Stormy summer night

Catching a lightning strike on a still camera is not easy. The exposure (30 seconds at f11, 200 ISO) means you point your camera where you hope the lightning will flash - and wait. I took a total of eight exposures to catch this strike, a modest one. The remaining seven registered nothing - despite the flashes going off at an average rate of one a minute. There are some good pointers as to photographing thunderstorms on this website. Photo above taken on 2 July at 23:37 CET.

[UPDATE: I no longer use 30 seconds, but BULB, keeping the shutter open until enough lightning strikes have registered. 100 ISO, f8]

Wild deer in the Las Kabacki forest

Across ul. Pulawska, the main six-lane north-south highway separating Jeziorki from urban Ursynów lies the 900 hectare Las Kabacki. While cycling through I spotted this deer tucking into a field of carrot. I passed without disturbing it, stopped the bike, took my camera out of my rucksack; as I prepared to shoot, the deer spotted me and fled. Fortunately, my 3fps motordrive managed to follow the animal as it leapt across two fields to make good its escape. An enlarged version of the first frame is below.

Welcome July

The year has turned, it is high summer. Crops are ripening, the day's a minute shorter than the longest day (compare colour of this field to the oatfield next door to us, taken just a week ago). June 2007 was a good month for the farmers - typically sunny mornings, clouds gathering during the day, then rain - often heavy accompanied by a thunderstorm. July begins overcast, coolish for the time of year. Above, a Radom-bound local train seen over the top of a golden wheatfield midway down Trombity; Below, the setting sun peeps through a hazy sky at the far end of Trombity by the tracks.

Maybugs in July

Caught this little fella on the roof of our car - a cockchafer or maybug. They hatch every three years, and right now there's thousands of them around. They are night flyers; around dusk they take to the air around our house and fly with a low humming buzz. The look like small sandy-coloured flying kiwi fruit and bump into window (they are quite large and heavy). Although named popularly named 'maybugs', (after the month they hatch from the larvae that live under the soil for three years) they're still active into July. They will mate, leave their eggs in the soil, they die off in massive numbers (the one above was literally on his last legs).

Blacktop for Nawlocka

Earlier this week there's been a significant amount of heavy plant moving up and down ul. Trombity; graders, rollers, aggregate trucks. I need to know what's happening. So this evening my wife and I set off down the road and turn left into ul. Nawlocka (pron. 'Nuv-WOTS-kuh') to discover that it's getting a proper surface. (The asphalt has yet to be laid).

I remember the day the asphalt was laid on ul. Gajdy, the street where we rented a house when we first moved to Poland. It was like the Allied army coming to liberate us from the mud, potholes, bumps, rocks and dust of an unmade road. But there's a downside too - soon ul. Gajdy needed speedbumps to slow down the short-cutting rat-runners. We checked the far end of Nawlocka; no sign of any new road surface yet - it's still a muddy track. As long as this new surface is nothing more than a spur off ul. Trombity giving local residents easier access to their houses - OK. But should asphalt get laid all the way to ul. Karczunkowska, this will become a rat-run. Tarmacking over dirt-track is a step towards encroaching suburbanisation; it has its pluses and its minuses.

Updated June 2008: No asphalt, only paving blocks, and only half way up Nawłocka. Traffic growing nevertheless.

There's nothing to do but record for posterity (compare with picture from April 2007)

We then discover than ul. Dumki, coming off Trombity across the road from Nawlocka, has also been hardened and awaits asphalt. We walk to the end of the hardened surface; thankfully it does not go right to the end of Dumki, where it joins Kórnicka. Again, it's just a spur for the benefit of local householders. The photo (below) shows where the asphalt will end and where the dirt track begins. To quote Betjeman again, "grass triumphs, and I must say, I'm rather glad'.

The greatest show in Jeziorki

The most popular traditional pastime in Jeziorki is pigeon flying. This is not long-distance racing with homing pigeons, rather getting the birds in the air, circling around and around. Visually, this looks best against a blue sky, the white birds seem to appear then disappear as they wheel round. In the photograph (left), we see a local resident atop a stepladder by his pigeon loft (bottom left of pic). He's waving a long stick topped with a blue flag. He's whistling while doing this.

The birds respond by wheeling ever higher, then swooping down at speed, soaring back up, climbing all the while, then, after several minutes of intense flying, they eventually make ever-smaller, lower circles, finally returning home to their loft.

(Right) The birds at the climax of their flight; their wings are beating rapidly, they pick up speed in their dives. The clouds have passed, the evening sunshine is strong, the birds look as if they are enjoying the experience of communal exercise. A close-up examination shows that they have been tagged with pale green bands on their right legs.

The sight of large flocks of white pigeons wheeling around the skies is characteristic of Jeziorki; there are several lofts on ul. Trombity, Karczunkowska and Sarabandy. Below: The birds are returning after a brief evening flight; their loft is to the right of the picture.

The Road beckons

I have often remarked on the similarity between the landscapes of Poland and those of the USA. Here we are (above), just south of Warsaw, between Konstancin and Piaseczno, near a little place called Siedliska. The landscape is so American I have to get out and take a shot. Later on, Eddie takes over as The Photographer while I focus on being The Driver. A storm is brewing, heavy raindrops will fall. We drive around Piaseczno (below), Nowa Wies and Zgorzala, arriving home in Jeziorki amid a full-blown thunderstorm.

Full rainbow over Jeziorki

After this evening's storm, the sun re-emerged low in the sky to create this wonderful rainbow.

(Left) Zoom shot of the rainbow's end. The photo is unaltered digitally; it really looked this spectacular. For chasers of pots of gold, it seems the rainbow ends on ul. Sarabandy, just in front of the primary school.

I am reminded of the childhood mnemonic 'Richard Of York Gave Battles In Vain' = (infra) Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, (ultra) Violet.