STANAGE EDGE STONES

The Stanage Edge fine grit stone escarpment which lies to the north of the village of Hathersage in the

 Dark Peak region of the national park. It is an area very popular with climbers ,the climbing routes have varying degrees of challenges.you will also see hang-gliders battling the elements as they soar high on the thermals above Stanage edge looking down at the walkers and climbers.

See how to purchase the above Image here; Stanage Edge Stones

 Stanage edge stretches for 6 km and great views across the Derwent and Hope valleys can be observed. The highest point on the edge is known has the high Neb which on its trig point measures 458meters.

 
See how to purchase the above Image here; Stanage Edge

Looking north is Crows Chin and to the west is the Derwent valley with views of Win Hill and Lose Hill. The Black and White Image of Stanage Edge shows relics of the areas industrial past, below the escarpment lies abandoned Millstones or Pulp stones, as they where some times called.The image I took was at days end just has the Sun, began to sink below the Edge. Another popular feature of interest in the area not far away in the upper Derwent valley is the Derwent and Howden dams with the castle like twin towers which was a major construction project carried out over 100 years ago.

 

  See how to purchase the above Image here; Howden Contrails

The dams where made famous by the 617 squadron has they practised low flying along the dams for operation Chastise which involved a lot of skill and accuracy to bomb dams along the Ruhr valley in  Germany in 1943 a dangerous and daring mission.

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MAM TOR-- LORD'S SEAT HILL

A late Spring Walk to collect new Images along the great ridge which

divides the white and Dark Peaks.

With my assistant Kato ∞ we started our trek from the Mam Nick car park

upto Mam Tor a late Bronze age Hill Fort, height
above sea level 1700ft Mam Tor which translates to "Mother Mountain"

THE GREAT RIDGE MAM TOR

 We headed out above the Hope Valley and over looking Castleton the route is made easier
by the paved pathway, centurion style. Destination Brockett Booth. Many Photographers have
travelled this image rich area, it has potential for some fine images. On reaching Brockett Booth from where we could see Loose Hill. We made a decision to return another day, so........
 

AS OLD AS EARTH

..... Kato ∞ insisted on a Tea break before we headed back along the Great Ridge

 to the photogenic LORD'S SEAT  to take images of the late Spring Sunset.

Above the Hope Valley the weather began to close in as

 we approached the Hill Fort,

a solitary Hang glider using the Lord's Seat Hill for his

thermal lifts made an hasty

decent to Mother Earth, but not before I managed to get him within my image!

The wind had picked up driving the hale and sleet over the

 valley, we had two golfing umbrellas made of glass fiber, 

hopefully not lightening rods!! 

but not for us! but the camera and gear......over Edale we had all Four seasons,

 but made an image

before beating an hasty retreat back to the car.    

 

LORD'S SEAT--EDALE

     At the bottom of Mam Tor snakes a Road that travels by Lord's seat, within the Vale of Edale.
 See more here;   http://www.amethystlandphoto.com


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WILD GARLIC SPRINGTIME

The World famous Wenlock Edge in Shropshire which stretches from

 Iron Bridge to craven arms a distance of about Eight Miles.

The area has a vast geological history spanning 400 Million Years,

 rich in florna and fauna and a variety of wild Birds;Swallow- Blackcap-Willow warbler-Jackdaw-Blue tit-Robin-Nuthatch-Wren-Raven-Swift-chaffinch, to name but a few.

Wild Garlic © John Arrowsuch

On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble;

      His forest fleece the Wrekin heaves;

The gale, it plies the saplings double,

      And thick on Severn snow the leaves.

By A.E.Housman  

Garlic carpet

See more here; http://www.amethystlandphoto.com/photo

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THE SEVEN YEAR COMPILATION SLIDE SHOW

Time......for a compilation of the last Seven Years, of just a few special Images.

I thought I would slide together in a video that includes

a short instrumental music score.

You can click the YouTube link here;https://youtu.be/5HfDoFBKut8 

or the on page video below.

 Hope you enjoy the compilation, Please subscribe and give it a thumbs up.

