Google Earth is a source of endless fun. Here, for instance, is a famously spectacular image, suitably flattened to fit in here:
That’s a slice of the first of these, which I found via here.
I have been making ever more use of Google Earth in my explorations of London. It can’t tell you much about where you can go, but it is great at telling you where you went.
So, for example, I recently managed to get into this huge expanse of almost complete nothingness, surrounded by photo-ops on all sides, which is to the south of the Royal Victoria Docks:
I’m talking about the big grey slab there, and the more vegetated area between the grey slab and the river, where the ground rises, to keep the river in check presumably. If you want to find that for yourself on Google Earth, type in “west silvertown tube station”, which is to the top right of that vast expanse.
At the extreme westerly point of the ground I covered, I found a nesting goose, and took a photo of her. Mrs Goose is on the left:
At which point Mr Goose showed up, and drove me away. He looks happy enough there, on the right, but that’s because by then I had retreated. A real photographer would have advanced again, made him angry again, and got a shot of him being angry, while very slightly risking death, again. I only wished I had done that when I got home.
Posted by Antoine Clarke on 06 April 2012
I came across a couple of swans with about half a dozen chicks (cygnets?) on a narrow footpath near the river Lee in East London (UK, not South Africa). On one side was a lake, on the other an eight foot high wall with barbed wire. The footpath was 3 ft wide.
Having seen swans attack when chicks are threatened I thought about taking a mile’s detour.
Fortunately, they went for a dip after a 5 minute stand off.
Posted by Michael Jennings on 06 April 2012
You call that a bird? This is a bird. (When provoked, they are known to have killed people).
Posted by Rona on 13 April 2012
You did the right thing…you shouldn’t disturb the nesting goose.