If you can tell me what the raindrop has 'captured' in the top photograph, I'll send you a prize. I know what it is!
Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) berries on a cold, windy day.Where ever you see them, Hawthorn hedges have probably been there for hundreds of years - long before the town built up around them.
Funny place to find a toad, at the top of a log pile. Not very sensible at all, seeing it'll need to hibernate soon - also I'm planning to saw up the logs ready for burning. I'll have to relocate him to somewhere safe in the garden.
Cloudy day view of Pendle Hill. The hill - not quite a mountain - dominates the area, even causing a rainy micro climate to the towns in the valley below. Interestingly, or not - depends on your viewpoint - naming of Pendle Hill is unusual in that it apparently says the same thing in three different languages. In the thirteenth century it was mentioned as Pennul or Penhul, apparently from Cymbric pen and Old English hyll, both meaning "hill"; the meaning having become opaque, the modern english word Hill was again appended. Mind you, it might be a reference to King Penda of Mercia - Penda's Hill. King Penda died in 655 BCE, not many records or maps from then so just a guess! More recently, George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement took a walk up there in 1652. Fox felt that God led him to go there. He had a vision of thousands of souls coming to Christ. "As we travelled, we came near a very great hill, called Pendle Hill, and I was moved of the Lord to go up to the top of it; which I did with difficulty, it was so very steep and high. When I was come to the top, I saw the sea bordering upon Lancashire. From the top of this hill the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered."
Water on a nasturtium leaf. The leaves have a surficant property that affects the water, making it behave like liquid mercury. I haven't really captured what I wanted here, if I manage to get a nice shot I'll update it later.
