A Few Days in St Leonards Upon Sea

Crab claw

Minnie, Arty and I popped down to the south coast for a few days to spend some time with my Mum.  Minnie was very excited about going down to the seaside, but the weather wasn’t particularly good and there was only one (very windy) day that it was possible.  However, the weather doesn’t affect sitting and chatting over coffee and it was really nice to catch up with my Mum and my second eldest (who’s currently staying with her whilst working on his holidays from university) and for my Mum to have the opportunity to meet Arty for the first time.

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52 Weeks of Nature :: July Week 4

We popped to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park with my eldest son and his girlfriend (for her birthday) and I took a few snaps whilst we were there.

A rabbit hanging out at the camel’s water trough.

Ringtailed Lemurs in the sun.

Marmoset and armadillo

The park now has a pair of armadillos living with the marmosets and they are massively entertaining little creatures; constantly on the go, head down, full throttle!

I managed to get a photo of my eldest son with Stinkers (it’s not often I get snaps of my eldest sons, let alone with the younger ones!)

52 Weeks of Nature :: July Week 3

We moved to our current house from a lovely village on the outskirts of Doncaster.  Occasionally we like to go back and visit (as we only moved along to the next-but-one village on the bus route).

There’s a lovely plant nursery there with a wonderful public garden that is one of my favourite places to visit locally.  We arranged to meet up with some friends in the cafe there before going for a walk around the gardens, but arrived a little early, so took some time to walk up and down the lane nearby.

Gold winners at Chelsea Flower Show, Walkers Nursery, as I said, is a favourite destination, not only for me, but for the children and after some very nice drinks and cakes we let the children loose in the gardens.

Birds Foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)

A tiny forget-me-not – not sure which one.

One of the most unusual things we found are these cracks in the ground, which we guessed were caused by the coniferous trees in this area sucking up all the moisture from the ground around.

We also found what looks like a raspberry growing in the recess of a tree!

We are blessed to have such a wonderful place on our doorstep!

52 Weeks of Nature :: July Week 1

As more than a few of my posts here attest, we live close to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park and, being annual pass holders, it’s somewhere that we visit a lot.  However, the Wildlife Park offers more than the expected ‘exotic’ species – open your eyes and there are various more well-known and recognisable flora and fauna to be found (and one day I’ll remember to bring our binoculars to have a good look out over the wetlands that border the park!)

We often see rabbits, both on our walk to the park and within it.

The children noticed a tiny little moorhen chick following its mother in and out of the reeds.

Black horehound (Ballota nigra) (?) in the hedgerow.

A ladybird instar – clearly not far off being an actual ladybird.

Oh, and a Red River Hog. Not a British hog, but a favourite of mine at the park, so I’ve included him just because I can!

30 Days Wild :: Day 24

 

There were plenty of bees buzzing around the poppies and the raspberries are ripening on the green at the end of the road.  I imagine Moo will be keeping a close eye on them!  Not sure on the flower on the right, think it may be fumitory.

Minnie with her choice of stick and cones for the day.

Beautiful clear blue skies.