The lions of Longleat

Had a day out yesterday with my son and his family. We visited Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire.

We saw lots of animals including the famous lions

and tigers (my favourite)

The young fallow deer came right up to the cars looking for food.

Just the right time of year for visiting if you like flowers. The rose gardens are beautiful and full of the amazing scent of the flowers.

This is the 50 year old silver back gorilla who lives on the island in the lake. He is alone now since his partner died about 5 years ago. He has his own little house on the island with a television and his favourite programme is Spongebob Squarepants. Not a very clear picture taken from the boat. He is very grey because of his age, a bit like me!

I just had to hold this lovely big spider

but Zachariah preferred the snake (which I would not touch!)

"I will lead you through the maze"

But maybe we needed someone taller. We didn't make it to the centre and I became rather claustrophobic and decided we should find our way out, or stay all night.

Not sure Zachariah liked Postman Pat

No definitely not!

The Giraffe sculpture is rather nice though.

"Look at me, I'm Spider man"

It was a lovely day and though rain threatened it didn't actually come.

Lost bird

Forgot to mention this unusual visitor to the garden last week. We are not very far from the sea but it is the first time I have seen a seagull in the garden. This one wandered down the drive one wet day. I think he must have been lost.

Back in the garden

Looks like summer has arrived in the garden. The first picture here is of Stuart's potatoes. They are growing so fast. Can't wait for them to be ready to eat.

The bees are very busy still lots of sweet white flowers around for them

Time for the roses now.

I have found a second strange spider on the purple clematis. This one is a Cucumber green spider.

The blue tits and great tits have now fledged and these are two young great tits fending for themselves on the patio. Saw a pair of bullfinches 3 times this week but didn't have the camera handy at the time. Also had a visit to the feeder by a nuthatch.

Still lots of activity in the pond, even though the water still looks a bit green. Newts are very elusive but if you stand for a while they do pop up to the surface now and again. Still lots of legless tadpoles around ( I mean literally, they have not had too much to drink). Can't understand why they are so slow developing. Still find occasional dead ones floating around and some very small live ones.

The picture below shows a pair of damselflies mating. You can also see a tadpole and a few other little pond creatures that managed to get in the picture too.

This is a little 14 spot ladybird I found on Stuart's potatoes. It only measures 4 mm. and was difficult to photograph. I think I got it ok though

Today in the garden

Cold wet windy day today. This morning I spotted a blue tit with 2 fledglings on my patio and also a great tit with 4 on the washing line. No chance of a photograph though. Don't know if they are the ones from my nest boxes but I haven't seen any activity in them for a day or two so presume they have flown the nest. There must also be many nests in the hedges and shrubs around the garden so could have come from one of those.

Also saw a greedy robin, with a green caterpillar hanging out of its beak, trying to fill its beak with bread crumbs. I am surprised it didn't drop the caterpillar. Hope it made it back to his nest and gave it to the young ones. (better for them than the bread)

On the garden steps today were several broken snail shells so I presume a thrush must have been using the steps as an anvil to get some juicy snails.

The primula vialli is open more now and such an attractive new addition to my garden.

The wind has damaged a lot of flowers today and many of the poppies have lost their petals

Yellow flag irises by the pond.

Ox-eye daisy in my little wild meadow area.

A day in Middle Earth

On Saturday we went to Middle Earth Weekend with our grandchildren. This is held annually in Birmingham at Sarehole Mill near to where J RR Tolkein lived as a child. It is the place that gave him the inspiration for middle Earth in his Lord of the Ring books.

There were lots of interesting things for the children to see and do and some quite viscous natives.

Jasmine enjoyed her candy floss

And Zachariah ate most of his ice cream

Daddy managed to finish what he couldn't eat

Jakob and Stuart wanted to try on all the knight's equipment

Jakob tried on the heavy chain mail which weighed 3 stone and had 20,000 metal links

We saw wizards and strange tree people

And is this a tiger?

Finally a try at archery, which is harder than it looks

Looks like we brought a fairy home from middle earth!

Wednesday in the garden

This is the resident of bird box number 2. A pair of blue-tits were bringing a regular supply of fat green caterpillars today. They pop in and out so fast it is difficult to photograph them. Just caught this one with its head popping out.

These are a new addition to my garden and are planted at the edge of the pond. they are primula viallii.

Lots of flowers in the garden at the and they attracting numerous bumble bees. Lupins, forget me nots, geraniums and allium in flower at the moment in the flower bed

Garden update

Good news on the nest boxes. A lot of activity going on in both of them so I think there must be young in them now. This one at the bottom of the garden has somehow been knocked sideways, by what I don't know. It hasn't disturbed the pair of great tits nesting in it. This one has what looks like a juicy caterpillar in its beak. I have seen blue tits in and out of the other box but not managed to catch them with my camera yet.

Today there were a lot of honey bees buzzing around the cotoneaster. If you look closely you can see very full pollen sacs on its legs. No sign of any honey bees. Maybe it is a bit early for them or not warm enough yet. It has been a bit chilly today and quite windy

The pond water is still looking rather green, but not maybe as bad as it was. I have put two doses of barley straw extract in but not sure how long it takes to show any effect.

Saw a newt in there again after going a week or more with no sighting.

Still a few tadpoles but their numbers seem to be diminishing. None with legs yet.

The bright summer flowers are starting to open, and typically it has started to rain the last few days. This ruins the large blooms as it tends to wash the petals away.

Clematis above and below

This lovely large poppy has beautiful flowers and has been here since we moved into the house 16 years ago. Pity the flowers don't last long, especially when it rains.