FROM AN OLD POST - WATER BIRDS AT TORCROSS, SOUTH DEVONSHIRE, ENGLAND - JUNE 2015

~Slapton, South Devon, England~

These are old photos from a trip we took back to a place called Slapton Sands in the UK, an area I used to go with my family all the time.  We lived in the West Midlands (UK) and moved to South Devon when I was 15 years old.  It was always a planned destination on holidays spent in Devon each year, since I was 8 years old.  The stretch of water is called Slapton Ley, and you can click on the links provided if you would like to learn more.

I am posting water birds found on our vacation in Torcross, which is in South Devonshire. Torcross is indicated by the red button on the map of the UK. Slapton Sands is a long stretch of beach and Torcross is at one end.

I won't be identifying all the ducks as there are too many I don't know.  I do recognize a Coot with her chicks a few photos down.  On the other side of the road from where Slapton Ley is located, is the sea.  This is and has always been my favorite destination stop in the UK.  Many a time my family and I would visit a tea-room for scones, cream and jam, and a cup of tea.

And we always visited the birds.  I remember seeing the swans with cygnets as a child, but there were none this day.

The birds were very comfortable with us as they were obviously used to people. They didn't seem to mind me taking lots of photos.  We had been there a while and I was snapping away when a family with a dog arrived.  Dog was pulling hard on its leash and barking loudly. The birds went flying into the water at a high rate of speed.  The family was very apologetic as they realized that they had put an end to any more photo taking.  They kept their dog in check afterwards.  However, the barking had done its job.

I knew the birds wouldn't be back as long as the dog was in the area, but they had already given us a lot of pleasure, and we were thankful.

We stopped at a tearoom in Torcross for lunch and afterwards had a nice brisk walk on the beach.  Passing by the Ley on the way back to our car, we noticed the birds were back and were seemingly content, with no ruffled feathers.

At the time I originally made this post, I was asked how I made my mosaics. I use Paint Shop Pro (PSP) which has all kinds of programs that help you open several layers, and you put those layers (in this case my photos) on top of the larger photo of the map.  I add borders, decorative features and 'tubes', which can be of anything; people, animals, vegetables, flowers, frames, corner decorations.  I didn't use any for this mosaic.  Tubes don't have a surround to them and you can place them on any photo in layers, with the aid of this program.  You can also make your own.  

Once your knowledge of the program has clicked in your head, like everything else it's not very complicated at all.  Years ago I joined an online graphics group and I was taught how to use PSP.  I have had it for well over 20 years now.  I am comfortable with it and it fits me like an old shoe.  I also use it for resizing photos before I send them out to family and friends.   

I expect Photoshop has very similar programs, and more nowadays.  Probably less steps too.  I am just used to this one and have stuck with it.  Over the years I have updated and on the rare occasion I might go online and do one of the free tutorials just to keep my hand in. 

That's it for my post today.  Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of the week.

TO A WATERFOWL - ANOTHER POEM BY...

William Cullen Bryant 

1794-1878 

"To a Waterfowl"

Whither, 'midst falling dew,

While glow the heavens with the last

steps of day,

Far, through their rosy depths, dost

thou pursue

Thy solitary way.

Vainly the fowler's eye

Might mark the distant flight to do 

thee wrong,

As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,

Thy figure floats along.

Seeks thou the splashy brink

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,

Or where the rocking billows rise

and sink

On the chafed oceanside?

There is a power whose care

Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,

The desert and illimitable air,

Lone wandering, but not lost.

All day thy wings have fanned,

At that far height, the cold thin

atmosphere,

Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome 

land,

Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end;

Soon shalt thou find a summer home,

and rest,

And scream amongst thy fellows; reeds shall bend

Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.

Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven

Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my 

heart,

Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,

And shall not soon depart.

He who, from zone to zone, 

Guides through the boundless sky thy

certain flight,

In the long way that I must tread alone,

Will lead my steps aright.

And that's the end of my post.  I wish you all a great day, and thank you so much for stopping by.

DUCKS AND POETRY

 

For years, every morning, I drank 

from Blackwater Pond.  

It was flavored with oak leaves 

and also, no doubt, the feet of ducks.

And always it assuaged me 

from the dry bowl of the very far past.

What I want to say is

that the past is the past,

and the present is what your life is,

and you are cable 

of choosing what that will be,

darling citizen.

So come to the pond,

or the river of your imagination,

or the harbor of your longing,

and put your lips to the world.

And live

your life.

"Mornings at Blackwater" 

by 

Mary Oliver