An interesting effect of our recent weather, something I’ve not seen before, is the profusion of fungi that are coming up at the end of June/beginning of July. We had a very dry, (76mm of rain over March, April and May (100mm less rain than average), according to the Scottish Environmental Agency) and relatively warm […]
The Covid 19 Flu pandemic has been written about ad nauseam, so I won’t add to it in this post. However, some of the effects of the pandemic are less obvious, such as the cutting of the grass in the local parks around Glenrothes. I hadn’t ever noticed how often the grass was cut, until […]
Glenrothes is a ‘new’ town, none of the properties are much older than approx 70 years, with one or two exceptions. Therefore my closest ‘local‘ older houses, are the Greenside Cottages, which face onto Leslie Green. Leslie is a small village to the west of Glenrothes. The Greenside Cottages are also known as Douglas Croft […]
The joy of Christmas, festivity, glee and fun, love and peace for all.
As part of this weeks Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge, I have enclosed seven photos where the focal point of the photograph is at the ‘Centrepoint‘ of the image, and thus breaking the rule of thirds. The three flower photographs, because of their circular nature, make placing them at the centre an obvious choice. The three insect […]
Talking heads near me As art goes, they seem to be, something I can see!
As a very late entry for Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge : Metal & Wood, I’m posting 3 photos taken from the now derelict and fire damaged Leslie House, near Glenrothes. This magnificent building used to be the home of the Dukes of Rothes from 1670, and in it’s prime was said to rival Holyrood Palace […]
As part of “Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge : Metal & Wood“, I’m posting 3 photographs taken in Glenrothes Town Park. This metal sculpture, called ‘Forest Screens’ was designed by the artist Malcolm Robertson in 1987. It was originally placed in the Glenwood Shopping Area, in a part of Glenrothes known as Macedonia, but was later moved to its […]
To me, the view through a raindrop is like looking into another world, an upside down world full of curved creatures and plants!
As part of this weeks wordpress photographic challenge, Eye Spy, I’m posting three photos taken in Glenrothes. The first photo comes from Glenrothes Town Park, and shows ‘The Good Samaritan’, a sculpture by Ronald Rae, unveiled in 1988 to mark the 40th anniversary of the town. The sculpture depicts a fireman carrying a victim to safety, […]
My final post for the theme ‘Trios’ (as part of the Weekly Photographic Challenge – Trio), consists of a series of photographs of inanimate objects from in, and around, Fife. The first photo is of three boats on the Firth of Forth.
In response to “Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge – Diagonal Lines“, I’ve enclosed seven photos taken from in, and around Fife. I’ve also posted three extra photos, for Thanksgiving, showing things I am grateful for, about living in Fife. The first of the photos for Cee’s Challenge is of Cramond Harbour, on the outskirts […]
Continuing my theme of ‘Trios’ from Fife, as part of the Weekly Photographic Challenge – Trio, here is four photos of animals & insects in threesomes. The first two photos are of cows (or coos in Scottish!) on a misty summer morning in a field above Glenrothes.
In response to “Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge – Vertical Lines“, I’ve enclosed seven photos taken yesterday fairly close to home. The first two photos show an old wooden fence at the end of a garden, the third photo another fence adjacent to some garden steps. The fourth and fifth photos caught my eye because […]
As part of this weeks Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge : Orange & Green, I’ve posted eight more photos taken from Balbirnie Park, near Glenrothes. The photographs were all taken just after dawn, at the beginning of this month, on a day which started quite misty (well foggy very first thing – see last photo), […]
In response to “Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge – Horizontal Line and Horizons“, I’ve enclosed six photos taken over the last few months in and around Fife. The first photo is of an incoming tide on the Firth of Forth, at Blackness Castle in West Lothian.
My final post, for a while, from Balbirnie Park, is of some bracket fungus. Like the lichen, I’m no expert on fungi, so I’m unsure of the genus or species of this particular mushroom.
This photo was taken last spring, in the gardens of Balbirnie House, near Glenrothes. I love the way the sun has really highlighted the vein structure of the leaves (typical leaves from a dicotyledon, as distinct from a monocotyledon that has parallel veins).
Today’s photograph is another from Balbirnie Park, this time a macro style image of a fly (blue bottle?) on a flower spike. I’m normally reasonable at identifying wild flowers, but for the life of me I can’t think what this one is 😦 If anyone knows, please let me know in the comments below 🙂 […]
Continuing my Balbirnie Park theme, whilst continuing to get all my previous posts located on the above menus, I took this photo of the flower head of a Ramsons, in late April this year. Ramsons are part of the major group of flowers called the monocotyledons. ‘Monocots’ are principally distinguished from the other major group […]
As you may well be aware of by now, I’m no expert on lichens, even though I love taking photographs of them. I’m guessing this lichen, which I found growing on a small rotting branch in the woods at Balbirnie House Park, is a member of the Fruticose Cup or Trumpet group of lichens. If anyone […]
Continuing my series of short posts from Balbirnie House Park, nr Glenrothes, here is a couple of photos of peeling tree bark. The first photo is of logs from an ornamental cherry tree, the second photo is from an old silver birch log.