All the Images can be see here;http://www.amethystlandphoto.com/ 

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THREE RAVENS ENIGMA

The name I have chosen for this mystery Bridge is; "THE THREE RAVENS"

the Bridge at it's top upper most stone bears a coat of arms........
.......Three Ravens a Chevron with two swags in it's design.

THREE RAVENS

As a commercial photographer I like to keep some locations 

secrete, but with this location hidden in the heart of the 

Elan Valley, some of you reading this will already know

of it's whereabouts, for the rest of you, there are enough

 clues to track it down.

THREE RAVENS BRIDGE

 This image was only possible due to the fact the little River was very low, beware the current

though, low River = fast current, hence the opposite saying; still waters run deep 

I would imagine after heavy Rain, no middle of the Bridge Image is 

possible.

 To see the full Image see here; www.amethystlandphoto.com 

If you can find the owner of the coat of arms, you will find this wonderful location 

GOOD LUCK?

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SHAKESPEARE'S ARDEN WAY

 

The Arden Way and Arden forest was known to William Shakespeare, his 

play "As you like it"is set in the forest of Arden in Warwickshire.
 2016 is the 400th Year anniversary of the death

of William Shakespeare. So with Kato ∞

I made my way to this next destination for a late Spring image, featuring the

meandering River Arrow, in a landscape that
 inspired England's greatest playwright, the "Bard".

Albert Pinkham Ryder  

It was late evening as Kato ∞ and myself, searched part of the
 River Arrow along the Ardent Way,

for an ideal view. Dark "Crow Black" clouds formed to our left, it was a 

promising end to the day, the sinking Sun glowing bright Orange, back-lighting

the Hawthorn and River bank, and Cow Parsley.
Albert Pinkham Ryder painted what is a scene of the "the Forest of Arden",
it has the look and feel of my River Arrow image, though not
the actual spot, but it has all of the elements. 

HAWTHORN ON THE ARROW

This is the final edit image and is on view here; Amethystlandphoto  

For BOOTS. see here; Who is Mr Boots?

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RIVER IRFON

Irfon Valley, Powys mid Wales was my destination for an early Spring image Driving along the old Drovers Road, with my assistant Kato ∞ we found an ideal spot to park and explore the lower Irfon Valley,wolves' Gorge ( Camddwr Bleiddiad ). Heading off the Road and down the steep bank where the River Irfon flows, there lies an embankment, almost shore like, peppered with small and large boulders leading the eye into the rushing River Irfon.

Afon Irfon

You can see this image here;www.amethystlandphoto.com
I used a 20mm Sony lens set to infinity; f16, on a tripod
and as close to the foreground as was possible to stay sharp,
the tripod was essential. The wind blowing down the valley,
 from from the north was 40+mph. It blew both 
myself and Kato ∞ back
up the hill on the way back upto the Road.
  

WOLFS' GORGE

I may return here soon by other means of transport
for those who know!
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CHROME HILL STORM

Chrome Hill on a Winters afternoon. Earl Sterndale
was where we had parked Katos car, a week earlier
the car had been bogged down in mud at the base of
Chrome Hill, luckily a passing local stopped to ask
if we would like a tow out, so many thanks to him 
for the rescue. So we headed homeward, without an image, to return a week later.

 From Earl Sterndale was a 1.5 Miles walk to our view point below Chrome Hill, Blue sky was less than ideal
but as I set up, cloud started to build fast high above
ridge line, within minutes, streams of cloud had climbed  and filled my 20mm Sony lens, five images
later, a cold wind blew down the Hill and the opportunity for more images had gone.

Wisely we packed away the gear, and headed for Earl 
Sterndale. Looking back from where we came, heavy dark rain clouds were forming. A very wet walk back to the car, but one image was worth the muddy boots.
You can see the image here; www.amethystlandphoto.com 

                            ----------------------------------------

SUPER MOON CANADA GEESE

E very Year (almost;every one Year one month 18 days) there is a Super Moon, see future Years list below.

 It was a happy coincidence, one day in September I was able to capture an image combining Super Moon, River and Canada Geese.....but it was all about timing.

Perigee-Syzygy

A Super Moon (Perigee-Syzygy) will appear approximately every 14th full Moon, So they are not a rare event and with the extra illumination 30% and the Moon 14% larger, these additions
give a photographer a very small advantage to
 illuminate the land or water.
The Photographer's Ephemeris; Link here was my resource, it gave me the timing for the Super Moon directly over the River Trent at Yoxhall. See the screen shot below.

