favourite photos: summer 2024

Paula and I will be heading back to Hong Kong in a few days, and as I usually do, I’ve put together a collection of what I consider to be the most interesting photos that I’ve taken during the summer. I took more than 600 photos during our two trips to Toronto last month and this month, but with two exceptions (see below), I’ve not included any of these in this collection. These will be used next month to illustrate things that we did in this fascinating city during our visits.

We often go for walks (if we’re not cycling) when we’re in Penrith, and we frequently visit the Thacka Beck Nature Reserve during these walks. On one occasion, we saw a rainbow as we emerged onto Bowerbank Way, part of the Gilwilly Industrial Estate, on our way to the reserve:

The entrance to the nature reserve is marked by the litter bin on the right of the photo.

One option after we’ve exited the nature reserve on the far side is to continue along Thacka Lane in the direction of Newton Rigg Agricultural College. We frequently see horses in the fields bordering the lane, including this pair, who appear to be looking for attention:

Foxgloves are common on the fells (local name for the mountains of the Lake District), but I was surprised to see this specimen growing out of the crack between a wall and the pavement in front of Penrith Methodist Church:

I spotted this splendid example of a stile as we cycled through the village of Reagill, south of Penrith:

Notice that no mortar has been used in the construction of the wall, which is standard practice around these parts. The rock is limestone. You can also see this technique being used in a wall alongside the road leading out of Penrith towards Great Salkeld, where the principal rock is sandstone (although some boulders have also been incorporated, sourced from boulder clay, the ubiquitous glacial deposit around here):

The next photo shows a view of Blencathra, one of the few Lake District mountains with a Cumbric name (although it is often referred to by locals as ‘Saddleback’) that I took while out cycling:

This road used to be the main road to Keswick, but it was replaced by the A66 more than half a century ago, making it ideal as part of a cycling route nowadays.

‘Sunset’:

When I asked Paula which bike ride she would like to do to mark her birthday, she immediately replied: “Haweswater”. I took several photos here, but I particularly like this one, looking back towards the head of the valley:

When we flew to Toronto last month, I had a window seat, and I suddenly noticed that we must be crossing the southern tip of Greenland. I always switch my phone off when flying, and in the time it took to get it up and running again, I probably missed the best shots, but you can still see the glaciers in this photo:

On our second flight, the plane passed many miles south of Greenland, so there was no opportunity to take more photos.

The walk along the River Eamont, from Eamont Bridge to Brougham, south of Penrith, is a pleasant excursion, and we followed this route on a walk at the end of last month. The river appeared to be flowing unusually fast, but the water level didn’t appear to be higher than usual:

Notice the three ducks in the bottom left corner of the photo.

The day after our Eamont excursion, we did a bike ride north of Penrith that included a road we’d never cycled along before. At one point, I noticed an unusual plant that dominated the verges on both sides of the road:

This is Himalayan balsam, an invasive species that, in this location, was almost the only plant on both sides of the road for about two miles.

This photo shows a quaint road bridge over the River Lyvennet in Morland, southeast of Penrith:

I discovered just this summer that there’s a skate park next to Penrith Leisure Centre. I took several photos of the colourful graffiti on the sidewalls supporting the ramps, including this one:

On our second trip to Toronto, we were taken to watch a major league baseball game, and on our way to the stadium, we passed this installation, which I saw as a ‘must’ photo opportunity. Paula took this one with my phone:

Another ‘must before we go’ was a bike ride to Ullswater, which we tend to avoid at the height of summer because of the sheer volume of tourist traffic. On this occasion, we approached the lake from Matterdale End, and where to take a photo from was self-evident as we descended the hill towards the road that runs alongside the lake:

The subject of my final photo is a tiny flower that I spotted just a couple of days ago growing out of a crack in the external surface of the low wall surrounding my neighbour’s backyard:

I have no idea what kind of flower this is, so if you can enlighten me, please leave a comment below.

flaming heck

Although I’m now back in the UK, I still have one post to compile that is related to my most recent sojourn in Hong Kong: the subject is flame trees, which originated in Madagascar but are now widely grown in Hong Kong as ornamental trees. They usually flower in June, when I’m not in Hong Kong, but thanks to the effects of the climate system El Niño, which has had a profound effect on the weather in Hong Kong during the past winter/spring, many of these trees started flowering at the beginning of May. Naturally, I wanted to take as many photos as possible, so I decided to postpone the posting of this collection until I could no longer add more photos. The order in which they appear here is the order in which they were taken.

My first photo was taken from our balcony on 2nd May:

Naturally, I wanted to take a closer look:

Whenever we go to Queen’s Hill for breakfast, we cross Sha Tau Kok Road via the only footbridge anywhere along this road. I took the next photo from the middle of the bridge, looking east:

This is one of several flame trees in the grounds of San Wai Barracks.

