Exotic Reptiles

A couple of weeks ago I visited a studio run by Angi Nelson http://anginelsonphotography.foliopic.com/ her portraits and models are stunning, but she has a great interest in  reptiles and amphibians.  I cannot hope to remember the names of all these creatures but I will do my best.

This guy is a Crested Geko, with a very long tounge! actually he had just beensprayed with water which is what he loves and was getting a bit of rehydration.

This is a baby crocadile and to guage his size here he is having a love in with Angi

 

 

 

This is a Green Tree Python, yes I know it looks yellow but that is what it is called beware it’s deadly fangs!!

Paradise Snake, to me this looks like an elegant piece of jewelry designed by Coco Chanel for the Duchess of Winsor, so elegant and decorative even when taking a sip of water!

Similarly is the Mangrove Snake another reptile that could grace any jewellery box, but watch out for his vicious tongue!

These are the stars of the show, White’s Tree Frogs, they just st there and looked so cute absolute stars they just loved being photographed.

And that concludes the show for today, we had a wonderful experience with Angi, she lent me some of her photographic equipment and gave me good advise on how to get the best shots, and I was pleased with my results.

Hope you all enjoyed our visit to Swindon

Susan x

 

 

 

 

 

Pond Party

Well at last Spring is on it’s way, and on a visit to the wild life pond in the garden I noticed the frogs were very active, it remided me of the Paul McCartney song many years ago but has stayed lodged in my memory!

http://youtu.be/0auCDOERZyE

However I got my camera and these shots were taken over a period of about five days.

These two found a quiet and secluded spot for a bit of courting!

The product of all this excitement, a  good mother stays with her infants.

But others just party on forming a conga line and hoping that the champagne will continue to flow!

Don’t be fooled, he is standing on the corner watching all the girls go by!

Ah he has found a willing party goer

But did she leave him sad and lonely?

What ever !  When the party is over It is over and there will be no more activity till next year when yes you’v guessed it I will have my camera at the ready. but in the mean time watch this space if I can get some of the babies to pose they will certainly be here.

Last week I did a reptile shoot with some friends and some very exotic creatures, here is a taster.  More about these little darling to come ……Keep watching!

Susan x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Valentine’s Day

February 14 means different things to us all for me this year it is the day I became a Septagenarian! And I can assure you all that I feel no different, just as young at heart as ever!

As you can imagin I had lots of flowers all very beautiful, we had a busy few days with parties and family visiting, when all was quiet again I went to tidy up the vases of flowers only to find the daisies, carnations etc all still beautiful but the red roses given to me by my husband were, dried, wrinkled and in a sorry state! Preparing to throw them out I decided all was not lost as there was still beauty in their decay.

I call this St Valentines Day Massacre! These beautiful roses are forced into bloom for this particular day they have been stored for weeks in low temprature so the shops will have vast quantities to sell to the all adoring lovers, and a commercial success.

Part of the Birthday celebrations was a trip to RHS Wisley, and a trip to see the butterflies flying free in the New Glass House.  How lucky were we to be able to see these beautiful creatures up close.

This is a Blue Morphous, I am told we were lucky to catch it with its wings open to reveal the beautiful colour

This is the usual view

And here is a different variation, the metalic effect it to confuse preditors, so very beautiful!

We walked back up through the gardens passed the lake of ‘Fire & Ice’ for a spot of lunch and homeward a very lovely Birthday

Thank you for shairing it with me

Susan

Amaryillis

Just before Christmas I bought a dried up old bulb of an Amaryillis from a supermarket, and with a little TLC this is what we all need.l need it bloomed.

We had weeks of pleasure.  Now it has died down and we have but a memory …..untill next year when with any luck it will bloom again

Suk ix

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

We are so lucky to have so many well cared for open spaces and one I particularly love here in London is Kew.  Given to the Nation by Queen Victoria it’s history goes way back.  All is here and preserved for our delight.

