Linlithgow Loch, 24 February 2013

We made a visit to Linlithgow Loch on Sunday morning, 24 February 2013.  Unfortunately we picked the poorest part of the day weatherise as it got better and better as the day wore on.  There was limited activity on the water.  We got some 'firsts' though - Goosanders (Common Merganisers), male and female.  There were several pairs at the west end of the loch.

We also saw the usual 'watery' suspects of Mallards, Moorhens, Coots, Mute Swans, Tufted Ducks and Black-headed Gulls all in relatively high numbers.  Magpies and Rooks were in abundance in the trees surrounding the loch.

Here are the Goosanders:

Goosander (F)

Goosander (M)

Goosander Pair

Goosander (F)

Caerlaverock Wetland Centre, Dumfries, 17 February 2013

Susan and I took a run to Caerlaverock Wetland Centre on Sunday 17 February 2013.  The weather was terrific, particularly for the time of year.  Warm sunshine all day, just lovely.  It was our first visit to Caerlaverock and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  We should have made the trip long before we did.  There was plenty bird activity in and around the Whooper Pond.  We arrived in time for the 11am feeding of the swans - what a blast that is!

There was not much to see from Avenue Tower or Saltcoat Merse Observatory, unless that is, you had a huge lens or powerful binoculars!  We enjoyed the walk out to these places though.  We contented ourselves with the activity in the Whooper Pond and the hedgerows close it to.

We met Bob Fitzsimmons, a local photographer and very much enjoyed the chat we had with him.  We also 'borrowed' his prime location for some of the shots we took - thanks Bob! (Link here: www.bobfitzsimmonsphotography.co.uk).

We spent 4 hours at the Centre and then headed home, promising ourselves we would visit again.

Here are some of the shots we came home with:

Yellowhammer

Reed Bunting

Barnacle Goose

Whooper Swan

For more images see here:
www.davidleaskphotography.co.uk

Prague, December 2012

Our second visit to Prague for the pre-Chritsmas festivities.  We stayed at the same hotel as last time - The Cloister Inn Hotel and it continues to meet our high expectations.

The weather was pretty cold, as you would expect for the time of year, with temperatures rarely climbing above zero and snow lying on the ground all week.  This created a festive atmosphere and in no way did it spoil the trip.

We flew (like last time) with Jet2 direct from Edinburgh - they are fantastic.  We would recommend them highly.

We took a day trip out of the city to Karlstejn.  A picturesque village with a classic 'Castle on the hill' overlooking the 'commoners'.  We would recommend the trip.  45 mins each way on the train, very easy.

Here are some photos from the trip.  You can see more at: http://www.pbase.com/davidleask/prague_2012

On Charles Bridge looking east.

On Charles Bridge looking west

Karlstejn Castle

Prague Castle and Charles Bridge

Sydney Australia, August 2012

Our second visit to Sydney!  The main purpose of our trip was to visit our daughters Clare and Sarah, both of whom now live in Sydney.  It was lovely to see them in an environment they have come to love.  We can certainly see the attraction.

A few practicals - we flew with Emirates via Dubai - great flights and great service.  We chose an overnight stay in Dubai in between flights - this was great, certainly worthwhile and quite restful.  We wouldn't hesitate to travel with them again.  For the 3 weeks there we lived with Richard and the girls out in Manly.  What an awesome place to chill out!

We didn't stray very far from the city but we did have overnight stays in the Hunter Valley and in Oberon (Blue Mountains).  The rest of the time was spent generally chilling out, enjoying beach walks, good food and fabulous company.

Here come the photos.  If you want to see more images from our trip please visit our galleries at:
http://www.pbase.com/davidleask/australia_2012

