Category Archives: Urban Landscape

Grand Union Canal, Paddington Arm – urban kingfishers


Continuing the route taken a few weeks ago, I kayaked from Park Royal to Little Venice  today, as the conditions were good. I’ve cycled along this route every week over the last year, so it was nice to see everything at a slower pace. And I was rewarded with a Kingfisher sighting near Kensal Rise Cemetery. Just a blue flash, but I’ll take that as a definite! The canal does appear to be cleaner along this stretch, so there is obviously enough food to support it.  

Print tests


Paper tests. If you still miss rummaging through the stationery in Woolworths, pay a visit to Shepherds Bookbinders in Victoria. More paper stocks than you can dream about! Uncoated and not meant for inkjet printers, but some produce lovely soft-tone monochrome images. But make sure you test ;-).

River Thames footpath


Rev Richard Coles, presenter on BBC Radio Four’s Saturday Live, once described the plastic bags suspended along the roadside on his drive home as looking like “Unfortunate wraiths snagged in trees”. Sadly a common feature along the River Thames. More ‘wildling’ trees along the Thames footpath near Mortlake. A ‘wildling’ Plane tree growing out of the cobbled embankment along the River Thames between Chiswick and Kew.  

Plastic bag in tree, Mortlake