According to Pubhome.co.uk the name The Lamb and Lion is used by 4 pubs in the UK. One of them is in York, and this one is in Bath’s city centre.
The lamb and lion are symbols in Christianity. The lamb represents Christ’s sacrifice or death. The lion represents Christ’s resurrection.
Have a great weekend! I hope the weather is great where you live so you can enjoy it.
This is a white headed duck. I only got off one shot where its head was raised. They seemed to be sleeping with their head in their body. This is another bird I photographed on a body of water near the Thames in London.
According to eBird, White-Headed Duck males “have a striking white face and black crown that contrasts with their large blue bill and chestnut body.” They are a diving duck with a long tail. Unfortunately I did not get the whole of it’s tail in one picture.
Personally, I would have named it related to it’s blue bill. Have a great Friday!
I believe this is a green winged teal. If I am wrong let me know. This is one of the many birds I saw in London in one of the parks.
The green winged teal is a dabbling duck. According to Ducks Unlimited they visit shallow waters such as flooded fields and marshes. They feed by tipping up rather than diving.
I am still going back to the many bird photos I took in England and trying to identify them. Happy Columbus Day if you are in the U.S. Happy Thanksgiving if you are in Canada!
The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, happens when charged particles from the Sun get captured in Earth’s magnetic fields, and move towards the poles. They interact with Earth’s atmosphere, releasing energy that produces these lights that can appear to shimmer.
Thanks to a friend who let me know about an aurora website for NY and her inviting me to meet at a location, I was able to capture these. This event was even visible this past Thursday for about 20-30 minutes with the naked eye.
My camera is not good for night images, they recommend other camera models for that. These are better than I expected for my camera. Others arrived at the same location and showed me their phone photos, which were much better.
The colours changed. It started in one area then appeared in another. The sky seemed filled with colours on the northern half.
It was so powerful that people saw them from a busy shopping street and many posted images of buildings and bridges that were lit up and the aurora was in the background.
Hopefully I will get more chances to see this closer to sunset or sunrise on the weekends. I know, am I asking too much? Word is we may be able to see this from time to time through March.
In one direction a deep purplish colour was visible for a time, then seemed to switch to a reddish colour.
Several times we saw green closer to the horizon. Small aircraft were buzzing back and forth. I would like to see the pictures they got from up there.
I remember my father pointing out the northern lights when I was a child. It was a thrill to be able to see them again with the naked eye. Were you able to see the aurora/ northern lights in your area?
This was another first for me. Owls occupy most of my birding. I saw the glossy ibis at a large wildlife refuge in Central New York during a long weekend vacation trip.
All of these are quite far away taken with a zoom lens and heavily cropped. The first day I was there they mainly stuck to hiding amongst the plants. They were farther away the first day and luckily someone at the refuge with a powerful spotting scope located and let me view them.
They seemed to stick to the island like areas in the wetlands and occasionally on the second day went in the water. They came closer the second day and these images are from then.
There were two of them. Sometimes they were close together and other times they were near to each other, but not that close.
These images are not that great, but I was happy to see them regardless. Maybe sometime in the future I can witness them up closer. Have a great week.
These are the first birds I photographed at a large wildlife refuge in Central New York. After I climbed a viewing tower they flew towards me then passed by. I only had a chance to get off one shot.
They appear to be Sand Hill Cranes. There were three flying together. The next shot is an even closer cropped image of the first shot. This is the first time I photographed this bird. As you can tell I am far from an expert.
My understanding is it is the only crane that nests in New York. There are reports in the Adirondacks of nesting sights as well as other areas. It does appear to be not so common to see one in New York.
When visiting a wildlife refuge be prepared to take shots as soon as you arrive. Otherwise you might miss out.
I had a long weekend, so I made the trek out to central New York to visit a wildlife refuge. I saw this small water bird that was swimming not too far out from the wildlife drive. It seemed to spend more time underwater then above water, so it was hard to capture.
To me it is very cute. Can anyone confirm what kind of water bird this is? Is it a pied billed grebe? Have a great week!
I had seen some information online that at least at some point one side of this sign was this person and the other side was Prince Harry and Megan. I was in this area of London for something else so I checked it out. Both sides were the same, so at some point they took down Harry.
I did not see the sign inside either. It was an off time and it looked like they were not serving food, otherwise I would have stayed. I have found many pubs only serve lunch and dinner at certain times. No other Harry related things were visible.
I have heard they are pubs who want their name changed to Queen Elizabeth have to get approval and have an appropriate reason to name it after her. It is said her name will be closely protected. Not sure if it is a good idea for a living person to have their likeness on a pub. I have seen another pub with a living member of the royal family’s likeness on it. What do you think?
While kayaking a lake that is mostly shallow, I saw this osprey hanging out there. I think it flies between another body of water and this one. It seemed to come back to the same area of the lake when it caught the fish.
I did see it splash into the water on the other side of the lake before it flew back in circles with a fish. Lucky for me that it landed nearby.
Look at those talons speared into the fish. I am assuming the fish is already dead.
He seemingly holds on with one foot. This was a cloudy day and very windy. Sitting in my kayak to try to take shots was far from steady. I’m still okay with these. Here’s hoping to see one dive in close by in the future. Have a great weekend.
Kingfishers in New York , known as belted kingfishers, are less colourful than the kingfishers in England (common kingfishers). They are interesting to watch. They are very skittish though and do not let you come to0 close usually. I was kayaking on a windy day and was surprised when this one let me drift closer than usual. It was not until I got home and looked at the images on my computer that I may have seen why.
This kingfisher seemingly has a fishing line attached to it. It did fly from tree to tree overhanging the water and I did see it drop into the water. However, I hope if it needs help, it will allow someone to get close enough to bring it to help.
According to NOAA Fisheries: “Entangled animals may drown or starve because they are restricted by fishing gear, or they may suffer physical trauma and infections from the gear cutting into their flesh.”
The lake I went on is popular with fishermen on shore and on fishing kayaks. Although this bird was on an unpopulated side of the lake, those on kayaks could fish in that area.
It was not possible for me to get there before dark today, but I have put the word out. Incidentally, I also have a picture of a turtle with fishing line stuck to it as well from the same outing. Hopefully if this bird needs help it will allow someone to get close enough to grab. The hazards of life for wildlife that depend on water seem to be many.
