Something Exotic

A couple of shots today taken in the tropical forest at Chester Zoo. I won't pretend that I know what they are but they are beautiful.

A Floral Fanfare

I picked these three pictures because I think each one of the flowers makes a statement. They are so incredibly beautiful and that is all I am going to say.

Enjoy!

It's A Cornflower...

Today sees the start of a run of colour as I post pictures of some of the flowers I saw at Towneley Hall and gardens in Burnley on a recent visit.  I had a recommendation to visit and at first it seemed a long way to go but it was well worth it. The gardens overall were quite quiet, even though it was the start of a bank holiday weekend and there were ots of different flowers to see, and a nice lawn to sit and relax on for a while doing some people watching.

So for today I have chosen a selection of pictures of Cornflowers. I love the vibrant blue and deep purple and I love the bud with serrated leaves that fold away to expose the beautiful flower. I'm sure you will agree it's a beauty...

Reeds and Abstract Reflections

On the one bright and sunny day we have had in ages I went back to Mere Sands in the hope of getting some shots of birds in good light. However there were hardly any birds there to be seen.  Thinking that my luck really has been bad recently I sat and looked out across the lake and was struck by the colourful reflections and so I decided to make the most of my day out and take pictures of something different.

In the first of today's pictures I like the colour of the reeds which shone gold in the sunlight. The second shot is of tree trunks reflected in the gently rippling water, looking at it now I think like the bottom half of the picture more than the image as a whole because there is greater distortion and more abstract quality.

The third and fourth images are of the same area with more reflections of the trees and the sky visible through the naked branches. These are much more abstract images than the first two and it is the richness of the colours and the patterns which make these pictures my favourites.

Back at the Bird Zoo...

As promised yesterday I have posted a few more pictures of wildfowl from Martin Mere.  We get used to seeing the same species of ducks and geese but as these pictures show there is a huge variety of different species, I won't even begin to pretend I know what they are but they are in my opinion really beautiful creatures. I love the different colours and and various shapes and sizes which best equip them for their specific environment.

We are lucky to have places like Martin Mere which allow us to get up close to so many species such as these.  Why not plan a day at your nearest WWT site, go with friends, take a picnic and of course take a camera... you know I will.

Autumn Leaves

Between 1988 and 1990 I was lucky enough to play alto saxophone in a swing band, I wasn't very good to be honest and I didn't play for long enough to really develop any skill but it was always a real buzz to play on stage.  I know this blog is about photography but when I decided on the title for today's post I remembered one of the tunes I really enjoyed playing so here's a link to Autumn Leaves played by Miles Davis which is well worth a listen.

Back to the photos though... Today I am posting a few more shots from my morning walk in Delamere Forest on Saturday.

The first one is a splash of colour, as I was setting up to take this picture the peace was shattered firstly by a Jay crying out in alarm and then two dogs barking at me, I greeted the dogs but they continued barking and kept a safe distance from me.  Their owner commented "don't mind them, they've never seen anything like you before"  I didn't quite know how to respond to that so I wished her a good morning and got back to taking pictures.

The second image was taken from underneath the trees in the first one looking along the path which I followed into the forest.

The third picture has less vibrancy with predominantly green shades and just a slight hint of orange, giving promise perhaps of richer colours to come.