bunn: (Default)
bunn ([personal profile] bunn) wrote2012-08-26 12:28 am

Two Rivers

Rummaging on an SD card, I found these and realised I had meant to post about them.



Crossing the Tavy at Lopwell Dam with lurchers.   Lurchers having long legs and small feet, they felt the causeway (which is underwater at high tide) was both slippery and terrifying.   I had intended to take a few photos on the way over, not just this first one of philmophlegm setting out - but I was far too busy reassuring terrified dogs that they were not going to fall into the river and drown. 

There were lots of these butterflies on the other side - I think they are fritillaries, but if I'm honest, all fritillaries look kind of similar to me, so I'm not sure which these are. 


Before the causeway was built, a ferry used to connect the Bere Alston peninsular with the other side of the river Tavy.  This ivy-covered green-grown building was the ferrymen's house, but when the ferry was no longer needed, nor was the house. 


We walked up the lane on the other side.  I don't think the photo really gets across the sheer steepness of the lane.  It was like climbing stairs.  So we were rather surprised when someone drove past us in a car.  A 4WD, admittedly, but still.  Rather them than me! 


Back across the river, it was time for tea and cake. Yay, a cake with a view! 


While eating cake, we couldn't help noticing that people were now motorcycling across the river that our hounds had found so utterly terrifying. 







A couple of weeks later, I attempt to photograph the Lynher river (two rivers west of the Tavy) over a beautiful tangled mat of roots. But *something* keeps getting in the way... 



Ah, there we go. 



Apparently this river has otters in it, and someone we met saw them recently - just walking along the footpath with her dogs,  at around 3pm in the afternoon.  I had previously assumed that seeing the otters was something that could only be done at 3am with the aid of special equipment and enormous persistence.  Now when I walk along this river I find myself staring fixedly at the water.  But no luck yet.  
 

[identity profile] osprey-archer.livejournal.com 2012-08-26 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
It seems to be really hard to photograph steepness; I don't know why.

Also, I'm rooting for an otter sighting! They're so cute!
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[identity profile] bunn.livejournal.com 2012-08-27 12:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I live in hope of an otter sighting, and spend a lot of time peering suspiciously at the rivers. But alas! I think otters must be quite elusive.

[identity profile] puddleshark.livejournal.com 2012-08-26 11:05 am (UTC)(link)
Gorgeous pictures - especially those last two! It may be hard to capture steepness, but you've captured the green tangledness of it all.

Maybe one day Pip will calm down enough for us to enjoy tea and cake in a public place... *sighs with envy*
ext_189645: (Brythen)

[identity profile] bunn.livejournal.com 2012-08-27 12:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Even Brythen can handle Going Out to Tea (though admittedly he does need to be kept on lead to stop him going round the other tables, demanding hugs.) But lurchers are lazy lumps!

[identity profile] seascribe.livejournal.com 2012-08-26 01:09 pm (UTC)(link)
I LOVE the Lynher river pictures, with and without Brythen. (He is so adorable, like, he does not understand why would you WANT a photograph without him in it?)
ext_189645: (Brythen)

[identity profile] bunn.livejournal.com 2012-08-27 12:03 pm (UTC)(link)
He is constantly sticking his GIGANTIC NOSE sadly into my face. And everyone's face, actually. Except when I actually want him to come back. Mysteriously, he can be *much* harder to get hold of then... :-/

[identity profile] wellinghall.livejournal.com 2012-08-26 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
All but one of our wild otter sightings were on wildlife tours, in Mull and Shetland. The other was while we were waiting for the ferry from Mull to Ulva - the ferryman pointed two out to us.
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[identity profile] bunn.livejournal.com 2012-08-27 12:04 pm (UTC)(link)
It's a pity they are such a camouflaged brown. I'm sure they could be sitting there in HORDES and I'd struggle to see them.

[identity profile] wellinghall.livejournal.com 2012-08-27 12:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Until you turn your back and take a Kit-Kat out of your pocket, when they start water-skiing up and down the river?

[identity profile] wellinghall.livejournal.com 2012-08-28 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[livejournal.com profile] adaese has reminded me that we saw otter tracks in Orkney (Westray).
ext_90289: (Carmel)

[identity profile] adaese.livejournal.com 2012-08-28 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
The first otter we saw was certainly very well camouflaged. We'd been told there was a decent chance of otters on some fairly distant rocks, and I, getting bored with entirely failing to see anything at all, started looking along the stretch of shore we were standing on. As I adjusted the focus of my bins, I suddenly realised that a patch of brown seaweed two or three hundred feet away included a patch of brown, otter-shaped fur.

[identity profile] endlessrarities.livejournal.com 2012-09-22 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
It's a very picturesque 'something'!