Painting the lighthouse

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Portland Bill's largest lighthouse was built in1903-05 and began its working life in 1906. It remains a working lighthouse and has been modernised down the years, most recently in 2019-2020, when a non-rotating LED and a new omnidirectional fog signal were installed.

 

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On our recent visit to the lighthouse it was being painted, a daunting task for many, but just another day's work for the two men tasked with the job.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Yachts blue and white

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Over the years I've photographed quite a few harbours with their working and pleasure boats, and wherever I've been - certainly in the UK and probably elsewhere - the dominant colours of the vessels has been white and blue. So it is in these photographs of Weymouth and Lyme Regis. It can't always have been so: the natural colours of wood must have prevailed at one time. So why and when did white and blue come to dominate?

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photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Sea Mark, Portland Bill

A sea mark is an aid to navigation, usually to warn of a hazard and sometimes to mark a channel. They can feature a light, an easily seen prominence, a foghorn or be painted in a prominent colour. This sea mark in the form of an obelisk is at the tip of Portland Bill, an island that projects into the English Channel. The initials T.H. denote Trinity House who had it erected here in 1844 as an addition to two old lighthouses that were later replaced.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Yachts big and small

I noticed the diminutive "Freda" moored at the quayside in Wymouth harbour, the pristine paintwork, masts and ropes drawn sharply against the blue water of the harbour and the sky blue above.  I stopped to give her the "once over" in her relative isolation before I went on to photograph the forest of masts further into the harbour.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Turning the corner

Go through any large, British city and you will see Victorian buildings built around a corner i.e. with two main elevations that face two streets. Look carefully at them and you will see innovative ways to treat the corner of the building. One of the favourite methods is with a cylindrical, or part cylindical structure, often topped with a short spire, cupola, dome etc. I was reminded of this when we came across this block of flats, Olympia Apartments, in Weymouth, Dorset. Here the cylindrical feature works well visually: but what about practically? Rounded rooms can be restrictive in terms of furniture placement. It made me wonder whether there is a price to be paid for this particular solution to turning the corner.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Union flags

I think the three colours of red, white and blue must be the most common three colours used in the design of national flags. I won't list countries that use them because they are so widely known. This year I seem to see more union flags in the form of "bunting" than I remember ever seeing before, and the massed red, white and blue is a very eye catching.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Ships in Weymouth Bay

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During a recent stay in Weymouth there were four cargo ships waiting off shore. One eventually berthed at the Isle of Portland, but all were present during different kinds of weather and at different times of day. Through a strong telephoto lens the quartet presented as substantial vessels. But, through a normal to wide lens, against the expanse of water and sky, they looked much less significant.

 

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Pedaloes at rest

On an evening walk along the promenade at Weymouth, Dorset, we came upon these pedaloes at rest. They were securely fastened together, and after I'd photographed them I scanned the lines to see what names had been chosen to identify each boat. There were lots drawn from the phonetic alphabet (ALPHA, BRAVO, CHARLIE, DELTA etc). Then there were those named after local places (LULWORTH COVE, WEYMOUTH BAY, NOTHE FORT, FERRY BRIDGE etc). A smattering were named after people (WINSTON CHURCHILL, ROMEO, ELLIE, MURPHY etc) and the rest belonged to no particular group ( BLUEBELL, 60 DOWN!!) Unusual, but not as boring as a single or double digit number for each one.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Do not feed the gulls

Many of the seaside towns and villages around the British Isles have signs that say "Please do not feed the gulls". This is sound advice: herring gulls (Larus argentatus) in particular, but also lesser black-backed gulls, will happily finish off most of the items of food that reckless tourists offer them. And it's probably this deliberate ignoring of the signs that has turned these gulls into brazen thieves that will snatch food from the hands of unsuspecting. We saw some of this going on during a recent visit to the south coast, though none that I could photograph. Instead, I took this shot of a placid herring gull against a sympathetically coloured background.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Oystercatcher

One of the most noticeable and easily identified wading birds is the oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) - it is black and white with an orange beak and orange legs. Its sharp call is very distinctive as is its habit of feeding on mudflats in flocks that can number in the tens of thousands. When I was a young birdwatcher I marvelled at the enormous gatherings on Morecambe Bay and I also monitored the bird's habitat spread from the seashore to include river valleys: in my case, the valley of the River Ribble. On a recent visit to Weymouth we came upon a few birds feeding on a freshwater RSPB reserve only a stone's throw from the seashore. The soggy nature of the marshland made this the dirtiest oystercatcher I've seen.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900