Saturday 19 September 2009

In and around Manchester

We spent a few days with my parents last weekend, enjoying their garden in late summer. The flowers were lovely and there were red admirals, commas and white butterflies fluttering around. The shadows above are on my parents' lawn.

While we were there we visited Rivington Pike, a lovely area of the West Pennine Moors. We also visited Martin Mere, a Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve. This reserve has a wonderful collection of wildfowl from around the world, including the ne-ne, a Hawaiian goose that the WWT were instrumental in saving from extinction. The ne-nes and the snow geese ate from my hand! The reserve also has extensive wetlands which are roosting grounds for large numbers of geese and wildfowl during the winter months. We were too early to see many of these birds, but there were some whooper swans, wigeon and teals, plus a good sized flock of lapwings, lovely in their butterfly style flight.



After our time with my parents, we went on to Dumfries for a few days - more about that to follow! But for now there's a Shadow Shot from near Dumfries over on my Over Forty Shades blog, you can see it here.

18 comments:

A Wild Thing said...

It all sounds so exotic...as I was driving home from work last night at dusk, a huge blue heron flew out of the river bank right over my truck, scared the b-Jesus outta me, but what a grand bird to behold.

Enjoy the day!

Sylvia K said...

Lovely shadow shot! Looks even lovelier when you realize these are the last days of summer!

Happy SSS!

Sylvia

Paula Scott Molokai Girl Studio said...

Reminds me of lace, those patterns do.

Rambling Woods said...

I would love to visit a refuge for waterfowl as I have really come to appreciate them here on the pond. .. Michelle

Gerald (Ackworth born) said...

Haha your shadows are not disimilar to mine except mine are 3 years old and from Helsinki.

Dianne said...

dappled shadows are so restful and lovely

LOL - the word verify is "worry"
must be my karma ;)

Beverley Baird said...

Such a lovely shadow!

Thomma Lyn said...

Oh wow, I love both your shadow shots. I love taking/seeing pictures of how light and shadow play together.

poefusion said...

how cool you got the ne- nes and snow geese to eat from your hand. i got to feed a giraffe at the zoo when we went this summer. it took the cracker from my hand so gently. i'll never forget that moment.

glad you guys had such a nice time. that shadow shot is nice too. have a great night.

Mistlethrush said...

Rivington Pike & Mere Sands are just round the corner from me! Glad you enjoyed them

GalleryJuana said...

Love all the green!

Gina said...

gorgeous sprawling green shadows! :)

Rosebud Collection said...

Beautiful shadow. Everything sounds so peaceful..It is so sad for me to see summer end. I enjoy the birds and only a few will stay here in the winter.

Magical Mystical Teacher said...

Shadows on the lawn
urge me to recline and rest,
savoring the dark.

Sam said...

This is gorgeous! I love your description of your day too with all the birds and butterflies about.I'm so glad you stopped by my blog! Thank you!

Sara Chapman in Seattle, USA said...

Ooh, I just love this shadow shot. Great one! So evocative of great weather, lovely time you are having.

dianasfaria.com said...

birds singing, I love that. & your shadows are lovely!

EG CameraGirl said...

Sounds like you had some very pleasant days away in the countryside, The shadows are wonderful!