The Opera House and Opera Bar

Sydney Harbour Bridge from above the Opera Bar

Sydney Opera House

Skippy making his escape, lol

Death Valley National Park, March 2008

Death Valley is a photographers paradise! We visited the National Park in March 2008 and stayed 3 nights at Furnace Creek Ranch on Highway 190. A very comfortable hotel, the Ranch is ideally placed to visit the most popular areas in the park. Our room was very nice and spacious with a great view over the Golf Course (yes that’s right, the Golf Course! Hard to believe I know but even in one of the world’s most hostile environments green grass can grow and a beautiful Golf Course exists).
We flew into Las Vegas and drove out to DV through Pahrump. A pleasant drive which improved the further from Las Vegas we got!
The areas of the park on our “must do” list included Zabriskie Point, Badwater, Artists Palette, Golden Canyon, Stovepipe Wells Sand Dunes, Scotty’s Castle, Rhyolite and the Racetrack. We ticked them all off except the last one. The Racetrack eluded us but it won’t next time!
Some highlights:
Zabriskie Point is very accessible, being only 100m or so off Hwy190. This is a stunning sunrise location for photographs with colours changing every few minutes as the sun climbs above the horizon behind you. There’s plenty of room to move around without hampering other photographers view and compositions. Two of the three sunrises we saw were here.
Stovepipe Wells Sand Dunes (also known as Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes) are a few hundred metres off Hwy190 but they are not easy to get into with the sand being so soft and “mountainous”. I clambered out of my bed in the dark and drove the 20 or so miles north from the hotel to Stovepipe Wells. Car parked and walking shoes on I sweated buckets hiking way into the dunes to get to the location I wanted. There were 20/30 other people doing the same thing as me and I feared that I wouldn’t get the shots I wanted without “intruders” but it turned out to be perfect. There is loads of room here and keeping others our of the frame was very easy. Sunrise in the sand dunes is great because, not only does the soft low sunlight reveal all the curves and textures in the sand, the dunes themselves are pure and “foot-print-less”. A trip there for sunset would not be as productive in terms of finding pure, untouched sand.
Rhyolite is a ghost town near Beatty. Worth a visit especially when coupled with a drive through Titus Canyon.
Scotty’s Castle looks amazingly out of place in this desert environment. Although named after the rogue Walter Scott the Castle was actually built by Albert Johnson as a vacation getaway for himself and his wife Bessie. The story behind the Castle is “boys own stuff” and a visit there is a must if you are in the NP for more than a day.
Any trip to DVNP is not complete without a visit to Badwater, at 86m below sea level the lowest elevation in the US and the second lowest in the world. The valley is overlooked by Telescope Peak to the west and the drop from this 3368m peak to the floor is twice that of the Grand Canyon. Other slight detours from the Badwater Road include Artists Palette and Golden Canyon, both super evening locations with the warm setting sun illuminating them beautifully.
The only lowlight in the trip was not getting down to the Racetrack. The journey involves a 27 mile drive on a rough unsurfaced, one way in and one way out, track. The very negative recommendations from the park rangers gave us the “willies” and we took cold feet. Warnings of tyre damage, getting stuck in the middle of nowhere with no mobile phone signal, the threat of “dying” were all too much and we chickened out. Next time we’ll pluck up the courage and hopefully come away with one of those famous moving rock images.
Some useful links:
Death Valley National Park - http://www.nps.gov/deva/
Scotty’s Castle - http://www.nps.gov/deva/historyculture/scottys-castle.htm
Furnace Creek Ranch - http://www.furnacecreekresort.com/
Here come the photos. If you want to see more images from our trip visit our galleries at:
http://www.pbase.com/davidleask/america_march_2008

