Gargoyles and Gulls

Litchfield Cathedral is, like all ancient church buildings, in constant repair.  Recently there have been a number of replacements of decaying gargoyles.  These ancient and decorative rainwater spouts have been replaced in the same style as the originals.

This fiendish beast captured my attention, carved in the original sandstone and looking spanking brand new.  Applying this concept to the whole cathedral - it must have been a magnificent and dominating building when it was first finished. The fangs and eyes are painted white, and the original may have had painted claws as well.  The carving is quite striking against a clear blue sky.

The monochrome image is also quite crisp and dynamic.  I am impressed by the skill of the stone mason in restoring the design so effectively.

Back to the natural world and I spotted this chaffinch whilst having a picnic lunch.  The air temperature was reading 9 degrees Celsius on the car thermometer and the bird had its feathers fluffed up against the cold.

Just for fun I snapped a series of pictures of fast flying gulls.  Some pics caught the action quite well.  Half of the images were deleted as I do not want to keep pictures of wingtips or tales in isolation!

These are black headed gulls.  They are loosing their summer colours and have white heads for the winter months.

They still retain the outer black trim to the trailing edge of the wing.