A rare dry day and a new camera for wet days

It's Saturday the 8th of February 2014 and I'm at home looking out at the wind and rain and wondering how my fellow walkers are enjoying their walk today. There's a couple of reasons I'm not with them. First, I need a rest from wet walks, but more relevant I think is that I'm just recovered from a rather nasty gastric bug that kept me confined to the smallest room in the house for a couple of days. I'm pleased to say that the magic of Imodium has got me back to normal but weakened. 

Thursday however, I managed to get myself out for a steady walk up to the mast.

There's always ponies of some form or another in the small field between Georgewell Drive and the A75.

Sadly I had no apple or hay to give them.

Reaching Barrhill Woods, I see a fair amount of storm damage. Here in south-west Scotland we get a lot of adverse weather, but compared to south-west England we're very lucky. A 'Google Image' search for 'Dawlish Damage' brings up a few dramatic pictures.

Newton Stewart gets a bit of sunshine.

A view to the south. I liked the way the power lines stood out today.

Descending east towards the river, I noticed Machermore Castle was more prominent than I'd ever seen it.

It was sold last year for around £350,000. Doing a web search I've found Machermore.Com and it has it's own Facebook Page. Once renovations are complete It'll be available for holiday and residential lettings, weddings, entertainment and other functions. I wish them well, hopefully there'll be events that the local community can enjoy. 

  

A little further on my descent I get a closer look. I'm glad they've opened it up.

Back home I've got a new small waterproof camera. It's a Pentax WG10. Friends of my daughters had one of these on my visit to Cheltenham and I was impressed, so finally decided I'd get one. (It's barely been out a year and already has a newer version so no doubt prices will keep dropping) 

So, it's round to Blairmount Pond to try it out.

Seems Ok for general picture taking.

One of it's features that attracted me is it's 1mm microscopic feature where a ring of lights shine when activated. The next few pictures are my first at trying out the macro.

Small Ivy leafs

These were hand held, but the manual does suggest a tripod.

This one's come out OK. The wire is probably no more than 2mm. The small feather was probably around an inch long. (I can mix Imperial and Metric no problem, I used to work using both)

It'll take a while to get used to the optimum settings.

Probably a shaky hand but a few came out blurry.

I think I'm going to enjoy this camera.

Now it's time to test it underwater.

The water's cold so I guess my hand isn't too steady.

Maybe as the year progresses I'll be able to pick out some pondlife.

There is a creature attached to a stem just below the centre to the left, but I'm nowhere near enough to identify it. I did notice a few bubbles rising, but soon saw they were coming from the tripod screw point so no leaks. 

I think there's the potential for some good stuff if I concentrate on learning it's features.

Happy days ahead.