On the other side of the main road, there is a flame tree next to the start of the down ramp, so the next photo is effectively a close-up:

I took this photo from the down ramp, looking back west towards Fanling:

I’ve been a regular patient at the Fanling Clinic for the past few years, most recently to undergo acupuncture treatment for the ongoing problems with my hip joint. Following one such treatment session, I decided to walk back home along Jockey Club Road, the main north–south highway through Fanling. As I was walking along, I was suddenly confronted by an impressive flame tree in more or less full bloom:

Notice the cycle track. There is an extensive network of such tracks in Fanling, and in all the other towns in the New Territories. This is a close-up of the previous photo:

Once I’d crossed the side road, I turned to look back the way I’d just come:

I’d walked under a row of flame trees without noticing them!

This flame tree was on the other side of the main road:

I did notice several more flame trees around this area, none of which had started to flower. I never had time to go back to see whether this had changed.

I turned right at the next side road, intending to walk through Ignoble Hill (this is my name for a village that is located on the opposite side of Ma Sik Road to Noble Hill, an upmarket private housing estate, and is a sharp contrast to the latter). On the way, I stopped to take this photo:

The following day, I decided to walk along the section of Sha Tau Kok Road that separates Fanling’s industrial area from the residential area known as Luen Wo Hui, because I’d seen flame trees here in the past. I didn’t have much luck, but I did spot this tree on the residential side of the road (I was on the opposite side):

The building in the background is Luen Wo Hui’s wet market.

This is a closer view of the same tree, which is in a small park next to the main road:

While I was there, I spotted this tree on the industrial side of the main road:

I’d walked under it before crossing the road, again without noticing any flowers.

I decided to continue along Sha Tau Kok Road, out of Fanling, to see if I could spot any more trees. I took this photo from the south side of the road, shortly after passing the turn-off to the village where I live:

…and this one from the north side:

This tree is located in the southwest corner of San Wai Barracks:

On this occasion, I also took another photo of the tree that I could see from our balcony (see above):

The flowering had become more intense in just a couple of days.

I also took another photo from our balcony:

…because a second tree had started flowering.

A few days later, I walked further east along Sha Tau Kok Road, where I took the next three photos:

Here are two more flame trees growing in the grounds of San Wai Barracks:

On the opposite side of the road that skirts the barracks (and passes our house) is San Wai’s former school. Several flame trees grow in the grounds, including the first one I photographed (above), but access is not possible, except when the building is used as a polling station in local elections. I took this photo through a gap in the school’s wire-mesh gate:

For our last bike ride before heading off to the UK for the summer, Paula suggested Bride’s Pool Road, which is a tough ask, with a 2km hill at a steady gradient of about 10 percent. I stopped near the bottom of the downhill section to take this photo:

When we reached Sha Tau Kok Road, we had no option but to ride on the road. Fortunately, it was a public holiday (which explains the sheer number of sports cyclists on Bride’s Pool Road, and which I was not aware of), but once we drew closer to home, we turned off into familiar territory. I had intended to follow an unnamed road that leads to the village of San Uk Tsai, but there appeared to be some kind of construction ahead, so I turned towards the village of Leng Pei instead, intending to cycle along ‘country and eastern’. I’d never tried this path in this direction before, which was quite a challenge, but the hasty change of mind had a serendipitous result:

We would never have seen this tree had we continued along the unnamed road instead, because we would have turned off to tackle Hok Tau Country Trail #2 before reaching the tree.

Naturally, we stopped to take more photos, like this one:

Whenever we go to Queen’s Hill for breakfast, we continue up the hill afterwards. At the top of the hill is a path leading to Po Kak Tsai (‘poke in the eye’). Along this path, there is a flame tree that I hadn’t noticed until I spotted a few flowers on the ground. The next three photos feature this tree:

The high-rise buildings in the background are parts of Shan Lai Court, which adjoins Queen’s Hill Public Housing Estate and has buildings identical to those in the public area. It appears to be for first-time buyers, although that is just a guess.

I often stop in the San Uk Sitting-Out Area when coming back from Luen Wo Hui, which is why I spotted this tree:

This is the view from inside the village:

And that’s what I was able to record about flame trees last month. I wonder when, or if, I’ll see such sights again.

photographic highlights 2023–24: part 2

…continued from Part 1.

Over the past few months, I’ve taken quite a few photos of the construction of the (unnecessary) Fanling North bypass along the north bank of our local river, but this is the best, mainly because there was no wind, and the reflection on the river provides perfect symmetry:

The track on the right is now the only way to get up and down the river.

This year was our first time watching the Chinese New Year fireworks since 2018 (they were cancelled due to the protests in 2019, and in 2021–23 due to covid; I was ill in 2020). Many of the spectators spent all their time trying to photograph or film the display, but I put my phone away after taking this photo of the view across the harbour to Hong Kong island:

During the 1980s, I worked in Aberdeen, on the south side of Hong Kong island, and I travelled with a friend who worked in the same area. One of our running jokes centred on the number of cars we saw with windscreens full of ‘danglies’. I was reminded of this time by a truck that parks in our village:

I would say that the driver’s view is seriously obscured.

