Graham Jones
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oldmanrambling.bsky.social
Graham Jones
@oldmanrambling.bsky.social
2.8K followers 2.2K following 11K posts
Retired journalist from Liverpool, married for 57 years to Janet, now living in Surrey. Left-wing jazz fan and Humanist. No fascists, god botherers or anti-LGBTQ. No DMs. I won’t reply and may block. No requests for cash. Supports 🇵🇸🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈⚧️
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oldmanrambling.bsky.social
#FlyDay #InsectsOfBluesky
You have to look quite carefully to see the two tiny subjects of this photo, hovering above a branch of our fig tree earlier this month. Two insects that are long gone by now.
#ColorADay #BWFri
#EastCoastKin #PhotographersUnited #PhotographersOfBluesky
Several bare branches of a tree against a clear sky with two tiny flies hovering above the lower one at bottom right.
November 28, 2025 at 7:54 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
#ColorADay
#BWFri
#NationalTreeWeek
Our favourite English Oak tree in the middle of a meadow only a few yards from our home. This picture was taken in summer when it was in full leaf, providing shade for three horses. Now it is almost bare.
#EastCoastKin #PhotographersUnited
#Mono
A large spreading English Oak tree its branches covered in leaves on a summer day provides shade for three horses grouped around its thick trunk. Fencing runs along a pathway in the foreground and in the distance other trees surround the field.
November 28, 2025 at 5:37 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
For #NationalTteeWeek something a little different. When I say little, I mean small. We bought these coasters years ago from a wood turning shop, in Wales, I think, but memory plays tricks. Beech and Alder on an Oak table. I just wish I could recall the artist.
#Wood #Art
Two round wood coasters engraved with illustrations of Beech and Alder trees and their leaves sit on alight-coloured Oak table.
November 28, 2025 at 5:21 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekVforVowels
American Beautyberry aka Callicarpa with raindrop reflecting a little upside down tree over the garden fence.
#PurpleFriday
#EastCoastKin
#MacroPhotography
A bunch of purple American Beautyberries aka Callicarpa with a raindrop reflecting a little upside down tree over the garden fence. The berries are covered in tiny drops of water after overnight rain.
November 28, 2025 at 3:12 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
Yes, but …
A man leans out of an open window to ask: “You boy…yes you! Is he dead yet?”
November 28, 2025 at 2:38 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
Here’s today’s #HolidayRobin enjoying a rest on one of our plant pots in the front garden. It’s hard work Robining during the holiday season. So many cards to pose for.
#Birds #EnglishGardening #photography #EastCoastKin #naturephotography
A Robin, displaying its fine red breast, and one small black eye, is perched on the edge of a newly planted blue terracotta pot, the surface having been covered in fine stones to prevent rain damage when the tulips emerge next Spring.
November 28, 2025 at 10:56 AM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
Who likes purple?💜💜💜 The question asked by our friend Shantha @shlead.bsky.social yesterday. We know she does and, so I promised her a #FridayPurple treat. Here is a close-up of a Salvia Amistad that I brought into the conservatory before the frosts.
#MacroPhotography
#FlowerReport
#bloomscrolling
A study in purple in this macro photograph of a Salvia Amistad flower with the tiny protruding organs reaching out from under a fuzzy top petal.
November 28, 2025 at 10:33 AM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
Good work. Similarly, I shall continue with my daily enquiry…
A man leans out of an open window to ask: “You boy…yes you! Is he dead yet?”
November 27, 2025 at 9:16 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
Ah, yes, I see it now. We had one on the green woodwork of our conservatory a few years back.
A red and black moth on a light green door frame casting a long shadow in sunlight.
November 27, 2025 at 7:03 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
Is it you?😁

A Pansy still flowering next to a wall in our front drive.
A Pansy still flowering next to a wall in our front drive.
November 27, 2025 at 4:56 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
#PalacesAndGardens #people
Another visit to Emmetts National Trust Garden in Kent but at the other end of the year as volunteer gardeners prepare a bed in the rose garden around the water feature on a cold but bright November day.
#EastCoastKin #PhotographersUnited #PhotographersOfBluesky
Three gardeners work on a rosebed around a small circular pond with a pillar that bears a small cherub statue. They have just refreshed the border with mulch and are cleaning up. On the left foreground is a green wheelbarrow and another stands on the paved pathway near a white gate leading from the rose garden, which is one of the many features at Emmetts Garden National Trust in Kent near Westerham. Beyond the garden’s nearly clipped hedge there are distant views of hills with a blue slightly cloudy sky. Some trees in the garden can also be seen, including a large conifer to the left.
November 27, 2025 at 4:35 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
#insectThursday #photography #AlphabetChallenge #WeekVforVowels
#EastCoastKin
A Cardinal Beetle hangs from a grass seed head. I bet Sheena is doubting its credentials but it is a member of the Ambrosia beetle family - the kind that live in symbiosis with ambrosia fungus.
A bright red Cardinal beetle uses its stick-like legs to hang from the thin stalk of a grass, which carries several purple-coloured seed heads. The background is blurred green.
November 27, 2025 at 1:00 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
Here’s my daily ration for #HolidayRobin Isn’t he grand?
#Birds #EnglishGardening #photography #EastCoastKin #naturephotography
A Robin redbreast stands on newly turned over soil in the garden on the look out for grubs and worms.