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We visited on New Years Day which started off bright and clear but eventually reduced to pouring rain, but as the most spectacular plants in January are in the glass houses this did not spoil our day.  Our first stop was the Palm House which is a beautiful Victorian building with a wrought iron spiral staircase to a high level viewing gallery.

Carring on down the staicase we come to the aquatic plant section here fish of fantastic colours swim amoungst amazing plants

I followed this couple all around the Palm house (not intentionally) but did hope to get

A good shot of the HAT, thought this was nice with the lighing from the tank.

On our way over to the Princess of Wales Greenhouse we met this little fellow.  This is where the more tropical plants are kept.

Keep will clear of these Omnivorous plants they may look pretty and harmless but there was the odd shoe and pair of specs laying about!

But the most spectacular of of course the orchids

Along with a couple of other stunners.

After a lovely carvery meal in The Orangery resturant we headed around the M25 in the pouring rain, a wonderful day thanks to or frinds Jenni and Bob especially Bob who did all the driving

Hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we did!

 

Suki x

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

PEACE AND HAPPINESS TO ALL AT CHRISTMAS

You can view your card here  Click the link to see my christmas card to you!

 

Love Suki x

 

Autumn in the Wildwood

Autumn is a beautiful time in the Wildwood, and so far this year it has been reasonably dry with crisp days and bright blue skies, the sunlight slants through the trees giving a beautiful clear but dappled light.

 It appears to be a very good year for fungi, and there are so many varied types about many are poisonous and some are very good to eat, never eat anything that you are not completely sure of.

This one was tiny about .5cm across, with the light shining behind the group gave it a translucent look.

 This is called The Miller, see how frilly it is growing in a circle with about ten others

Here it is from a different angle with added fly interest!

This is the famous Fly Agaric, poisonous but rarely fatel has hallucinogenic properties.

              

And here is a Shaggy Ink Cap and two Shaggy Parasols.

 These are oyster mushrooms growing on the side of a dead log so dark and well camouflaged I did not see them at first but an animal had found them before me and had eaten half the far side away I think I was lucky to get this shot intact.

 And lastly this tiny little fellow less than half a centimeter across and growing in the moss on a dead log with the sun behind it shows the colour and markings off really well.

Autumn is not over yet but we are moving closer into winter, so I think there will be more walks in the Wildwood to come

I hope you enjoyed this walk with me and didn’t fall down too many hole and if you are of the canine persuasion I trust you found plenty of wild life to chase

Stay well be happy and enjoy life

Suki x

Bushey park and the Rut

Autumn is a beautiful time of year and this year the colours are exceptional!  It has been dry and mild, so we decided on a trip to Bushey Park to get some shots of the Deer Rutting.  We needed to get there early to get the best light and action, so I set my alarm for 4.30.

We arrived at 7 am just as they were opening the gates and as you can see it was just getting light and there was quite a bit of mist, but I think this adds to the atmosphere, this fine fellow was bellowing to show who was the boss.

Another stag answered the air was full of their bellowing.  These are Red Deer and Bushey Park is one of the Royal parks close to the Thames and a few miles from the centre of London.  As it got lighter the Autumnal colouring begins to show it’s self such a beautiful place.

 

The idea is to make themselves look as big and as fearce as possible so they decorate their antlers with the bracken.  This is just the begining these are just young buck vieing with each other and practicing for when they are big enough to tackle the ‘Leader of the pack’

They clash horns and also wallow in the mud hole, perhaps this makes them more attractive to the girls! 

But there is a genteler side here is a Fallow deer having a bit of attention from some Jackdaws.

The young does herd together and gossip about the boys antics

And some stags just sit quietly and bide their time!

Isn’t nature wonderful?  I feel so privaledged to be able to visit this place, even though it isn’t completley in the wild  they are not in captivity either.

