Just Swanning Around

-
Birds on the feeders at Whinlatter


Snowdrops at Martin Mere

Whooper Swans

Geese and lapwings

Eider ducks

Ruff
Such a grey cold day but we ventured out to Martin Mere for an hour or so ,had a nice light lunch in the new restaurant there and then went to view the swans and other wildfowl from the Swanlink Hide.Luckily we also had a good view of some Ruff as a few were scratching around at the edge of the mere.There are still around 2,000 geese there and 1,000 whopper swans. In just a few weeks they will all have left to fly to their summer breeding grounds.
As nice as it was it was just too cold to hang around so we set off for home and a good warm fire.
The other photos were taken when we were at Whinlatter Forest Park up near Keswick and although it was raining the birds were singing from the high tree tops and then venturing down to the feeders where we took these photos.
If only the spring sun would shine for a few days as my Daffodils are just waiting for that burst of warmth to flower.
In my nature diary for 2009 it reveals that we were laying a new base for the greenhouse when we heard a "mewing cry" and above us 2 buzzards were circling - flying low and calling to each other then soared off over the houses. I remember it was a lovely blue sky day in February.

At this time of year it is good to indulge in eating a little of what you fancy and I love this recipe for Bara Brith which I found in The Lakes.
450grams sf flour
450grams mixed dried fruit
2 tblsp of warm marmalade and 1 egg beaten
6 tblsp of brown sugar
1/2 pint warm strained tea
1 teaspoon mixed spice
Soak the fruit, sugar in the tea overnight
Sieve flour and mixed spice and warm the marmalade.
Add flour ,warm marmalade and egg to soaked fruit
Stir all well
Pour into tin ,greased
Bake 1hr 30 mins mark 4, electric 180c 350f cool on rack
Slice and serve with best butter.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the footsteps of Nella Last.

-
Image
Spark Bridge Terrace at Brantwood Over Coniston Lake Walney Island near Barrow From Brantwood across Coniston Teatime with a view at Brantwood. cheeky robin who liked our cakes! Nella Last's home in Barrow from where  she wrote her wartime diaries. How time flies, can it really be a week since we returned from a short break up in the Lake District. The weather could not have been better and we made the most of the glorious sunshine and clear blue skies and explored the area around Ulverston and Barrow. I have been reading and throughly enjoying the wartime diaries of Nella Last,a lady who wrote for the Mass Observation project set up in WW2. She was real character and her diaries are so entertaining to pick up and immerse yourself into. We found her house in Ilkley Road, Barrow and then went on some favourite car journeys that she liked to take during the 1940s and 50s, one being the coast road route from Barrow to Coniston, via Spark Bridge a place she visited often as her
Read more

Nella Last's last wish!

-
Image
I often wonder when I am reading the wonderful  diaries of this extraordinary woman whether she got her last wish , which was that she could have her ashes sprinkled over her beloved Coniston lake. She didn't seem to think this would happen if she died before her husband as he  would not like it, she says in her war time diary. I hope that she was granted that wish but she actually did die a year or so before him and they were no longer  in their home either as they had become unable to manage through ill health and had moved by then to a Darby and Joan home [ a care home of sorts]. Without Coniston  to soothe her in the terrible years of the war and after when there were constant shortages and the demands and ill health of her husband , she may have gone under. It was only a short car ride away  and often they would stop at her old Aunts in Spark bridge to have tea and a chat. Coniston remains a favourite place for me as it was here that we came on our first camping trip in 19
Read more

Storrs Hall and Windermere

-
Image
Thank you so much to everyone for some lovely birthday gifts, I was a very lucky lady indeed. Sonia and Nigel surprised me with a voucher to be used this summer for Afternoon tea at a lovely  hotel in Haworth and even better Sonia will be coming with me!  My Tea voucher!  The hotel at Haworth Here I am standing in the grounds of Storrs Hall hotel at Windermere at the start of our 2 days away last weekend. I had wondered if we would actually even get there as Peter was coughing like mad with this virus that we both got , but we did and the cough came with us! Still we had a really lovely stay at the hotel which was very nice and and warm and cosy with beautiful meals and breakfast taken in a dining room looking out over the lake. A view from Fell Foot park Little snowdrops near Beatrix Potters Hilltop Mountains with snow on the way to Hawkshead Inside Storrs Hall Snow and lots of it!
Read more