Frost

I love frost, the way it forms. Wonderful crystals of water. We think of water as being one of the simplest of substances but in fact it is not only complex but very weird. The obvious example is that ice floats. How can that be, the liquid form is more tightly packed than the solid, Now I am not a chemist or physicist but to me that really is just weird.

Xmas

London - St James Park

The gate to the front garden to our monarch's London apartments

Cheers Liz

 

Not a bad front gate!

London - Trafalgar Square

Fountains, tourists and traffic

London - Strand

Also had decorations - and traffic!

London - Covent Garden

Covent Garden at this time of here is always interesting. The decorations, the buskers, the market. the hordes of Xmas tourists all taking photos!

Worthing street market

On Wednesdays there is a street market in the pedestrianised area.

 

Yes, I know this is a Herring Gull (Larus argentatus). To see the market click on read more

Dull and damp

Or a typical December day. Not usually a recipe for good photos. Here' a few I tried anyway. On the plus side it was warmer than I expected and not very windy, on the downside I got caught in a heavy downpour. Fortunately it didn't last too long. The wet on the trees actually enhances their colour, and of course damp means fungi. So, what can this be?

Well the obvious answer has to be fungus of some description but I have no idea what it is. Check after read more for a picture that puts it in context.

Xmas fair

Today was the local village xmas fair. They close the centre of the village to traffic, all the shops are open and they have amusements for the kids. Maybe I got there too late at 8pm but it seemed rather disappointing. I was hoping for more action. I did get these shots though. Viewpoints were restricted to where I could rest the camera - I couldn't be bothered to lug the tripod around.

 

Peacock

Although it was a cold day with frost still around in the shadows I saw this peacock butterfly on today's walk. This one looks surprisingly fresh, it's colour, and therefore its scales, haven't suffered at all however the edges are a bit ragged. At this time of year I would expect this to be quite an old specimen.

Peacock  (Aglais io*) butterflies, along with a few other species go dormant rather than overwintering as a pupa. This is not hibernation. Hibernation requires a continuous lowering of the metabolism throughout the winter whereas when going dormant their metabolism depends on the temperature. This one was in a warm sheltered spot where the sun made the local temperature high enough for it to 'wake up' and fly. It didn't have much energy and only flew a few times while I was watching. I managed to get into macro range for this shot.

(According to the metadata this shot was taken on Sun, 04 December 2016)  13:16:34

Patterns

Well, it is December and Christmas will be upon us soon, so I thought I would ignore it completely and show you some patterns I found while out emptying the dog.