I hope you enjoyed our visit to the park today if you did watch this space I have been out looking for a ‘Funguy’ ******** coming soon

Stay well and happy

Suki x

 

The Wild Life in Norfolk

We love Norfolk it is a wonderfully diverse county with plenty to do for all, so I was more than please when time for our Autumn break there came around.   We spent many holidays at West Runton at a caravan site called Ingleborough Fields  when our children were small and thought we would like to revisit and see how it had changed.  Well thankfully the toilet block had been refurbished LOL, but apart from that everything seemed to be as nature intended, a quiet woodland site next to a golf course and about 5 minutes walk into the vilage. 

Our first trip out was to Holkham thinking that we would visit the Hall, but when we got to the park it was so beautiful we spent the whole time walking around and enjoying the Fallow Deer who had just started the Rut .

Here are two young buck who were anoying the big daddy with there antics  but giving us a good show

And this little fellow thought he would keep out of their way for a bit.

I always love to go and see the seals on the beach when we visit Norfolk, we were a bit early for all the usual mating rituals (unlike the deer) The beach we go to requires a 40 min walk and it was blowing a gale so when we reached the beach we were well and truly sand blasted, well you pay good money at a beauty salon to have the top layer of skin peeled away! 

We were told by the locals that the seals had not arrived yet but when we got there we saw a couple cavorting in the shallow surf, when I set up the camera at the waters edge I am sure they were performing just for me and gave me a great show.

We retired to the sand dunes to eat our cheese french bread and drink the red wine, the Gray Nomads know how to live it up! 

The village of Sherringham is well known for ‘The Poppy Line’ a fully functioning steam railway.

 Trains run frequently during the Summer and as it was half term there were plenty of visitors.  It take about 2 hours to go to Holt and back stopping half way to refill the boiler with water.  All run by voulenteers, all very efficient would not let you on the train unless they saw your ticket no matter that they had just sold it to you 5 minutes before. 

 Any way lovely countryside along the coast and through the woodlands in the beautiful Autumn colurs.

End of October and the Motor home is put into storage for the winter, but fear not we shall find plenty to do in the coming months, watch out for our trip to Bushey Park and the Rut in full swing!

Thanks for stopping by

Suki x

Wool Gathering

Our travels for September took us to the West Country, but first stopping off in Hampshire for a Silver Wedding party and on to Dorset for a new hair do (my sis in law is a hairdresser) and a Birthday celebration.

Onwards then to Devon where we visited a lovely lady call Sharon http://www.fivemoons.co.uk/ who runs a company called Five Moons we visited her studio where she creates the most beautiful hand painted yarn.  Her studio was wall to ceiling wool and knitting of every conceivable type, lovely to see her and her work, she gave us a demo of how she treats the wool and of course I came away with some purchases.

Heres one I made earlier from Laceweight yarn

This is 4 ply

These are both Baby Alpaca, silk and cashmere, beautifully light and soft.

As we were close by we then visited Coldharbour mill which is a museum dedicated to the manufacture of wool.  Wonderful volunteer staff who explained the working of the mill and how children as young as five were set to work for a pittance. 

            

 Delightful shop and P said have what your want I will pay!!!…. Say no more a nod is a good as a wink! Well amongst other fibres I bought some carded wool tops, more about those later.

Alpaca

Undyed Merino

Carded Wool Tops

We parked the Motor home within a few minuets walk of a fantastic pub called the Hair and Hounds just outside Honiton they had a very comprehensive menu and also a cavery which was my meal of choice every night! We were able to use the local bus service to visit Honiton and Sidmouth. All to soon it was time to move on and make our way home, stopping at Chippenham to collect the spinning wheel I bought on EBay

Well here it is!

 

This is the flyer and as you can see there is some work going on!

 

 

This is the yarn made from the Carded Wool Tops I bought at Coldharbour!

 

So I am very pleased with my new toy and as you can see it will not be going back on Ebay.

 

Thank you very much Maxine and Gary for my lovely spinning wheel!