Glassjet notes

 I'm still getting to grips with my new compact camera and I'm trying to acquire the habit of putting it in my pocket whenever I go out. Trouble is, what with the camera, handlens, pocket binoculars, sound recorder, smartphone... I am starting to feel like a one-person mini-media storm looking for someone to break over. Oh well, no one said it was going to be easy. A quick late morning walk round the block and up onto the canal today. It was a lovely light. Shooting into bright sun is always unpredictable but often seems to produce pleasant surprises. Here are a few pics from Newtown Marina on the Peak Forest Canal, complete with fading Christmas decorations on the barges.  

 This a quick podcast I made down by my local River Goyt, just on the Derbyshire side of the Derbyshire - Cheshire border. It is about a heron hunting where I am pretty sure trout are spawning, but because the water is coloured and the angle is such it is difficult to see what is going on in this river sometimes - it is a mix of detective work and guess work. But I suspect the heron knows. Really it is just me talking to myself for eight minutes from the middle of a tree. I made this for people who are interested in the wildlife they see on and around a river, but may be not so sure about what is going on beneath the surface. If you fancy a listen then click the link below. The Trout and the Heron on Soundcloud And if you are inspired to find out more about trout then there is more information than you can shake a stick at on the excellent Wild Trout Trust site , and if you fancy a bash at kick sampling and becoming a part of the Riverfly Partnership citizen science network I mention i

 A quick walk up onto the canal today to play with my new Lumix Z70 camera again. It was a busy day on the canal - the dredger was out, and it looks like some development going to happen canal-side. Walked by the marina. I love canal barges. I used to want to live on a barge when I was a child. That or a static caravan.  That last shot has got Swizzels in the background, the local sweet factory. Here are some more shots of Swizzels: I caught my pike outside here the other week. Yesterday I saw someone in town, another angler, and I was telling him about this pike and he told me there were some big pike in there, pike as big as your leg. Mine barely made a shin. Maybe next time. Swizzels is such a landmark in the area. It announces its presence via your nose as much as anything, as a succession of smells can take you back through your whole childhood in a single day. The factory is there suddenly on you then it trickles out into woodland and open country again, like the town itself. I&#

 I needed to recharge batteries today (the ones in my head I should probably specify, not in any device!) so I took my friend's spaniel up the hill at the back of my town. The track leads up to Mellor which is on the Derbyshire - Cheshire border, overlooking the Cheshire plain. It was a wet, misty day but I love walking in the winter mist, with the bare branches, it is like walking through a pencil sketch that is constantly being rubbed out and redrawn again ahead of you. We reached a small pond which doesn't usually catch much of my attention but today the mist gave it a greater presence. I am still familiarising myself with a new, compact camera - a Lumix Z70 - so part of my purpose today was having a play with the camera. Some photos through the mist: Then we dropped down the hill towards the river and went through a farm that has a wonderful, tumbling down out-building, the sort that is being taken back by bramble and lichen and has enticing wooden doors. I got the obligato