Amelia's photos

This week's Saturday Challenge is: An album cover. The Carpenters - Top Of The World - 1973

This female goosander had two chicks, both moved very rapidly and were difficult to photograph. There was no sign of the male. She occasionally carried both on her back as we were watching.

On Wednesday morning we drove to the outskirts of Chirk, about 10 miles, then walked into Wales over the path by the aqueduct. No problem with social distancing at all. HFF to you all, and stay safe.

The Sunday Challenge this week is: Anything that relates to Automobiles

Today's challenge is: Minimalism using one item for your subject. This is part of a small but heavy dish that I have used before in the challenges. The bit that looks like a handle on a frying pan is actually part of a gas ring on the cooker. The PiP shows the dish inside a green steamer to give you an idea of the size of it.

This fence prevents folks from climbing down into an old sandstone quarry. The PiP shows the same fence 3 days later. I prefer the main photo as the fence shows up more clearly.

Herb-robert is a type of crane's-bill that is found in a variety of habitats, including woodland, hedgerows, rocky or exposed areas, scree slopes and coastal areas. Look for it in areas of shade away from acidic soils. Its small, pink flowers mainly appear between May and September. Herb robert (Geranium robertianum) has small crane’s-bill pink flowers and pungent foliage. It grows commonly in shaded areas where it can be a useful ground cover but its tendency to selfseed can make it a nuisance as a garden weed.

The delicate Field pansy is a wild relative of our garden pansy and can be found in fields and on waste ground and roadside verges - anywhere the ground has been disturbed. Its long-stalked, pale yellow flowers can be found winding their way through the grasses from April to October. Field pansies are annuals, so they live for one growing season, flowering, seeding and dying off. Only the dormant seeds survive, ready for the next season. The flowers are cream or pale yellow with cream upper petals and more rarely blue or violet. Each flower is about 10-15mm in size. You have to keep your eyes peeled to see them.

This fence surrounds closed reservoir containing water that has been pumped up from aquifers in order that the properties in the village have got some water pressure.

Bracken (Pteridium) is a genus of large, coarse ferns. It is a prolific and abundant plant in the moorlands of Great Britain, where it is limited to altitudes of below 600 metres. It does not like poorly drained marshes or fen. It has been observed growing in soils from pH 2.8 to 8.6, a wide pH band. Bracken is a pernicious, invasive and opportunistic plant, taking over from the plants traditionally associated with open moorland and has out-competed characteristic ground-cover plants such as moor grasses, cowberry, bilberry and heathers. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracken

This could be mistaken for a dandelion, but there are some obvious differences. The seedhead is flatter than that of a dandelion. The stem bears scale-leaves in early spring, whereas the stem of a dandelion is smooth. The leaves appear after the flowers have gone to seed and are shaped like a horse shoe, hence the common name. The leaves of a dandelion resemble lion's teeth, hence the common name 'dandelion' from the French 'dent de lion'.

Today's Sunday Challenge: ENJOY THE LITTLE THINGS. This pretty little lilac flower opens around the time the cuckoo starts to call, hence the common name. It is a perennial of damp, grassy places like wet meadows, ditches and canal and riverbanks, as well as roadside verges. Its pale pink flowers bloom from April to June. It is an important food plant for the caterpillars of the orange-tip and the green-veined white butterfly. And in Cheshire it is the county flower and is known as 'milkmaids'. Leisure (W H Davies' poem)> Classic Poetry: Leisure by W H Davies And just to give you some joy: I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue TV Recording 2008