Longleat

We spent the Day at Longleat. After a damp start it turned into another Hot Summers Day. it was not too busy when we drove through the safari park and we managed to get some good views of the animals. After Lunch we had a boat trip on the lake to see the sealions and hippos and then we went into the bat cave. It is a wonderful feeling to have bats whizzing silently past you. I was really pleased that I managed to get a half decent shot. It is dark in the cave and I did not think the photos would come out . (However with an Fstop of 1.4 and Iso of 3200 a little photo editing to remove some noise I was pleased with the result)
We finished the day with a tour of the house.

The Hawk Conservancy Trust

I have become a member of the Hawk Conservancy Trust so I can make lots more visits. It really is a great day out. Three Flying displays which are absolutely breathtaking and plenty of chances to get good close up shots of these wonderful birds.

Cheyenne the Bald headed eagle comes in to land
Danebury the other Bald headed eagle went walk about during the flying display and was later found swimming in a river. He was back safly before we left.
Mollie is a beautiful Great Grey owl
Here cheyenne is having a lot to say.
One of the American Kites flying

A Walk with Missy

A Typical walk with Missy and Huck. Huck is a ball that floats in water and is Missy's favourite toy. She just loves to run and chase him. She is so quck it is not often I manage to get a photo as she leaps to catch him.

Dragonsand Damsels

With the recent wam weather , the dragons and damsels have been waking up. This is a male Beautiful Demoiselle. They really glitter in the sunshine and are so pretty as they fly along the streams.
This is a Broad bodied chaser and they are often found flying over forest ponds.
This Fourspotted chaser was newly emerged and drying his wings he was quite happy to sit on karens finger and pose.
here a pair of large red damselflies are mating.
It is rare to see an adder in the wild as they usually slither away before you see them. This one had been basking on the path and we disturbed him. We had some friends paying a brief visit from Canada and Paige heard the hiss , looked down and there he was. Having decided we weren't really a threat or something tasty to eat he posed for the cameras before slithering away.