A couple shots taken at Monikie Country Park

[gdavidson]

Taken today - weather not great but had to take something while I was there!

[pauland]

The shot with the swan is quite atmospheric. I don't usually go for wildlife photographs, but there's something extrodinary about that image.

Is it cropped at all?

[gdavidson]

Thank you pauland!

I'm usually not one to photograph much wildlife either but this swan was sitting right in front of me. The picture is not cropped at all - I just kept taking photos whenever it did something unusual!

[pauland]

It's a really nice shot. I wish it were panned a little to the left - to give a bit more room left of the swan. Not a criticism - photography with animals is always going to be at the animals discretion!

[Soquili]

Great shots Graeme.

The swan image is especially wonderful.

[zaphodeist]

Nice Graeme What is that structure in the middle of #1 ?

[ontos]

Great shots Graeme, both are fantastic, the first one is my favorite. I'm curious too, what is the structure ?

[gdavidson]

Thank you Pauland, Soquili, John and Ontos.

The swan was sitting for quite some time preening itself and started to get a bit more animated. I had it framed in shot but wasn't expecting it to do what if did. I probably flinched too

I'm not sure what the structure in I'm the other shot but the whole park was once a water reservoir so I suspect it played some sort of function in years gone by. I'll have a look at some old maps to see if anything is mentioned about it and report back.

[zaphodeist]

I was hoping you'd say it was a Knights Templar preceptory Must be some of their stuff round there somewhere

[gdavidson]

Sadly, nothing as exciting as that. Having looked at old Ordnance Survey maps from the 1850s, the structure is part of the clean water section. There is an interesting tower nearby known as the Panmure Testimonial. Not sure if it's readily accessible though!