November 27, 2025 at 10:41 AM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
The annual Spring pilgrimage to one of the local bluebell woods at Emmetts Gardens in Kent run by @nationaltrust.org.uk an English charity. There is also a lovely big tree for #NationalTreeWeek
#PalacesAndGardens #People #Spring #Bluebells #EnglishGardens
#PhotographersOfBluesky
#EastCoastKin
On a beautifully sunny May day, visitors walk down a dusty path next to banks of English bluebells, growing among trees yet to get their leaf cover. One tree on the left has already started to get its light green Spring foliage. Some people stop to take photographs while others chat. The large pine tree in the foreground provides dappled shade. Its long branches reach out across the paths.
November 27, 2025 at 10:34 AM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
Gasp. Never saw him but he was one of the greats and invented the term be-bop. He also ran for President in 1964.
Dizzy with a balloon in his Presidential campaign year.
November 26, 2025 at 7:52 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
I have been using the new lens today but not sure I am getting it right. I get a shadowy ring around some of the pix. Maybe it’s not fitted correctly. I have cropped them but the clarity suffers. Any tips welcome.
Close-up of purple Salvia. Close-up of purple Salvia.
November 26, 2025 at 6:35 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
It’s getting near that time of year. Plenty of Robins on my feed and now this. Holly berries. I think I’m going soft in my old age. It’ll be snow globes next.
#ColorADay #RedWed #Macro #PhotographersOfBluesky
#Photohour #EastCoastKin
A bunch of red Holly berries with a raindrop hanging beneath one, reflecting the garden hedge behind. Some green leaves are visible to the right.
November 26, 2025 at 4:27 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
It’s #NationalTreeWeek in the UK so I am posting a favourite tree each day. Today it is the tall Poplar that stands beside the town library and was partly in shade but the top was burnished copper/coloured by the sun against a blue sky. There’s a bonus tree, too.
#EastCoastKin
#PhotographersUnited
A tall Poplar stands partly in sun against a blue sky. The foreground is in dark shadow. Another tree with autumn leaves can be seen across the road in a front garden by a house, part of which can also be glimpsed.
November 26, 2025 at 3:49 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
Lovely photo Soph but I must admit to looking up the definition of inflorescence and I found this on Wiki. Not quite as lovely.😂
A Wikipedia page with a definition of the word Inflorescence illustrated by a cauliflower. Text reads: Inflorescence Botanical term for a cluster of flowers Inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a main axis (peduncle) and by the timing of its flowering. Morphologically, an inflorescence is… Wikipedia
November 26, 2025 at 2:47 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
Getting to the end of the season now and there was another hard frost last night so this might be the last #RoseWednesday without dipping into the archive.
#BloomScrolling #photography #Icy
#AlphabetChallenge #WeekVforVowels
The petals of a pink Scarborough Fair rose covered in hoar frost after overnight temperatures dipped to -3°C.
November 26, 2025 at 2:42 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
I don’t really approve of slave labour and the conditions these poor little chaps have to work in are deplorable. Every year they hammer away in the window of the town sport shop before Christmas, in full view of the public. In short - outrageous.
#WindowsOnWednesday
#WackyWednesdayArt
#EastCoastKin
A set of animated elves work on making various items of sport equipment in the window of a town centre shop. The high street buildings are reflected in the window along with parked cars and some blue sky.
November 26, 2025 at 2:23 PM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
The #BirdOfTheDay theme today as set by @alan678.bsky.social is #OnTheEdge, any bird at the edge of a body of water. These chaps at Titchwell RSPB a few years back were certainly on the edge of the lake. I was after the Avocet but the neighbours were a bonus.
An Avocet stands on a small rock at the edge of the water as other waders, possibly Oystercatchers, stand slightly behind by the water’s edge.
November 26, 2025 at 11:58 AM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekVforVowels
Inside story. This is one of my first efforts with my new macro lens. I’ll get the hang of it eventually. Maybe. Can you see what it is yet?
*Answer in alt text.

#EastCoastKin #Macro #PhotographersOfBluesky
The centre of a tulip flower captured using a macro lens attached to my iPhone15 Pro. The surrounding pink leaves provides a kind of sheltering glow of protection for the soft centre of the bloom.
November 26, 2025 at 11:38 AM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
I took so many pictures of my garden assistant yesterday that I shall be sharing them for some time but for today I shall limit it to one #HolidayRobin You’re welcome.
#Birds #EnglishGardening #photography #EastCoastKin #naturephotography
A Robin perches on the edge of a garden wall next to some green moss. The background is of some grit and spent compost from a planter I had emptied on to a border. There are also ground elder leaves, which I later removed. They are a menace.
November 26, 2025 at 8:53 AM
oldmanrambling.bsky.social
#Football
#Names
Reading the running commentary on tonight’s European football matches I was stopped short by this little gem. At first I thought I’d discovered a misprint or at least an attempt to lighten the mood with a reference to a puppet double act. But, no, Poku and Doku it is.
A report of a football game includes the passage: Man City 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen Michael Brown Former Man City midfielder on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra at the Etihad Too comfortable. City try to put it down the right-hand side but Poku just headed it down and Doku couldn't get close. An aggressive press from Leverkusen.
November 25, 2025 at 10:05 PM