genialgemsandothergabblings

Avocet    It never ceases to amaze me that after all the years we have been visiting Martin Mere RSPB reserve ,there is always something with the WOW factor and this week it was this fantastic Crested Crane. Over the summer months a lot of work has gone into providing a very visitor friendly viewing enclosure so they can be seen easily and I was able to take these great shots The Flamingos were also looking wonderful and had walked over the pond and were feeding on the main pathway so again It was a great camera opportunity. A pretty white backed duck  One of the loveliest places we like to visit when we go to Cornwall is Fowey.  Looking over the water you can spot a rather old house with a boat loft and it was here that the author Daphne Du Maurier put pen to paper and wrote her first real novel and best seller in the 1930s, The Loving Spirit. She loved it here with a passion and infact  came back to live close by until she died. ...

 Autumn seems to be approaching at some pace now and while I was out in the garden doing a bit of tidying up Ollie followed me around hoping for a chance of playing ball. You would think he was a kitten sometimes instead of at least 10 years old.    It was lovely to see the last of the butterflies on the sedum ,it has been a very good year for spotting them but I have  not seen that many Red Admirals  and I can remember a time when the sedum was covered in them.  On our trip up to The Lakes we had a lovely afternoon sail out on Ullswater. We boarded at Pooley Bridge and the trip lasted 2 hours as we stayed on for the complete round trip. It was a beautiful autumn afternoon and the views were quite spectacular.  This boat was first commissioned  for use in Dartmouth just after WW2 but was restored and put into use on Ullswater in 2007. Out on Ullswater A Misty morning  down At Derwentwater   Me on the jetty...

 Last week I took myself off to Keswick and spent a quiet week taking my camera out and about and also reading, writing, scrapbooking and painting. It was great!    On the Tuesday it looked to be the best day of the week weather wise so I got the bus to Grasmere, a 20 minute bus ride from Keswick to stroll around the ancient village that is so closely associated with William Wordsworth and his family. I wanted to visit Allan Bank ,the house on the hill , overlooking Grasmere ,that he and his family rented for a few years after they left Dove Cottage as it was becoming too crowded for their  growing family.    So after buying some tasty Gingerbread from the famous shop I set off up the little lane that runs up from the village centre. It's a lovely walk and probably very little has changed since William walked along this way each day to the village . Autumn was turning the trees to russet and gold and all around ther...