Snapper

A few days ago, I mentioned that I was trying to recover photos from Stephen’s memory card after an accidental delete has wiped out every photo he’d taken since March. [Remember to back up 🙂 ] I was successful.

While I was looking through the recovered photos I noticed that he has been sneaking around on our Sunday walks, taking photos of me taking photos! Here are some of them and a few others besides.

Me getting a shot of the Mourne Mountains from Scrabo Hill, Newtownards

I appear to be getting a shot of some Hawthorn Berries up Cavehill, overlooking Belfast Lough. My Springer Spaniel, Maggie is never far from my side on a walk. My other dog deserts me and ranges ahead.

Taking close up shots of bluebells in Killyneither Woods, Comber.

I think I caught him on in this one 🙂

A colder day walking the beach at Gray’s Point, Helen’s Bay. My squint is probably me trying to spot Smudge running ahead causing havoc, stealing tennis balls from other dogs!

Maggie and I in the Bluebells again.

The best way to discuss bonsai, with a tin of beer in the hand 🙂 Taken at a visit to Josh’s garden.

Taken on our Spring Pine collecting trip.

Cavehill again. Stephen and I walk with my two brothers. That’s them on the path ahead of us. We usually split up as Stephen’s dog and my brother’s dog hate each other!

Capturing Forsythia flowers this time I think.

More plant snapping.

A rare photo of me with my two brothers. As you can see I got all the good looks in the family. Hair is in short supply 😀

I’ll end with this one. It shows the end of one of our walks at Bangor Marina. My dog Smudge’s favourite spot. He’ll race ahead to get in the water waiting for someone, anyone, to throw a stone for him to chase.

Jun 11 2012

Sunday Walk

Yesterday’s walk in the sunshine was along the coast at Belfast Lough. The dogs were bouncing around in the water which was about the only thing to make ripples on a day were it resembled a Mill Pond.

Loved this little sail boat that kept pace with us for a few miles.

Smudge cooling down.

A strange shark with a fin shaped like an elbow!

Walking buddies.

Herron on the rocks.

Pretty in yellow.

Jun 6 2012

Dangerous Tree Stump!

Spotted this path closed off on a walk at the weekend!

All sorts of images jumped to mind 🙂

However I’m not sure this was the right stump being referred too.

Jun 5 2012

Portaferry in the Sun

Needless to say, these photos were taken a few weeks back during our heat wave 🙂

A day out with some family saw us visit Portaferry on the Ards Peninsula.

Daisy Lane

Water evaporating off the beach, a rare site in Northern Ireland 🙂

Not for me!

The Narrows

Blackthorn

Old World War 2 Observation post at the tip of the Peninsula, built to watch out for German Bombers on their way to bomb Belfast Docks.

Family enjoying the sunshine

Not the only ones enjoying the sun.

Audley’s castle on the other side of the Lough. One of the sites used in Northern Ireland to film the series, Game of Thrones.

May 16 2012

All Aboard the Skylark

I took a walk with family members along the Floodgates footpath in Ards last Saturday. I promised my sister that we would see a Skylark. I was starting to panic when we eventually spotted one singing on the up before it floated down to the ground again. And then, would you believe it, we nearly tripped over one on the pathway!