My Travel and History Blog, Focussing mostly on Roman and Mediaeval Times
19 Feb 2017
Memories of Summer
Right now, the weather is dreary and grey, with rain and wind - no longer winter, but not yet spring. So I looked for some nice summer photos to cheer myself and my readers up.
View from Hanstein Castle
The German Central Uplands (Mittelgebirge) are a beautiful place to live, as the above vista shows. We got plenty of such views, a mix of mountains and valleys, forests and fields.
Gypsum cliffs in the southerns Harz
Sometimes those mountains show interesting geological features, like the gypsum cliffs in the Harz.
The Weser river
Rivers are especially lovely on a sunny summer morning. Above is the Weser near Bursfelde.
Old forest at the Weser (Sababurg Urwald)
The old forest near the Sababurg at the Weser is a former wood pasture that has been allowed to regrow naturally. One can almost see Hobbits walking there.
Bruchteiche near Bad Sooden-Allendorf
Another water photo, the Bruchteiche near Bad Sooden-Allendorf, a fomer reservoir for drinking water.
View from my balcony: dramatic sunset
The last one is not a summer photo but a recent one, but I wanted to share that wonderful, dramatic sunset.
¶ February 19, 2017 2 comments
Right now, the weather is dreary and grey, with rain and wind - no longer winter, but not yet spring. So I looked for some nice summer photos to cheer myself and my readers up.
The German Central Uplands (Mittelgebirge) are a beautiful place to live, as the above vista shows. We got plenty of such views, a mix of mountains and valleys, forests and fields.
Sometimes those mountains show interesting geological features, like the gypsum cliffs in the Harz.
Rivers are especially lovely on a sunny summer morning. Above is the Weser near Bursfelde.
The old forest near the Sababurg at the Weser is a former wood pasture that has been allowed to regrow naturally. One can almost see Hobbits walking there.
Another water photo, the Bruchteiche near Bad Sooden-Allendorf, a fomer reservoir for drinking water.
The last one is not a summer photo but a recent one, but I wanted to share that wonderful, dramatic sunset.
¶ February 19, 2017 2 comments
5 Feb 2017
Winged Winter Visitor
There are winter days when the balcony and the garden below look like this.
Winter view from my balcony
It usually only lasts a short time, but this year we got a colder winter. Albeit there is not much snow in my area - the mountain areas got a lot more of the white fun.
Doesn't look like it's going to stop snowing any time soon
That weather attracts the birds visiting my feeder, but it is not easy to catch the wee flurries. For one it's usually twilight when they come, and most of them are more shy than the blackbirds.
There is that funny white stuff in my food
I get titmouses (blue and great tits) and bushtits, too, as well as red robins, and the occasional red jay or magpie, but those tend to fly off the moment I go near the balcony door with my camera, leaving only blurry shots and shed seed hulls behind.
I don't want ice cream, I want cereals
The blackbirds on the other hand, a male and a female, are not shy at all. I could come close to about a metre, with the balcony door open, and they just looked at me reproachfully as if the snow was my fault.
Do something about that, will you?
There is often a bunch of winged visitors in the early morning as well, but I like to sleep in and then there's not enough time to photograph birds before I have to go off to work. Animal photographing takes patience.
Rimfrost in the morning sun
But I got this pretty shot one morning when the light was just perfect. A lovely winter day.
¶ February 05, 2017 3 comments
There are winter days when the balcony and the garden below look like this.
It usually only lasts a short time, but this year we got a colder winter. Albeit there is not much snow in my area - the mountain areas got a lot more of the white fun.
That weather attracts the birds visiting my feeder, but it is not easy to catch the wee flurries. For one it's usually twilight when they come, and most of them are more shy than the blackbirds.
I get titmouses (blue and great tits) and bushtits, too, as well as red robins, and the occasional red jay or magpie, but those tend to fly off the moment I go near the balcony door with my camera, leaving only blurry shots and shed seed hulls behind.
The blackbirds on the other hand, a male and a female, are not shy at all. I could come close to about a metre, with the balcony door open, and they just looked at me reproachfully as if the snow was my fault.
There is often a bunch of winged visitors in the early morning as well, but I like to sleep in and then there's not enough time to photograph birds before I have to go off to work. Animal photographing takes patience.
But I got this pretty shot one morning when the light was just perfect. A lovely winter day.
¶ February 05, 2017 3 comments
