Horsey horses

I went to see Heather Jansch, a local artist, who makes sculptures out of driftwood and old oak

Mostly she makes horses.

The photo makes these figures look more impressive than they actually are in reality; close up they seem abit roughshod or ramshackle.

Apparently she makes loadsamoney on comission for installation pieces around the world (as much as £50,000 a pop i’ve been told) There’s one at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

On the way back i saw  a real horse

White stallion in buttercup meadow i think i’ll call this.

It’ll cost you 50 pence.

Shooting birds

Walking around Stover Park. A bird spotters paradise.

And all the big guns come out (to shoot the birds with)

Is this overkill or what?! (The guy on the left was bragging about how many thousands of pounds his equipment had cost)

I’ve noticed guys seem to go for big cameras; dangling their big lenses everywhere.

And there was me with my diddy little Cybershot!

Doing no harm at all……(Lol)

And then there was 1

Only 8 days ago i took this picture

A young mother with fresh born duckling darlings.

Count them – there’s 8 right?

And now – today – look at what’s happened

She’s got 1 left!

What happened to the other 7? The sneaky cats around here….. Grrrr!

I could hardly get near the one that’s survived. Mother ran around  everywhere this duckling went; understandably very nervous, protective.

For one brief moment they separated – and i took this pic

Hardly much bigger than that fag butt is it?

Fragile life is. Everything is dispensable, disposable.

Upsetting the Gobblers

I goes down to the car park to wind up Gobbler & Co.

Throw out The Indigestible.

Mrs Gobbler is the first to pick up.

Struggling to actually hold it in her red beak.

It looks like bread.

But it tastes like a bit of mouldy old rubber.

She drops it.

Next comes The Gobbler.

Next comes The Gobbler

In for the kill.

What you gonna make of that Gob?

Disgusting. Disgusted!

I thought he was gonna attack me he was so upset.

German Rye bread is an acquired taste.

And best left to Germans to acquire it.

This be Buckie Races

A Point-to-Point Meet in Buckfastleigh

We had £1 bets on every race.

I won £3.50 on “Rock with the Caveman”.

One horse wouldn’t stop running.

Half of Dartmoor was there.

This picture captures the friendly familiarity i felt

“Aboud taim fur ma mare tu gid ur skades on”

i think Uncle Ted is saying to Uncle Bob.

Dead jay

Big blue feathered bird dead in the gutter.

I picked it up and placed it on the wall. A man with his young daughter passed. “It’s a jay that is” he said

“I used to shoot them when i was younger, but not now – we gotta save them otherwise we’ll lose them”

It got hit by a car. Maybe it was flying low across. Or looking for a drink.

The daughter touched delicately it’s beautiful blue wings – the colour of a bright blue summer day. But now all too sadly drably dead.

Dead as winter.

The Ice Lake

In Stover Park.

It must have frozen overnight and slowly thawed during the day. Stones thrown to break it up.

I wonder whether anybody tried walking all the way across?

Not a duck in sight. Too cold and icy for them. They’d all gathered in the warmer slipstream at the back. But unfortunately it got too dark for me to get pics of their comical slipping and sliding.

One solitary duck

The light was fading fast (hence the picture quality isn’t great)

Gone for a walk in Hembury Woods. This solitary duck floated by on the river (Dart), heading towards rapid breakwater.

Impulsively, i wanted to follow his headlong glide into the surging torrent. He seemed so small and vulnerable.

I ran along the bank. He’d disappeared. Gone under. Swept away.

Then he re-appeared. He was ok. Been ducking and diving for fish (could a duck that small take a big brown trout i wondered)

Only stayed in there for 10 minutes then returned. Exhausted.

“So much depends

on one single duck

floating, fishing,

fishing, floating

this dark afternoon.

So brave,

so alone

- and so at ease“.

(with my William Carlos Williams hat on)

Meerkat Moment

Finished work at 2.45 so nip into Paignton Zoo.

The afternoon sun was bright and brilliant (as it’s been all this month: cold, clear sunny days, followed by icy nights and frosty mornings)

About an hour of light to take pics in. So i took 185 (Lol) I’ve deleted most of them, only 9 remain.

When taking pics i do alot of point-and-click, allowing for “happy accidents”; but during editing I’m more discriminating (ruthless in fact)

So what’s the Pic of the Day?

These meerkats. A bit anxious (about me) – but holding the sun in their fur.

Catching that Golden Glow i was loving.

Intend to visit the Zoo at least once a week. Can feel interest rising, my curiosity beginning to prick. Might have to start a separate blog.

Two Gooners

Became a member of Paignton Zoo – or “Environmental Park” as it now prefers to be called.

It was already 3.30 on a fast sinking Sunday afternoon. I took a few pics in the fading light – but this little digi isn’t really up to pics in the dark.

Here’s one of the rhino’s tho.

They were listening to football on radio 5 live.

Zoo keeper says they support the Arsenal.