The Lemon Fool

Tedx wrote:Not my pic

HMS Queen Elizabeth passes under the Forth Rail Bridge

When the Forth Rail bridge was constructed, there was an Admiralty requirement that the arch would have a minimum height above high water of 158 feet (48m). Our new carriers can just about make it through at specific low tides, with a lowered mast on one of the carrier islands.
Presumably they felt that this was easier than moving Rosyth downstream of the bridge

Tedx wrote:Not my pic

HMS Queen Elizabeth passes under the Forth Rail Bridge

That is some photographer. Goodness me! Thought I live in a beautiful place but Scotland may just be a wee bit better.


GS

It was a delightful spring day in Hyde Park yesterday, but as I strolled in the sunshine I noticed that parakeets are now as prolific as pigeons.

Although they’re quite attractive to look at they make a horrible screeching sound, and I can’t believe that their presence is beneficial to the traditional residents. On balance, therefore, I’ve decided they are Not A Good Thing.

Clitheroekid wrote:Although they’re quite attractive to look at they make a horrible screeching sound, and I can’t believe that their presence is beneficial to the traditional residents. On balance, therefore, I’ve decided they are Not A Good Thing.

A little bit of history: It wasn't Jimi's fault! And nor was it the African Queen.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50755015

BJ

Clitheroekid wrote:It was a delightful spring day in Hyde Park yesterday, but as I strolled in the sunshine I noticed that parakeets are now as prolific as pigeons.
Although they’re quite attractive to look at they make a horrible screeching sound, and I can’t believe that their presence is beneficial to the traditional residents. On balance, therefore, I’ve decided they are Not A Good Thing.

When we lived in Surrey they had definitely arrived.
They chase other birds off the feeders, and if you have top fruit, bad luck.

I do not look forward to their arrival in Gloucs.

V8

Perhaps the answer lies here:

https://www.timeout.com/london/news/the ... don-022723

More Peregrine falcons!

When I started working in Ealing in 2010 they were still a novelty to me in Lammas Park and added a bit of exotic colour around the Council Estates of Acton and Southall.

I recall that the first time I heard their, by now to me, distinctive screeching while out and about at home in Hertfordshire was in 2017 and now in 2024 they are omnipresent.

I wonder how far north they have ventured. Northants, West Midlands or perhaps further north?

scotia wrote:

Tedx wrote:Not my pic

HMS Queen Elizabeth passes under the Forth Rail Bridge

When the Forth Rail bridge was constructed, there was an Admiralty requirement that the arch would have a minimum height above high water of 158 feet (48m). Our new carriers can just about make it through at specific low tides, with a lowered mast on one of the carrier islands.
Presumably they felt that this was easier than moving Rosyth downstream of the bridge

Good job it missed the pier

Dicky99 wrote:I wonder how far north they have ventured. Northants, West Midlands or perhaps further north?

There's a map at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50755015, although it's only for 2016.

No parakeets in my part of postwar Sarf Arts/Norf Lunnon. Although, if you listened carefully, you could hear the sparrows coughing.

BJ

Dicky99 wrote:I wonder how far north they have ventured. Northants, West Midlands or perhaps further north?

They're in Cheshire, although not yet breeding there.

V8

88V8 wrote:

Dicky99 wrote:I wonder how far north they have ventured. Northants, West Midlands or perhaps further north?

They're in Cheshire, although not yet breeding there.

V8

No sign of them in these parts (Monmouthshire). Perhaps they're moving North only, and don't realise there is a West

Dicky99 wrote:I wonder how far north they have ventured. Northants, West Midlands or perhaps further north?

About 50 years ago there was a parakeet in Wick (Caithness) which visited my mother-in-law's garden, where she fed it on apples. It survived a fair number of years, but never found a mate. It is possible that it finally decided to fly south for a mate (as did my wife )

Some pics from a short van trip out west over the Easter weekend













The last pic was in Tomintoul on the way home and the weather really caught us out. The skies cleared unexpectedly when it got dark and the temperature plummeted (the stars were spectacular but it was frrrreeezing!). It was ok under the duvets and I have a green house heater in the van to keep the worst of the chill off. But still.....

Several minke whale at our NE Scotland Coast today. Fortunate to get this snap of one surfacing with open mouth showing the baleen...nature eh ?

We were off to a country park with strong connections to a reigning monarch, earlier this month.

we returned via Moscow

Is the height and span of that bridge a pure folly, or indicative of how high the river gets in a very wet season?

UncleEbenezer wrote:Is the height and span of that bridge a pure folly, or indicative of how high the river gets in a very wet season?

It certainly has strong foundations.

Scott.

UncleEbenezer wrote:Is the height and span of that bridge a pure folly, or indicative of how high the river gets in a very wet season?

The original architectural drawing of the proposed Chinese Bridge by Robert Weir Schultz dates from 1899. It was intended to be a visual complement to the nearby much more substantial 18th Century John Adam designed Elliptical Bridge. However the Chinese Bridge, based on the original drawing, was not built until recent times, and the John Adam Bridge has also recently been fully restored.
So I suppose the Chinese Bridge could be classed as a folly - but it is extremely popular with visitors. We walked over the Chinese Bridge to visit the walled garden, and returned over the John Adam Elliptical Bridge.

An interaction with AI for image enhancement. It made a good job of improving my grainy image of a damsel fly. I thought the original was quite good until AI had a go at it (enlarged). A benign application though.

scotview wrote:An interaction with AI for image enhancement. It made a good job of improving my grainy image of a damsel fly. I thought the original was quite good until AI had a go at it (enlarged). A benign application though.

Photoshop Unsharp Mask applied to the left hand image. No other manipulation, just selected the left image area and applied Unsharp Mask with the default settings. Some bits better than AI, some not....