I’ve written about cotton trees before, but this is the only photo I’ve taken of my favourite Hong Kong trees this year. It was taken from our balcony and shows Queen’s Hill estate in the background:

Cotton trees have two unusual features for broad-leaf trees: the flowers appear before the leaves; and, like conifers, they have straight trunks with several branches growing out of the trunk at the same level.

There is a central garbage-collection point in our village, and on one occasion someone appears to have tried to dispose of two full tins of paint. Unfortunately, the lids came off, and paint splattered everywhere:

Two wheelie bins are still covered in spilt red paint.

In March, Paula and I were cycling along the Drainage Services access road that runs beside the Shek Sheung River, which joins the Ng Tung River (our local river) on the other side of the main railway line, when I spotted what appeared to be two small islands:

This is a close-up:

In fact, they’re probably flotsam from somewhere upstream, but from where is anyone’s guess.

A small stream flows through ‘the swamp’, and where the waterlogged area ends there is a small pool. I’ve photographed this pool several times in an attempt to capture the abstract patterns of froth on the surface, and this is my best effort:

Since the new running track in the PLA barracks opposite our house was inaugurated, there have been all manner of mysterious (to me) goings-on. On one occasion, an enclosure was constructed next to the track, presumably to monitor some kind of competition. This enclosure was completely dismantled at night for four or five days, and of course I took a few photos. This is the most interesting:

See the line of soldiers standing stiffly to attention. They’re all dummies!

In my recent survey of graffiti that I’ve recorded over the past few months, I included one example that I saw during a rare visit to Kowloon. During that visit, I also came across this example of abstract street art:

As with the graffiti, I couldn’t guarantee to find this location again.

Although I’ve been aware of koels (Hong Kong’s noisy birds) since we first moved to Fanling in 2008, I’d never actually seen one until last month. I was sitting on the roof enjoying a cold beer when one appeared on a dead branch on the tree next to the house. Naturally, I went downstairs to get my phone and took this photo:

Unfortunately, it moved its position while I was downstairs, and this photo doesn’t convey just how big this bird is.

I wrote about ‘the garden of earthly delights’, located near the start of the path across ‘the swamp’, last year, but since my survey, it has been allowed to decline. However, I did photograph this bathtub lotus pond recently:

We had a lot of heavy rain last month, and after one such downpour, I noticed a small group of egrets in a large pool of water opposite our house. However, when I stepped out onto the balcony to take a photo, they all took flight:

There are six egrets in this photo.

Paula spotted this cluster of fungi growing on a dead tree stump as we were walking through Fan Leng Lau Pleasure Ground last month:

Paula and I cycled out west to the Tam Mei valley earlier this month. The intention was to follow the loop of roads up and back down the valley, which we hadn’t done for quite some time. There are a lot of murals to be seen hereabouts (Wall to Wall, Fish out of Water), but on this occasion we came across something new. There are murals on both sides of this gate:

The words on the flag wielded by the figure on the left read ‘out in safe home’, which is a classical Chinese chengyu, or four-character idiom.

I spotted this shop window in the Queen’s Hill Shopping Centre:

Don’t ask me what they sell here.

The ‘garden of earthly delights’ may be in decline, but it appears to have inspired the neighbour on the other side of the footpath. This gate leads into the garden:

…and this is a close-up of the top half of the gate:

This is another fungal discovery in Fan Leng Lau Pleasure Ground. It wasn’t visible from the path through the park, but Paula wandered off the path and found it. The stalk is at least 30cm long, and unfortunately it appears to have been broken off deliberately:

I’d been wandering through Fanling’s industrial district on the lookout for graffiti and flame trees to photograph. I’d stopped briefly in a small garden when I spotted this truck:

I’ve seen quite a few bizarre company names during my time in Hong Kong (dating back to 1974), but this takes the biscuit.

I go out routinely for a short walk as soon as I get up in the morning. A few days ago, I was walking back along the road to our house when I noticed what looked like a spectacular sunrise. The sun was illuminating small wisps of cloud high in the sky, but unfortunately I didn’t have my phone with me. When I got home, I took this photo from our balcony:

The sun is just behind the horizon at this point, so the small clouds are no longer visible.

And that concludes this year’s ‘most interesting’ photos. Look out for next year’s collection.

previous highlights collections
Photographic Highlights: 2015–16
Photographic Highlights: 2016–17
Photographic Highlights: 2017–18
Photographic Highlights: 2018–19
Photographic Highlights 2019–20: Part 1
Photographic Highlights 2019–20: Part 2
Photographic Highlights 2020–21: Part 1
Photographic Highlights 2020–21: Part 2
Photographic Highlights 2021–22: Part 1
Photographic Highlights 2021–22: Part 2
Photographic Highlights 2022–23: Part 1
Photographic Highlights 2022–23: Part 2
Photographic Highlights 2022–23: Part 3