Amelia's photos

Today's Sunday Challenge: Something related to a moment of laughter in our past. There's not much to laugh about at the present time, but I find that I laugh almost every day each time I have to remove my mask. It gets tangled up in my hearing aids, and spectacles, and the whole kerfuffle reduces me to tears of laughter almost every time. I get some funny looks too, but most folks seem to be too polite to join me in laughter.

In the background it is possible to see the Chirk aqueduct designed by civil engineer Thomas Telford. It was completed in 1801, and forms part of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct World Heritage Site. I am standing in Denbighshire Wales and looking towards Shropshire in England.

All the way along the beach are 'bays' separated by breakwaters like this. Each bay is numbered, and I think this is one way of counting the seal population when the seals gather on the beach to produce seal pups. We came off the beach just after noon, as it was getting busier. The sand was very hot for walking on. I can't believe that this was just a week ago. The weather is very cool now and rainy. Typical British summer.

I hope we can get up to Scotland this year. I think that dark island in between the 2 piers is the Bass Rock. On second thoughts it's probably the North Berwick Law. Thank you Joe.

Today's Sunday Challenge: Take a photograph of something you've never taken before. Having been to Norfolk at least 5 times a year since our youngest daughter moved there 10 years ago, we have visited many parts of the coast, 3 National Trust properties, numerous old churches in small hamlets and villages and of course the county town of Norwich. We hadn't been to Norfolk since just before lockdown, and were very aware of social distancing measures, so we chose to visit a park where we had never been, having been reassured by our daughter that it was large enough to avoid being in close contact with anyone. . I hadn't looked at the challenge until we got back from a trip on Thursday evening. What a gift of a challenge.

Today's Saturday Self Challenge is: Love: anything that symbolizes love to you. I love our family and I love the sea, so here we have a little bit of both.

Several times this year we have seen junk removed from the river. It gets taken away from the river walkway after a couple of days. Once we cane across a rusting motor scooter along with a couple of push bikes. This is the first time we have spotted a supermarket trolley. The dredging keeps the river safe for all the water sports that have been prevalent this year especially, and that includes river swimming. I must apologise for my lack of visits this week, we have been away.

Today's Sunday Challenge is: A NEW EXPERIENCE I have not seen this method of controlling bracken until this morning. On 1 January 2013 it became illegal to use the bracken-control chemical Asulam. The chemical, which was sold as Asulox, was banned by the EU on 31 December 2011 but those who already had stocks had a year to use these up. While good in small areas, as it provides cover for animals, bracken can be a real problem, quickly becoming a monoculture, shading out and eliminating wild plants and flowers. In our local area The Cliffe is a sandstone hill, a lot of which is colonised by bracken, preventing the growth of heather, ling and gorse. The bracken is managed largely by volunteers, but I've never seen this method of horse drawn bracken rolling before. The horse is pulling a special roller with chains, which bend and partially break the bracken fronds. This has the effect of weakening the plant as it attempts to regrow. Volunteers are raking over the broken bracken and bundling it onto a trailer. The bracken may be taken to the local farmer who has a bio-digester. There were 2 horses working today, and about 20 volunteer helpers. The effects of bracken rolling are progressive and in order for the bracken to be completely eradicated, it is advisable that the process is repeated twice yearly, with first treatment in June/July (Peak Growing Season) and second in late August/early September (going into Dormant Period). It is extremely important that if a second annual treatment is undertaken, that it is completed before the plant produces spores. I hope that this will gradually replace the large tracts of ferns with wild flowers. Ceffylau Gwaith Carnog Working Horses, run by Barbara Haddrill, is based in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant in the heart of the Tanat Valley in Powys, Wales. It works in mid and North Wales, Shropshire and the Welsh Borders and Marches. www.carnog.co.uk

Fishing boats at Låder.

Shrewsbury Town Walls.

Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, and music by Frederick Loewe. Songs from the musical, such as "Almost Like Being in Love", have become standards. It features two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every 100 years. In the mid fifties we performed this musical at the Aldershot County High School for Girls. I had a minor role, Jean, in the production, and the song, Heather on the Hill, reminds me of the musical. The John Wilson Orchestra: The Heather On The Hill (from Brigadoon) The heather in the photo is Calluna vulgaris, common heather, ling, or simply heather, and it is is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the flowering plant family Ericaceae.. It covers large parts of the local sandstone hill called The Cliffe in Ruyton XI Towns.

Today's Sunday Challenge: Clear Glass with a minimalist touch of something This glass container is mostly solid but has a relatively small reservoir for water. The inside of a Japanese anemone is floating on top of some water not quite filling the container, and the image is refracted on the thick glass on the rim.

Attingham is home to approximately 250 semi-wild fallow deer, all direct descendants of the fallow deer here at the creation of the Deer Park in 1797.

Our first visit to a National Trust property since a couple of days before lockdown in April. We had to book an arrival time and were checked in using our contact details. At the beginning of the trip the foot traffic was strictly one-way, but as soon as we were out of the stable block and past the Attingham Hall (which remains closed to visitors), it was possible to wander anywhere throughout the grounds, through the deer park and the woodlands, keeping to the 2 - 5 metre wide footpaths. Arriving promptly at 9 a.m. the stable yard was almost deserted, and the 'horse' reminded us all of the 2 metre social distancing rules, and it was easy to maintain social distancing on the 4 mile walk. By the time we came to leave, after a cup of coffee, the visitor numbers had dramatically increased, so we were lucky to have had such a peaceful and enjoyable morning.