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Photo of the Day September 2020

Alexander.Of.Oz said:
Clix, it's simply a thick branch or thin tree stem core structure which has basically mud mixed with whatever aggregate can be found on the site to help give the coating and lining material some integrity. The Wattle is the stick component and the Daub is the mud part.

Unfortunately here in South Australia with our cold and heat variances, most of the Daub has disintegrated back to dust and there are only the stick parts left, if at all. Lots of sites have become nothing more than a pile of sticks which later generations of farmers just cleared to create more growing space.

Among others, I have access to a site that houses no less than six of these buildings and on this site is where I found this one last piece of Daub remaining!

Locally, native pines were used for this building process as the trunks were nice and straight, without being too thick. What the early settlers didn't know was that they were extremely slow growing and they were clearing huge swathes of land in an unhelpful fashion, creating dustbowls and ghost towns as they went!

One bonus for using native pines was that termites are unimpressed by the flavour of them! So the sticks of some huts have been in place for over two hundred years and they were anything up to fifty years old when harvested!

I hope that helps clear any confusion? I have kept it focused on local use of this technique, but it is evident throughout much of the world.

P.S. My laughter at your query was because at the time of posting my first image of a Wattle and Daub place on Saturday I lazily posted a link to the Wiki explanation on it due to time constraints and thought to myself at the time how poor form that was of me! I wasn't laughing at you, dear @Clix Pix .
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Ah, OK, there is a bug -- a wasp, actually -- called the "mud dauber," which name belatedly occurred to me..... I should have worked through that terminology a bit and would have had an answer to my question about "daub"! I didn't notice or follow the link provided in your earlier post, pretty much for the same reasons it was provided, including time constraints...... A lot of times I don't bother looking at links and I'll bet I am not alone in this, hence my query after viewing your next post...... Thanks for the explanation here!
 
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Pool party
070917C7-7274-49E1-9426-533B14B80787.jpeg
 
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Another shot of the Belted Kingfisher..... I'd forgotten to go back to the file and edit this one! I prefer this image to the first one because here you can see her eye and that is always more desirable in wildlife/bird photos. I still wish she'd been a little closer -- even 560mm was too short a reach for this -- and that I'd also had the tripod with me.

Belted Kingfisher on a Stick.jpeg
 
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oblomow said:
please don't do this.
We haven't been able to visit the UK this year and this image hurts. :)

Lovely image
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Too kind @oblomow - haven’t had much chance to get out myself. Either lockdown or everywhere absolutely swamped post-lockdown. If you look closely, the road (A5) at the foot of Tryfan and along Llyn Ogwen was a solid car park after lockdown. So much so that the police had to restrict access to the area. Can’t be doing with too many people at the best of times 😡. IMHO, this is one of the best views in Snowdonia.
 
kenoh said:
Love that. God damn it is crispy sharp!

A beautiful shade of blue. Not a popular colour in nature is it?
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Thanks! Yes, the 40-150 2.8 wows me quite often when it comes to detail. Even with a 2x TC on it, it stays pretty sharp. I took and edited that shot almost a month ago, but it wasn’t until I posted it today that I zoomed in and saw the extra detail going on.

And yes, dragonflies seem to come in sorts of unusual colors. Really quite amazing little buggers.
 
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Alexander.Of.Oz said:
Clix, it's simply a thick branch or thin tree stem core structure which has basically mud mixed with whatever aggregate can be found on the site to help give the coating and lining material some integrity. The Wattle is the stick component and the Daub is the mud part.

Unfortunately here in South Australia with our cold and heat variances, most of the Daub has disintegrated back to dust and there are only the stick parts left, if at all. Lots of sites have become nothing more than a pile of sticks which later generations of farmers just cleared to create more growing space.

Among others, I have access to a site that houses no less than six of these buildings and on this site is where I found this one last piece of Daub remaining!

Locally, native pines were used for this building process as the trunks were nice and straight, without being too thick. What the early settlers didn't know was that they were extremely slow growing and they were clearing huge swathes of land in an unhelpful fashion, creating dustbowls and ghost towns as they went!

One bonus for using native pines was that termites are unimpressed by the flavour of them! So the sticks of some huts have been in place for over two hundred years and they were anything up to fifty years old when harvested!

I hope that helps clear any confusion? I have kept it focused on local use of this technique, but it is evident throughout much of the world.

P.S. My laughter at your query was because at the time of posting my first image of a Wattle and Daub place on Saturday I lazily posted a link to the Wiki explanation on it due to time constraints and thought to myself at the time how poor form that was of me! I wasn't laughing at you, dear @Clix Pix .
Click to expand...
Generally on farms the mud isn’t mud! Just saying.
 
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Apple fanboy said:
Thank you. BIF is very difficult. This little guy isn’t very big. Need more practice!
Click to expand...

BIF is indeed very difficult! It's easier when it's a big bird flying rather leisurely and when the photographer has a long prime lens with a 2x TC on it under perfect lighting conditions or when the photographer is in Florida, which is a bird shooter's paradise..... :)
 
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