Early Wildflowers - Photography Week 12 (2016)

In the verges of the road around Pendennis Castle in Falmouth are many white flowering plants which I have identified as three-cornered leeks (Allium triquetrum). They have been flowering for a least a month and this week I made time to dust down the macro lens and take a few shots.

Three-cornered leeks have a very delicate white bell shaped flower with a green stripe. Up close they have an onion or garlic smell particularly when the leaves are crushed.

Whilst photographing the leeks, I was surprised at the range of other blooms in the hedge rows and cliff tops. To document these I decided to temporarily dispense with my week-by-week posts and jump straight from photography week 1 to week 12 - it seems more relevant to show these now rather than some point in the summer when I have caught up with my image processing.

These are some of the results. Note: I try to get the correct identification of the flowers using books and web searches but errors are always possible!

Three-Cornered Leeks

Sea Campion

Lesser Periwinkle

Common Dog Violet

Bluebells

Lesser Celandine

Red Campion

Herb Robert

Hogweed

Blackthorn Blossom (I think)

Best of the Rest - Photography Week 1 (2016)

These are a selection of other images taken during Photography Week 1 (2016) which were not included in previous posts:

Godrevy

The Towans and Godrevy is becoming one of my regular photography venues in Cornwall. Whilst the scenery is spectacular and I enjoy each visit, I am still not convinced I have my best shot from this location. This visit was made to coincide with sunset and a retreating tide but it was so blustery I couldn't keep sea spray away from the filters and didn't get the shots I wanted. The better results where taken from the dunes and cliff top:

 

Pink Bottles

Whilst at Gunwalloe during the week I was mistaken for a press photographer. Unbeknown to me there was a lot of press interest in pink bottles being washed up on beaches in the area. These bottles had apparently come from a ship's container that went overboard in a storm the previous May (this is the BBC's online report):

Slate at Gunwalloe

Continuing my photographic interest in Cornwall geology I was struck by the colours in the slate formations at Jangye-ryn near Gunwalloe:

Porthleven

After an excellent Sunday lunch, we took a walk around the harbour in Porthleven. Armed with a compact camera I documented the contrast between the calm inner harbour and rough seas along the seafront and outer harbour:

Swanpool

Swanpool in Falmouth is a beach and nature reserve with a lake. I spotted these reed reflections in the lake which make interesting abstract images. Also, along the beach is a wall of sedimentary rock with some subtle pastel tones:

Rounding the week off, I captured some heavy rain showers on the horizon from Swanpool beach:

Loe Bar - Photography Week 1 (2016)

Situated between Porthleven and Gunwalloe, Loe Pool is the largest natural freshwater lake in Cornwall. The pool is separated from the sea by Loe Bar - a large shingle bank.

The contrast between the relative tranquillity of the lake and the pounding sea was particularly noticeable. Aided by a very strong wind it seemed that the sea was doing it level best to breach the Bar. I tried to capture this with my shots including some changes to the afternoon light: