Beavermead Park and Farm

This weekend was another trip to Peterborough. Once again I had high hopes for astro photography; once again my plans were foiled. But I did get to visit Beavermead Park, and then took a walk around the farm with my macro lens.

The weather was definitely cooler this weekend, and the mosquitoes were non-existent. That's both great and terrible; I won't miss the bugs but I will definitely the hot days of summer.



This is the beach at Beavermead Park, that I worked around from age 15 to 20 or so. As it was then, the beach was closed due to pollution levels (Lakefield, the town up river, used to dump raw sewage into the river that eventually flowed right past this beach). As it was then, people were swimming in it. Ew.



The Ashburnham lock on the Trent Severn Waterway, situated just south of the Peterborough Lift Lock. I was going to shoot the Lift Lock, but decided I'd save it for the next time I'm in town.



This is my favorite photo of the set. These Brown-Eyed Susans (at least that's what I grew up calling them) were droopy and swaying in the wind. Next time I'd try to tighten up the depth of field a bit, and try to isolate them better from their background. Tough to do because they were moving so much.



The City did a great job cleaning up the park and surrounding area. They introduced an Ecology park-within-a-park that displays many flowers, shrubs and trees that minimally impact the environment, are good for low-water gardens and look great. I saw my first flowering tobacco plant (Not pictured); it was beautiful for something that's helped kill so many people.



I headed to the farm for my dad's 81st birthday (Happy birthday!). When I saw these clouds I could think of only one thing: The Simpsons! I spent the rest of my afternoon with the theme stuck in my head.



A tendril from a grape vine wrapped itself around a piece of fence railing, and as it grew, tore it off. Victorious, the vine holds the chunk of wood high in the air.



I grew up calling this a mosquito hawk, pictured here on a leaf while mating.



A monarch butterfly. I tried many times to shoot it with its wings spread - the colors are far more vivid than the underside of the wings pictured here - but I couldn't get an in-focus shot.



An impostor lady bug. Real lady bugs are a richer red. It is a tough bug to shoot because they are so shiny.



Ignore the evil demon face in the center of this flower, and move on.



This flower made me think of wedding cakes and fancy white chocolate desserts. So much detail!



Miniature tomatoes, ripening on the plant.



This is what happens when I drag myself half-way across a field with my elbows to shoot wildlife with a macro lens (because I left my zoom at home - why would I need it? Sigh.)... Not a lot. A family of wild turkeys.



It's hard to believe this grew, and isn't man-made and plastic.



Exhibit A: Watering Can in Garden.



This, in very scientific terms, is a butterfly rave. I had to run up and shoot because when I got close they'd take flight. I think they were attracted to the moist ground for some nefarious butterfly purpose.



Yet another architecture challenge. I dare you to find a straight horizontal line in this image.


© Jeremy Buehler and Bug Noir (www.bugnoir.com), 2010.