This is a selection of black & white photographs taken in and around Fife, in response to this weeks Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge.
This very plump Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus) is a member of the orb weaving group of spiders. It is very easily distinguished by the ‘cross’ markings on its back. The next bit about them (below the photo), is not for the squeamish!! 🙂
Whilst re-organising my blog, I thought I would post a few photos of some flowers and insects, all of which were taken locally in the last few weeks, including this very common, but often much overlooked, daisy.
Last month I took a walk down to Glenrothes Town Park, mainly to try to capture some of the Autumn colours in the trees and bushes. But I also wanted to try and take some slightly more unusual shots, and the photos below are from the play park area.
As part of this weeks ‘Weekly Photo Challenge’ I’m posting a few photographs taken yesterday in Glenrothes Town Park, of some lamp posts!
One of the places I really enjoy walking is a smallish circular walk from the Balbirnie Park, nr Glenrothes, through to Markinch, up to Star and Kirkforthar, and back to the back entrance of Balbirnie Park. This would definitely be classed as a ‘Happy Place‘ for me. A few weeks ago, I had decided to do […]
There are many sites in Fife that I would class as a ‘Happy Place‘, places that just relax me totally. One such place is the Balgonie Bleachfield Project just outside Glenrothes.
I took this photo last summer, just before they put in a cinder path from the East Lomond car park back down towards Glenrothes.
Boundaries can come in many different forms, walls, hedges, fences, country boundaries, sports field boundaries, the list goes on and on. The two photos below show the boundaries between a clear crisp view of the landscape above Glenrothes, and the early morning mist/fog that had formed in the valley.
Finally, some photographs Autumn, that are obviously more typical for the theme ‘Change‘ for last weeks’ Daily Posts – Weekly Photographic Challenge. The first set of photos are of a dog rose, Rosa canina, and it’s associated rose hips (seed pods), taken in Glenrothes park two days ago (more photos to come in another post).
A wee bit late, but here’s a couple more sets of photos for the Weekly Photographic Challenge – Change The first two photos are from a walk I made yesterday, from Ravenscraig Castle (Kirkcaldy) to West Wemyss and back (more photos to come in another post). When I got to Dysart Harbour, the tide was […]
For this weeks “Daily Post – Weekly Photographic Challenge – ‘Change’, I’ve tried to think a wee bit ‘out of the box’, seeing as most people are doing weather and nature as their theme.
As a bit of a challenge to myself, I took some more photos for the WP Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge – Grid. My own challenge was to allow myself 30 mins to take the photos and edit them – this was my results, a couple of which are pushing it a wee bit to […]
Last night I discovered the WP Daily Post “Weekly Photographic Challenge“. This afternoon, whilst we were out shopping for some dinner to cook for the kids, I noticed a very obvious ‘Grid’ for this weeks challenge. These are photos of Fife House in Glenrothes, the main offices for the Fife Council. Hopefully next time I’ll […]
This photograph is from an old barn, near the hamlet of Star, just outside Glenrothes.
This was a photo I took back in early July, just after getting back from taking the photos from the post “Early Summer Insects and Flowers of Balgonie Bleachfield Project”. About 5 mins later, I was watching the torrential rain from the pleasant confines of the car!
The Oldest House, Glenrothes
Kirkforthar, Nr Glenrothes
Black & white photograph I took last Tuesday, on a walk from Glenrothes to East & West Lomond Hills. This small clump of trees is in a field of wheat, on the edge of the Formonthills to the north of Glenrothes.
Leslie, built on a spur of land between the River Leven and the Camby Burn, on the western side of the new town Glenrothes, was once a thriving community. It is now a fairly quiet village, with most of the community working outside the direct confines of Leslie.
A couple of days ago, between the rain in the morning and heavy showers in the late afternoon, I managed a short walk on the north-eastern fringe of Glenrothes, up the Coul Burn to the edge of the Formonthills. I wanted to try out my tripod with the Nikon Coolpix L25 compact camera. Of late, […]
The Balgonie Bleachfield Project near Glenrothes, Fife, has a wealth of flowers and insects, including the Six-spot Burnet Moth. For the location of the small nature reserve, see the post “Early Summer Insects and Flowers of Balgonie Bleachfield Project”. This common moth is the only British Burnet with six red spots on it’s dark […]
Whilst taking photographs of ‘Wild Angelica’ (Angelica sylvestris), down at the Balgonie Bleachfield Project in Fife yesterday, I knocked off a small lime green green spider.
Last week I headed down to the Balgonie Bleachfield Project/Nature Reserve, just outside Glenrothes, in Fife, Scotland. The nature reserve is on the site of an old ‘Bleaching Works’, used for bleaching textiles and linens from 1746 to 1957. From the mid 1960’s till 1996, the location was used as a landfill site, which was then […]
This is a short walk (approx 3.75km or 2 miles) from Woodside (Glenrothes) to Coaltown of Balgonie, Fife. Starting from Woodside Way in Glenrothes (the blue star on the map above), head eastwards along the tree lined footpath which starts at the bus stop. There is a hanging sign marking it, the ‘Lady’s Walk’. Lady’s walk […]
Fife Photos & Art 