Amelia's photos

There has been quite a lot of damselfly activity in and around our garden pond. In both of these photos the damselflies are in tandem. The first photo shows the damselflies copulating. In the second photo the female is depositing the fertilized eggs into a clump of oxygenating plants. The female here is the green form which is more common than the blue form of female damselfly. I haven't managed to capture the 'wheel stage' of mating yet. I think that these are the common blue damselflies, Enallagma cyathigerum, but they could be azure damselflies, Coenagrion puella. I need someone with a bigger screen and more knowledge to correctly identify this pair.

The Sunday Challenge today is: Anything to do with circles.

Summertime - Miles Davis

Today's Saturday Self Challenge is: "From the perspective of a cat"

Lift Bridge on Maesbury Canal.

Photo taken from inside the Chirk Tunnel looking towards the aqueduct. The tunnel lies on the Llangollen Canal, immediately northwards of the Chirk Aqueduct. It is 421 metres (460 yd) long and has a complete towpath inside. The tunnel is designed for a single standard narrowboat, so passing is not possible, and is straight enough to be able to see if a boat is already inside the tunnel. Boats are required to show a light. The towpath is dark, can be a bit uneven and very wet, so I'm not really happy about the strength of the fence. The tunnel was constructed from 1794–1802.

We are away for a few days and will miss HFF, SSC, TSC and HBM. I look forward to seeing all your photos next week.

Photo taken from inside the Chirk Tunnel looking towards the aqueduct. The tunnel is designed for a single standard narrowboat, so passing is not possible. On June 8th 2016 the Chirk canal tunnel was closed off as an historic murder probe continued. No body was found here.

The railway viaduct at Chirk which was erected in 1846-8 and rebuilt in 1858 was the work of the Scottish engineer Henry Robertson. The 100 feet high stone structure was built for the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway and has ten spans with round arches. Three further arches at either end of the viaduct replace former timber spans and are dated 1858-9. The viaduct stands some 30 feet above the adjoining aqueduct. This photo is taken at the winding hole just before the entrance to the Chirk tunnel which lies on the Llangollen Canal, immediately northwards of the Chirk Aqueduct. It is 421 metres (460 yd) long and has a complete towpath inside. The tunnel portals and the canal basin are collectively a Grade II* listed structures. The PiP shows what the entrance to the tunnel looks like. We have walked through the tunnel quite a few times but not recently. The tow path can be very muddy, and we need to buy a lighter torch.

Centranthus ruber. Red valerian

The Sunday challenge today is: Complementary colours. Ideally I should have created something, but I just found these examples. The PiPs are part of a lorry of a local haulier, and flowers in my garden.

The rapeseed has taken a hammering over the last week, with gales, hail and heavy rain. The gardeners and farmers needed rain - but we've had quite enough now.

This would have been my attempt at 'Negative Space' for the Sunday challenge. Unfortunately Ipernity was down during the weekend, so only now can this photo see the light of day.

From left to right: Common storks bill - Erodium cicutarium Greater stitchwort - Stellaria holostea Common fumitory - Fumaria officinalis,

Contest Without Prize (2021/05CWP) "Old or vintage" The best example of bronze age rock carvings in the Stavanger area is Fluberget at Revheim, a few kilometers west of Stavanger. It is thought that the site was a religious meeting place, with the carvings dating from 1800 to 500 years BC. This archeological site is a low south-facing cliff about 200 metres from Hafrsfjord, and was discovered in 1879. The ship or boat symbols are common in Scandinavian rock carvings and many are found here. The hand symbols represent Gods who should not be directly portrayed. The meaning of some of the carvings is still not known.

Blower's repository was a store and offices, and is now in use as library offices. Dated 1902. The building is mock Tudor. The red and white barrier has been on the road since the first coronavirus lock-down, It closes the bus lane and gives a lot more space for pedestrians so that social distancing is easy.