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Sleepy Lizards
I’ve been fond of Sleepy Lizards (Tiliqua rugosa) ever since I saw them on a wildlife documentary several years ago, back in the UK (it’s probably David Attenborough’s fault). In 2017 I was lucky enough to see some for real, in their natural habitat. Also known as Shinglebacks, these splendid Australian reptiles have a number…
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Visiting Himeji Castle in Japan.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site and also known as White Egret (or Heron) Castle, Himeji Castle is one of the more memorable places to visit in Japan.
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Stop eating my bloody tomatoes!
In an earlier blog post, I reflected that it was possible to distinguish an authentic ‘wild’ Canadian from a more recent arrival by how they react to raccoons. I think my transition to full Canadian is at least 50% complete now – this is not so much to do with being an actual Canadian these…
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Bonking Toads…
One of the more splendid aspects of the Oakville area is the large number of parks of one sort or another, many of which provide excellent habitat for all sorts of interesting wildlife. If one insists, many of these locations could be used for things like engagement photography (discussion of which triggered this blog post);…
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For Fox Sake…
Before heading for Canada, I had read all about the abundance of raccoons about the place; it was possible to get the distinct impression that the country was knee-deep in the creatures. It was therefore slightly surprising not see a single raccoon for almost a year after arriving in country, despite looking for them repeatedly…
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Hilton Falls
Hilton Falls is a rather pleasant conservation area a few miles inland from Oakville, featuring a number of nice and easy walks in the woods that cover that part of the Niagara Escarpment. This picture is of the falls themselves, shot using a variable ND filter; timing was critical, to find a gap of several…
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Distant seagulls
This image was a result of an assignment from the class I’m currently doing; the idea was to produce more of an environmental picture of seagulls, giving a sense of the open and quite harsh conditions in which they live in the winter (even a mild one as we’ve had this year). Having the Toronto…
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Afloat
Afloat is a bronze sculpture (by Hamish Black) installed in Brighton, on a breakwater near the Palace Pier; it’s one of my favourite bits of art. On a rare trip home earlier in the year, it would have be rude not to take a stroll down by the seashore to admire it… The sculpture is…
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Ew, raccoon?
It seems that one easy way to distinguish between a real live Canadian (one of the wild ones) and a relative newcomer to the country is to look at how they react to raccoons: the newcomers tend to think that the raccoons are terribly cute and splendid, whilst the more established folk are more included…
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Frozen Niagara Falls (kind of)
This winter has been another rather nippy one (although, so far, rather less long drawn-out than last year’s), with one result being that the American Falls at Niagara have largely frozen over. All the headlines in the news made it sound like it was the Horseshoe Falls that froze over; naturally it wasn’t! Regardless, the…