Wildabout art

Taivas has something to tell you!
Her Mum, Karen has started a new blog
Karen is an amateur artist working in coloured pencils and her blog is about her art. If you click on the title of this post you will open the link to her blog. Go visit her and see what you think!

The last few days have been much colder and we have had a lot of drizzly rain. This morning we walked at Shatterford and the rain did not start until we were back at the car. The area around here is very boggy and there are numerous little bridges crossing the swampy areas. We saw some beautiful marsh marigolds, lots of cotton grass and hawthorne blossom on the trees.
When we crossed over one area of bog Taivas managed to get herself marooned on an island and was very reluctant to get wet to eturn to us , finally she gave a big leap and landed splat in the bog. I did not get a photo as i was laughing so much!
Just as we got back to the carpark we came across this sweet little foal on very wobbly long legs! We did not stay admiring her for long as we didn't want to disturb her and it was just starting to rain.

Raffles is waiting.......

Raffles is waiting.......
Originally uploaded by sure2talk.

Ilove this photo of Raffles that Karen took today

Taivas peers into the swamp, whilst Missy looks perplexed. She cannot understand Taivas's aversion to swimming!

Woodfidley passage, near shatterford. I love ssome of these place names.

Todays foal was still very wobbly and we did not stay long.

Marsh marigolds growing in shatterford bog

Hawthorn Blossom


The little bridges that cross the swamp

Its Windy

It was very breezy this morning. We went to the High Corner Inn to start our walk. It is a very short walk from here to Broomy Inclosure. This is one of the few places in the forest where the Bluebells are prolific and can be photographed. They smelt heavenly and the sun came out long enough for a few photos. The trees are at their best now, dressed in their fresh green leaves. We then left the Inclosure and walked along the banks of Dockens Water, before returning to the Inn. On our way home we stopped off at Cadman's Pond to see the ducks. Still no sign of any goslings, but we will keep checking.

Bluebells in Broomy Inclosure. I have just learnt that nearly half the worlds bluebells are here in Britain, so i guess we are very lucky.

Cadman's Pond

Yellow iris

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

A few Wild flowers today

Marsh Marigold

Bogbean

Common Crows Foot

A stroll in the sunshine at Slufters Pond

This afternoon we went for a walk at Slufters Pond. It was warm and we went down to the lily pond, there were lots of tadpoles but no lilies yet. As we went down the slope we could see a small group of fallow does in the distance, eventually they spotted us and skipped up the hill the other side. We spotted them in the distance several more times on our walk

This group of Fallow deer had been quietly grazing as we came down the slope but they scampered up the other side when they spotted us.

Here they have just seen us and decided it is time to go

Quietly grazing

Todays Foal

The Lilypond at Slufters....too early for the lilys.

Missy and Raffles want a biscuit

A day at Marwell Zoo

Karen and I spent the day at Marwell Zoo. Marwell is only about 30 minutes drive from here , but I had never been there before. It is a fairly small Zoo, but many of the animals are endangered species and the Zoo participates in breeding and conservation programmes.
Although it was a sunny day there was a very cool breeze and we were both glad we had taken jackets with us.
We arrived as the Zoo opened and many of the animals were eating breakfast. We were there for 6 hours and only just managed to walk round once, taking our time to stop and observe the animals. We were surprised at the way many people were rushing round, often assuming that the paddocks were empty, when in fact the animals were quietly lying camouflaged by their surroundings. We took our time and enjoyed the animals.

The amusing Meerkats

Emperor Tamarin

Chameleon

Golden Headed Lion Tamarin

Maru I really like these strange rodents that look like rabbit/deer crosses!

The Giraffes were inside feeding and it was a little dark

Marwell has lots of Zebras.

Penguins

East African crowned Crane

Kookaburra

Another Visit to the Ducklings

Foals at Fritham

The foals are everywhere in the forest now.Below we have a meeting of the Fritham mar and foal group. There are three foals in the shot and , there were two more near by.