The Grand Tetons National Park, September 2006

Seeing stunning images on the internet of the Grand Tetons lured us here in September 2006. We spent a week here and coupled it with a week on the east coast in and around Washington DC (more of this location in a later blog).
For our week in the Tetons we stayed at the Snow King Resort in Jackson. This was a big hotel with lots of multi-room lodges attached. Staying there was an “ok” experience, nothing to write home about, but it served us satisfactorily. We self catered in our apartment, always eating breakfast there and some evening meals also.
The town of Jackson was very attractive indeed. It has a population of around 9000 and sits at about 6000ft in elevation. When you land at the airport a few miles to the north of the town you are immediately aware of the high, jaggy peaks close by. It’s a most impressive decent and take off from this location. The businesses along the high street in Jackson are either Real Estate Offices, Galleries (the most notable of which is Thomas Mangelsen’s Gallery) or Eating Places. There are a few souvenir shops and certainly enough food shops to get by. We liked our regular evening wander up and down the main thoroughfare working off our dinner before retiring early to the hotel and to bed. The only slight disadvantage of staying in Jackson is that we were to the south of all the main “attractions” and at the beginning and end of each day (and sometimes mid-day too) we had long distances to drive.
As is always the case, we had done a lot of research beforehand on the photographic locations we wanted to visit. Most of the locations in the park have the mountains as a backdrop, hence are east facing, hence are sunrise/morning locations. With the right equipment and the right conditions sunset shots can be captured using the mountains as a silhouette in front of (hopefully) a fiery red sky. Our favourite locations (all of which were visited several times) included the Mormon Row Barns, the Chapel of the Transfiguration, Schwabacher Landing, Snake River Overlook, Jenny Lake and our “all-time” favourite in the Tetons, Oxbow Bend. There is nothing, in our humble opinion, to beat capturing the first sunlight on Mount Moran reflected perfectly in the river at Oxbow Bend, with fall colours in the foliage and maybe a moose grazing in the foreground – we managed to witness and capture this scene, unfortunately without the moose, but we remain hopeful that we can get the “full monty” one day!
We had several “days out” in the Jackson area. We went horse riding one day courtesy of the Goosewing Ranch to the east of the Tetons. Transport from and to our hotel was included in the package together with around 4 hours horse riding in the most stunning scenery. It was just like the movies! Another day we went climbing in the high peaks. From Teton Village we took the Aerial Tramway to the top station and walked round onto Rendezvous Peak (3330m). Stunning views from the top with only a fraction of the hard work normally expended to get to this height. Another day we went up to Yellowstone – we’ll tell you more about this in a later blog.
Wildlife in the Tetons area was wonderful to view and photograph. There were herds of Bison to be seen in many locations. We were “up close and personal” with a Moose at Schawbacher Landing one day and captured some marvellous shots. Pronghorns could often be seen and photographed (with a long lens) in lots of places along the foothills. Driving away from Jenny Lake one evening in the half light we came across a herd of deer near to the road edge. A stag stood steadfast on the verge glowering at us, protecting his herd and, like a good boy, David grabs his camera and starts shooting photos.
Some useful links:
Grand Teton National Park - http://www.nps.gov/grte/
Goosewing Ranch - http://goosewingranch.com/index.cfm
Snow King Resort - http://www.snowking.com/default.aspx
Jackson Aeriel Tramway - http://www.tram-formation.com/
Here come the photos. If you want to see more images from our trip visit our galleries at: http://www.pbase.com/davidleask/america_2006

San Francisco, September 2008

We’ve been to San Francisco twice now, once in June 2004 and once in September 2008. It’s a beautiful city with character, vibrance and excitement and we love it!
On both visits we stayed in hotels in the city – the Westin St Francis in Union Square the first time and the Best Western Tuscan Inn at Fishermans Wharf the second time. Both are very nice hotels with very easy access to the main city attractions. The one drawback in staying in the city is that, if you have a car, parking is ultra-expensive. In September 2008 we were paying $40 per night to park the car at the hotel! If we go back (and we will soon) we will probably look for a hotel outside the city, probably in Sausalito.
When planning eating out in San Francisco you are spoilt for choice. You can eat in any country in the world there for almost any price. We favoured Thai and Italian with a bit of American thrown in. The sights and smells, food-wise, at Fishermans Wharf are amazing and if you like seafood, clam chowder and the like this is the place for you.
San Francisco is a shoppers paradise if this is what turns you on. The Union Square, Powell and Market Street area is one of the main areas for retail therapy.
The city is jam packed full of interesting places to visit, things to see and things to photograph. Some of our favourites include the Golden Gate Bridge, Marin Headlands, Crissy Field, the Presido, Baker Beach, Fishermans Wharf, Alamo Square, Lombard Street, Coit Tower, Pier 39, etc.
Outside the city, one of our favourite places is Sausalito, a beautiful town on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge. It is literally 2 minutes off the north end of the bridge by car or better still, why not hire a bicycle from Blazing Saddles and cycle across the bridge into Sausalito and catch the ferry back – we did this and had a superb day.
Venturing further afield from San Francisco - Yosemite NP, Monterey & Carmel, Napa Valley are all less than a days drive away and are well worth the effort.
Driving in the city is relatively easy so long as you don’t mind steep hills! Downtown is built in squares so it’s hard to get lost. As mentioned above, parking is the only drawback to having a car in the city.
Some of our favourite memories from our trips to San Francisco are cycling across the Golden Gate Bridge, sitting on the Marin Headlands watching the sea fog envelop the bridge leaving only the red towers visible, wandering back and forth along Crissy Field on a warm, sunny Sunday morning just watching the world go by, breakfast in Sausalito.
We will return one day and do all of the above things again, we enjoyed them so much the first time.
Some useful links:
BW Tuscan Inn - http://www.tuscaninn.com/
San Francisco Visitor Information - http://www.sanfrancisco.com/
Blazing Saddles Bike Rental - http://www.blazingsaddles.com/
Fishermans Wharf - http://www.fishermanswharf.org/
Now for the photos. If you want to see more images from our trip visit our galleries at: http://www.pbase.com/davidleask/california2008