Skipsea Village Portal

Skipsea Village Portal, originally uploaded by clivenutton.

Really pleased to have an image of mine used on the Skipsea Village Portal website. I'm always keen to support celebrations of local distinctiveness and community. Thanks Tim.

Had a pleasant evening there back in 2007. You should visit too!

Twin trees

Twin trees, originally uploaded by clivenutton.

Took a walk round the Bolton Abbey Estate in the Yorkshire Dales at the weekend in lovely winter weather.

A bit galling that the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement have a virtual monopoly on parking in this stretch of Wharfedale and charge 6 quid for the privilege.

Graduation

Graduation, originally uploaded by clivenutton.

This is me very happy at graduating in my FdSc Wildlife and Countryside Conservation course at Beverley Minster at the weekend. Now ready to clean up Gotham City.

What is it good for?

Airshard BW, originally uploaded by clivenutton.

Visited the Imperial War Museum North, in Manchester, today.

The brutal structure of the building matches that of its contents.

The Wedding Planners

Since coming back from our holidays, we've been busy, with much of our time spent planning our wedding in March next year.

Here are some photographic highlights:

I assisted as an instructor on a young people's outdoor activities residential near Windermere.


Late summer spiders in our back yard were so big we gave this one a name. Meet Gerald.


We attended Leeds Carnival with friends. "Curry goat all de way"!


We visited Newcastle upon Tyne to plan some wedding arrangements.

I completed some teaching work for the RSPB at their Fairburn Ings reserve near Castleford. Great bridge they've got there.


I completed the Outdoor Adventure Group's "Seaquest" charity race again. Photo by Jenny Horne.

We visited Alnwick in Northumberland to make more wedding plans and made a trip to see the Chillingham wild cattle.

Back from holidays

Just returned from 2 week's holidaying in the South West of England. We explored some classic English landscapes, wildlife and historic sites.

Here's the itinerary:

• Wiltshire

Avebury, Silbury Hill and Stonehenge, Salisbury cathedral and chalk downs. Got close views of buzzards and found a slow worm.

Silbury Hill

• Dorset

Cerne Abbas, Maiden Castle
Corfe Castle
The Jurassic Coast - Arne RSPB reserve, Durdle Door and Chesil Beach. Nine Kestrels in one spot near Abbotsbury.
Lyme Regis

Durdle Door

• Devon

Dawlish and the Teign and Exe estuaries - buzzards mobbing a peregrine falcon
Dartmoor and Hay Tor - ponies, newts and ravens

• Cornwall

The coast around Padstow, mackeral fishing, body boarding in the surf with my brother's family and Rick Stein's bistro.

Constantine Beach

• Oxfordshire

Staying with friends on the way home - the Fosse way and Rollright stones.

Part of the King's Men group, Rollright stones

Is that it?

Finished my Wildlife and Countryside FdSc course last week after 3 years of ups and downs.

Here's a picture of us all. Relieved at having completed.