Photographs by Frank

23 January 2011

The Beaver Swamp in Winter

Filed under: The "New" Yard & Environs,Winter — Tags: — Frank @ 9:58 AM

Last weekend, Joan and I took a jaunt through the beaver swamp behind the house in NH. There was about a foot of powdery snow that was a few days old, so we strapped on the snowshoes and headed out. The temperature was in the mid-teens (Fahrenheit) but we were warm and toasty from the exercise and the sun.

There is a high ridge on the west side of the swamp so deep shade develops down in the lowlands at least an hour (maybe more) before sunset.  Towards the end of our hike, the light was just right  for really bringing out the texture of the snow. I had been watching all of the bits of old vegetation that protruded from the snow in anticipation of “good light” and so was ready with the camera. The light lasted less than a half hour and I had to keep moving to the east as the shadow of the ridge worked its way across the swamp.

Here are the “keepers” from the afternoon:

[nggallery id=40]


14 January 2011

Around the (new) house – New Hampshire Winter

Filed under: The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , — Frank @ 12:27 PM

Joan and I recently acquired a new house in New Hampshire where we plan to live upon retirement in a few years.The house, a classic New England Cape, is, according to some, way out of town!

It is the second-to-last house on the maintained section of an old dirt road. It sits on a bit more than six acres of land with stone walls on two sides and a nice beaver swamp at the back of the property. The back of the lot abuts property owned by NH Audubon which is part of a large (probably a couple thousand acres) tract of “wilderness”. Pretty much paradise by this nature photographers reckoning!

In the future,  I am sure that there will be many photos of the wildlife that the shallow, still, water of a small beaver swamp attracts. Come spring, I am planning to build a semi-permanent blind in which I expect to spend many early mornings and evenings.

But for now, I am content to photograph animal tracks in the snow, stone walls in the snow, random rocks in the snow… well, you get the idea… a New Hampshire winter… aah!

Here are the photographic results from the first couple of weeks since we (sort of) moved in:

[nggallery id=39]

Thanks for looking.


Powered by WordPress