Click image to enlarge or use the link above

There was only a small window of opportunity with the Moon lined up vertically above the River Trent. 
The idea was to use the River
to reflect the Moon light, as it was a flowing River the moon light would appear as a flood of Moon light, so giving that classic moon lit scene. There was a foreground element that was not in the plan, Seven Canada Geese, but they made the night scene come to life. 

    MOON-RIVER-GEESE
  

© J R Arrowsuch.

See the the image at my web site; www.amethystlandphoto.com/photo

Future Perigee (Super Moon) Years;
September 28th 2015
November 14th 2016
No Perigee 2017
January 2nd 2018
January 21st 2019
February 19th 2019 


Thanks to"The Photographers Ephemeris"For the screen shot.

 

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METEORS - PIPISTRELLE BATS AND CATS

The Annual 13th of August Perseid Meteor shower took me off to the Llyn Clywedog reservoir

on the 12th of August, but due to a weather forecast for cloud, the next night I chose Lake Vyrnwy.

The first night on the 12th

 Llyn Clywedog reservoir was one of the darkest area of Wales I have visited

for a meteor event, a very clear bright starry view, with the milky way clearly viewed through

the upper most part of the sky, the most defined milky way I had ever seen!! (in the UK).
I had though there was a chance to capture a meteor burning through the milky way, but alas no luck this night, but..........to see the Milky way this clear, with no light pollution was reward enough.

See the image below with the Milky way stretching the length of the image, next time I will make a panoramic image, to capture even more of this celestial display. 

Sony A900..... ISO1600                  © J.R.Arrowsuch

As usual with a major meteor event, we saw some of the Perseid's but the camera set to expose via a digital intervalometer, no Meteors were imaged whilst the shutter was open?. 
The Sony A900 was set up in BULB mode ISO 1600 lens(20mm),15 seconds exposure at  f3.5 and dark frame subtraction on each image taken.

After an hour the fog moved in from the  Llyn Clywedog reservoir, the temperature tumbled, almost like it was Autumn, dew enveloped the camera and the car and that put pay to this night's
image gathering. You can see the moment the fog rolled in from this next image.

Fog rolls in

The second night on the 13th

The second night took me off further north (still in Wales) to Lake Vyrnwy, a much milder night with the local wild life very active, Owls hooting and Bats in flight not to mention the local cats on the prowl.

The Bats, (possibly pipistelle) where flying round our heads, the torch light attracting the insects and the insects attracting the Bats, I would have tried to photograph them
but my mission was the Meteor shower, so that was what I concentrated on, besides I was missing a flash.
Here is a image by; Barracuda1983

CC image by Barracuda1983


108 images 1 Meteor, with the timings set into the intervalometer, it's all about mother nature cooperating,
I did observe at least 6 Meteors within the lens area, but they were only visible on the mirror lockup timing or the dark frame subtraction timing, very frustrating, ideally another second camera, set up to take up the off sequence, would be a solution, but I only have one top brand DSLR.   

  PLOUGH & PERSEID                                © JOHN R ARROWSUCH

Lake  Vyrnwy as you can see from the above image, is not a perfect location for a Meteor event, due to the distant light pollution.

 My next night event is the full Moon (super Moon) over the River Trent.

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STANAGE EDGE AMPHITHEATRE

Stanage Edge, runs ribbon like, four Miles long, from the Cowper Stone to Stanage End.

I had planned to find the CROW CHIN rock, to shoot an image, but time and a

pulled hamstring made the trek shorter. 

Kato (my Brother) wanted me to get an image for his blog, a marsh or water scene.

We were fortunate to find such an image, on the track to the Redmires Reservoirs, a marshy pool

matched his request. See his WILL-O-THE-WISP search HERE.

With that image in the can, we set off back to the Edge, I had earlier caught sight of a scene 

through two gritstone upright boulders, that framed a view upon  the "Stanage plantation"

the sound emanating from the woods below, gave me a possible posh

 image title" STANAGE EDGE AMPHITHEATRE".

