Life, Death and Landscape Photography… With a Mobile Phone.
In difficult times landscape photography can be very rewarding; and we can take good pictures very easily using a mobile phone.
Denaturing: The Fast-Track to Economic Growth… and the Snow Geese Bucking the Trend.
When I first moved to the Lower Mainland of British Colombia I wondered what Canadians did for a living; as a child brought up in Britain, I was led to believe that what they mostly did was chop down trees. I remember Monty Python singing a song about it: 'lumberjacks' apparently were O.K. -- but as the verses progressed a different story emerged -- all nonsense for comic effect, but even in the real world things aren't always what they seem and mostly not quite so funny. There are very few trees like this on the Lower Mainland. A couple…
Owls — Not Quite as Clever as We Think.
You know how it is, you're having a perfectly normal conversation with somebody you think you know, and suddenly they say, 'That's just not like me, I'm a Capricorn', and you're thinking, 'I hadn't realised you were as daft as a brush'... The great thing about owls is they aren't like that -- millions of years of evolution have honed them into ultra-efficient killing machines and none will make a judgement based on your star signs. Probably what they're thinking when looking at you is, 'I'm sure that thing's too big to eat; but I'll keep watching in case it's…
Some Days I Just Can’t Tell my Ground Squirrel from my Marmot.
Pre-covid, but not so long ago, Jen and I took a trip to Manning Park in British Columbia intending to visit upland meadows in full flower; but you know how it is with the natural world -- get your timing out by a week one way or the other, and you're either too early and there's nothing to see, or you're too late and everything's gone to seed. It's a bit like life really -- there are plenty of opportunities to miss. Living on the coast as we do, the time schedule for many natural events runs seasonally ahead of events…