Nigel's Photo Blog

  Batsford Arboretum This evening, I am posting information on Batsford Arboretum which is close to Moreton-in-Marsh  in the English Cotswolds which in turn is about ninety miles N.W. of London. Adjacent to the site is the Cotswold Falconry Centre which offers excellent flying displays of various raptors. This is a site for persons interested in trees, photography or just a pleasant, quite walk in natural surroundings. At this fifty-six acre site can be found 2850 plant specimens including 1300 trees, shrubs and bamboo. Specimens have been sourced from around the world with emphasis on the Far East. The collection includes Japanese Flowering Cherries and a project focused on conifer conservation, including conifers from Chile. Here is a seasonal chronology of what the site has to offer: Winter and early Spring: Snowdrops, Aconites, Hellebores and Cyclamen. Spring: Daffodils, Hellebores, Yoshino Cherries, Primroses, Magnolias, Wood Anemones, Bluebells and Violets. Early Summer

  Educational talk at Cotswold Falconry Centre This evening, I am reporting on the Cotswold Falconry Centre at Batsford, near Moreton-in-Marsh which is about ninety miles N.W. of London, England. The Centre is an educational facility and aviary with falcons, eagles, owls and other birds of prey including such species as Eagle Owl, Tawny Eagle, Bateleur Eagle, Barn Owl and Peregrine Falcon. A key part of a visit is to watch the flying displays as illustrated in the video clips below. A visit to the site can be extended to include the adjacent extensive arboretum.. Visitor participation. Video clips      

This afteroon, prompted by reports in the media, I went off to the nearby Battlefield district of Glasgow to inspect a wide range of domestic window displays linked to the upcoming 'celebration' of Halloween on October 31st. Add caption The portfolio of images an be seen below.  Here is some background information: Battlefield is so named because here took place in 1568 the Battle of Langside at which Scotland's famous Queen, Mary Queen of Scots, s uffered a major defeat which forced her to flee to England where she was eventually executed in 1587. Now a high density urban area, Battlefield was an open farming landscape at time of the battle. Readers will observe that virtually all the properties photographed are constructed of sandstone. This is a local resource dating from the Permian Period (250m-290m years ago) when the west of Scotland was somewhere near the location of the Sahara Desert today and experienced desert conditions for a prolonged poeriod resul

  Punting on the Cam at Cambridge. This evening, I am posting information on the famous university city of Cambridge, England. Key information: Population of about 124,000. Home to thirty-one university colleges and is located on the banks of the River Cam. The City has connections with many famous people, is well endowed with museums, theatres and art galleries and is conveniently situated about sixty miles (96 km) north of London in East Anglia. King’s College Sundial at Cambridge Punting on the Cam at Cambridge, England. Cambridge Street Scene. More information: History: In Roman times there was a settlement named Duroliponte . By the time of the Doomsday Book in 1086 the name was Cantebrigie or ‘Bridge on the River Granta’. Due to Norman influences, the river name was changed to Cam . University: There are thirty-one colleges affiliated to Cambridge University many of which were established in medieval times with the oldest established in the late 13th century. Thes

Tonight there is an overlap with my separate Glasgow Ancestry blog. In the course of recording grave markers at Eastwood New Cemetery in Glasgow I came across a military section which included a poignant memorial to what appears to be three brothers who all died in World War 1 over the period  1916-1917. Deceased as follows: S/10571 Private G.D. Cameron, Cameron Highlanders. Died Dec 17th 1916, age 26 yrs. 7835 Private Donald Cameron, killed in Battle of Cambrai (France) on Nov 18th 1917, age 28 yrs. 9286 Sgt. Noel Cameron, killed in Battle of the Somme (France) Oct 18th 1916, age 23 yrs. Here is a video clip of the memorial: Matters arising: Clearly, these deaths would have posed a traumatic experience for the parents, especially in such a short time scale.No counselling in those days! The surname Cameron would suggest the family originated from the Fort William or Inverness regions of the Scottish Highlands. The Cameron Highlanders regiment was raised (in Fort William) in 179

  View of River Clyde from defunct dry dock Today, I took the opportunity to walk alongside the River Clyde, from Govan to central Glasgow in Scotland Weather was relatively benign but photography slightly hindered by presence of heavy cloud cover. This journey could be described as an adventure in industrial archaeology as Glasgow was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution with emphasis on shipbuilding and manufacturing and there remain considerable tangible relics from the past. Today, commercial, shipbuilding has all but disappeared (with exception of one yard which had to be rescued by the Scottish Government) but construction of military vessels remains robust. Above image shows the restored sailing ship Glenlee (which was built on the Clyde in 1896) moored adjacent to the Riverside Museum (emphasis on transport) which is located on site of former ship yard. The three images below illustrate the derelict Govan Graving Docks (dry docks).These have been abandoned since the 19