With the tree's in the centre forming a curtain for the spring evening show, a good mix of

changeable cloud, it all made for a fine image.

The gritstone in this part of the DARK PEAK has a multi sparkled quality, not unlike

a Star field on a moonless night, it may sound a poetic description, but on a Sunny Day, the gritstone

takes on the appearance of a Starry night sky. You will not see this in any on line photo, the resolution

is (deliberately) too low, remind me to shoot a macro shot.

Here are a few images from last Year's visit;

The image on the Left was a reject, Unpublished  test shot. unlike the image on the Right

which can be bought here; amethystlandphoto

Although I had intended to walk to HIGH NEB and the CROW CHIN rock, I chose to return

another day, but the " STANAGE EDGE AMPHITHEATER"  image was reward enough. 

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HOWDEN CONTRAILS

A  Weather forecast  for fine weather, pushed me out the door. I decided to head up to the Ladybower reservoir in the Peak District.

I was not able to spend more than a couple of hours, hiking so a Trekking bike was the preferred mode of transport, I had company, my Brother (Kato), came along with his steel framed, mountain bike, it weighs a ton compared to my aluminum hybrid Trekking cycle.

 

We headed out to find the Howden Reservoir dam, on arriving the low level of the water, stopped us in our tracks, that and the fact the early Autumn was absent, made for limited photo opportunities.

 

looking out over the reservoir, almost empty, the only option was a very close up shot of the Howden dam, with the sky contrails.

More to see over at;http://www.amethystlandphoto.com/

Howden Dam Contrails

I will not return here this Autumn, due to the very low water levels, so where to next, I think North Wales is calling, maybe?.

See more Monochrome here; http://www.amethystlandphoto.com/monochrome

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STANAGE EDGE-FOLLOW THE LIGHT

Stanage Edge ancient, Gritstone escarpment within the Peak district national park.

 

 THE DARK HIGH PEAK

 The gritstone of this area was once used in the making of Mill grindstones

and if you walk the Edge you will see grindstones abandoned

and never put into service, they make a nice foreground

in many a fine photo image.

Another gritstone use was the water feeders, used for the grouse

in this image I used the feeder and water as a reflective surface, to 

fill the foreground with highlight.

 If you pop along here, there is a nice image of the above on BLUE;http://www.amethystlandphoto.com

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OWLET & KATO ∞

  The journey back from Stanage Edge, was eventful. Passing though the Chatsworth 
House area, the Road speed is 50mph, but chatting with 
Kato ∞ my driver and assistant we both thought this was a stupid 
speed, after dark and on a twisty Road so Kato ∞ dropped the speed 
down to under 40mph.
A wise move!?, a Tawny owlet, flew out across our path, clipping him down
 the side of the car, the owlet dropped down stunned, onto the
 center of the Road. We had already stopped as the owlet, fell from
 his flight, Kato ∞ gathered up a rather dazed owl, he bought it 
back into the car, handing it over to me, i perched
him on a blanket, but he was recovering fast, the owl just wanted to fly, 
and flapped onto the dashboard, so he was recovered 
enough to be set free.
Kato ∞ carried the owlet to the fence where he/she, originally flew out, the 
owlet flapped and glided (wings fully spread) down the valley and 
across the River Derwent, landing  in a tree. Did I get a photo
 of the owlet, no, it was all too dramatic, plus my compact camera was
 packed away?. The morel of the story is always be prepared, camera ready.
As for the owlet, hope alls well with him/her, and here is a picture of 
three Tawny owlets, just about to fledge, by photographer; Artur Mikołajewski.

 

From Wiki photo by;
Artur Mikołajewski

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PANORAMA RESERVOIR

Llyn Clywedog reservoir, described as being; a subtle juxtaposition of sublime natural beauty and modern engineering, an accurate apt, summing up.

I thought this view would be ideal for a Panoramic composition, and so on midsummers day, I set out to capture this fine view. 

See this image here;http://www.amethystlandphoto.com

Llyn Clywedog reservoir

 Dr.James Fox, in the BBC4 program " BLUE A History of Art in Three Colours", explains;

Blue the Colour, in sky and on the horizon, can never be really be touched.

Making BLUE a very special hue.

I would have to agree, the water in my panorama, reflects the deep BLUE of sky

but looking at the water, it appears a much deeper BLUE it is in fact

due to the great depth of the Reservoir.

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There is one other BLUE Panorama, on my web site; http://www.amethystlandphoto.com 

Well...........almost all BLUE, apart from the orange Sun lit cloud above.

CROWDECOTE COLD MIST

The other BLUE we all know and some, care about.

HOME

Llyn Clywedog reservoir

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NINE STONES CLOSE

Continuing with the theme of standing Stone Circles,
I post another set of  Stones, near to the "Nine Ladies Stone circle", which
 was featured in my last post.

It was my intention, come spring, to photograph Bluebells in a fine wood, that

was not possible, but......on the way back from said wood, I made a track

to another prominent feature in the Landscape, Nine Stones Close, a small

but tall circle of Four standing stones, minus the other Five stones 

missing or removed over time.

NINE STONES CLOSE

The Sun was about to sink below the horizon, it had been the hottest day of the Year
But the long grass was still wet, and glistened in the falling Sunlight.
You may not be able to see the fine detail, in the above image, so I have
cropped out the fine Sun light and water Sun hit highlights in the image below.

Sun -Grass-Stone detail

The next image is of the two larger stones, covered in lichen and standing tall.

"TIMBER FOR THE LIVING STONE FOR THE DEAD"

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THE NINE LADIES STONE CIRCLE

A great trip (2013) up to the Peak district, to capture the Stone Circle "The Nine Ladies", the stones were very small, but well worth a visit. My trip here had a double purpose, one was to shoot a short film, and secondly I was looking for Bilberry’s, the filming did not go to plan, so I will return here again this Year. But I did find Bilberry’s,with my trusty assistant Kato ∞ but…..too early to pick. www.amethystlandphoto.com

 The Nine Ladies

I was hoping to put some Film footage, of this stone circle into a future project but bad timeing due to lack of Film continuity, will mean I will have to return, back here, same time same season, this year. I will keep you posted, as and when it's all in the can.

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GEMINIDS AND LIGHT POLLUTION

This is just an update to say I managed to capture, a solitary Meteor

on this Years Geminid Meteor shower night. It was taken on the 14th

of December 2013, I have updated my blog post, "LOOK OUT FOR THE GEMINIDS".

 single Geminid enters the Earths atmosphere

      They say it takes on average, 1200 photographic images to capture

just one with a fast moving Meteor, within your frame.

Over the Years I have made many attempts, to acquire these illusive

Meteor images, the British weather usually gets in the way, even this 

4:30 am capture was flooded by low, advancing cloud. not to 

mention the light pollution of nearby villages. 
Although the cloud did give the Trees, a scenic backdrop.
I normally don't over expose my images, but the above image was very
over exposed, the low resolution, the internet presents on a home 
monitor is to say the least, lacking, especially if the
 image is on the small size. This image is great, viewed at full resolution
and a VERY normal exposure. But we don't live in an ideal internet World.    -------------------------------------------------------------
If you click on the above image, and press hold your key board Ctrl key
while repeat press the + key   you should be able to view the image
larger, but it will be very low resolution.
To return your image to it's normal size, repeat the above but press
the 0 key that's  zero to you.

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AUTUMN AT HOWDEN DAM

After a few, "many" weeks of waiting for a tranquil , Autumn Day
 I cycled out on the last Autumn Day, before 
the official meteorological first Day of winter!. 
Destination, Howden Dam reservoir in the Derwent valley.

The Derwent Dam, between Ladybower and
 Howden Dam, made famous by 617 squadrons
 1943 practice bomb runs, in preparation

   

for operation "Chastise" the towers resembled the German
 Ruhr Dams,so made for an ideal substitute,
 for zero level flying. It must have been a very difficult task,
  low flying without instruments, in the dark!!. 

 

It was an ideal day for Landscape images, with the Gold

 and Russet colours of Autumn illuminating 

across the Howden reservoir, highlighted by

the late setting Sun, this next image, with it's

 grey sky making a neutral 

back drop to the Gold, Sunny hillside.   

To see the full Images click here.

You can also see an Image of Howden Dam HERE.