Final view

Hi folks.

Last few, I have completed our Wednesdays trip with glorious sunshine, it was the best trip I think we have had there and we never even got to the castle.

I think it is well worth the £18-50 for a year in this place and £16 for us, Trevor has had his monies worth already and you have all year for free, and the place changes every time we go there.

A larger view of were the swan nest was in the first Leeds Castle blog. It was so exciting to be able to get so close to the nests without bothering the swans.

Looking across the upper lake, another one of Sues shots, I think I will retire, hey I have already, sort of.

There seems to me more white Swans there than usual this year.

Swan in the shade. I liked the different light on the body, white Swans are so difficult to shoot due to over exposure.

This was a bit of a challenge with two different coloured swans together light wise and in the shade but with a bit of post processing I think I got there.

This one was taken so that we can see the arch growing throughout the year.
Sue caught us off guard in this last one, if you look closely you can see two tired photographers sitting on a seat. I think I will confiscate her camera if this is how she is going to carry on.

Back towards the exit.

Hope you enjoyed Leeds Castle. we are so lucky to have it so close to us.

nite nite, luv Mike XX

Quackers!!

Hi folks,

as we had such a great day Wednesday, I thought a few more would be in order.

These Mallards were enjoying the sun.

and getting up to antics, time to roll over.

Well it's so hot in here it's the only way to cool off and it's only March. Think I'll fly north for the summer.

This is better now we are in the shade.

Wot you lot looking at!

Another one of Sues scenes.

She was really getting into the swing of it with this Peacock, well done that lady.

This was a turn up for the books, this is only the second time I have seen a Moorhen out of water.

And a Coot, my wot big feet you have? " all the better for swimming with". This is were the saying as bald as a coot comes from, honest.

Come on they exclaimed it's time for dinner.

Hold on I said, let me get just one more shot.

Well it was time to go home and I nearly cried like our little Daisy.

Thanks for looking I hope you enjoyed our day as much as we did.

nite nite, luv Mike. XX

Spring time at Leeds Castle

Hi folks,

well what a glorious day to go to the Castle to take pictures, even our Sue dusted off her Christmas present and had a go. We were like the three Musketeers with our cameras and had a lovely day in the sunshine. We walked so slow taking pictures that after about one and a half hours we were all worn out. ( poor old souls)

This was the scene when we arrived and my, the place was alive with beauty and wonderful wildlife. The sun was beating down and who would have thought it was still March, what a great day to be alive.

You could see that spring had sprung and we were greeted with this magnificent specitical of nature with the Black Swan looking after her rather large egg in the nest. That nest looks a bit large and I am sure that it is built further up stream by the waterfall as this happened last year and it broke free and floated down stream to were it is now. Note the stick which I think the keepers put in to stop the nest moving further down stream.

Then Sue had a go at this Black Swan, she waited and waited for something to happen, he was rooting around on the bottom, then........................

then it did, in he went in with a splash, well done Sue, into the sun as well.

There were loads of wildfowl on the lakes. This is a Canada Goose

This duck was enjoying himself is it a Scaup, I think, dont shoot me I ain't a bird watcher?

I cant get too much of Daffodils this tine of the year, here's another one of Sues, she's into scenes you see, crouching down to get the shot.

To finish off, I got this Magnificent Peacock, strutting his stuff but the female looks totally disinterested perhaps it's because she's the wrong colour.

Well that's it for tonight, I will see if I can drag out a few more tomorrow.

Thanks for looking,

nite nite, luv Mike XX

Daisy cheers me up!

Hi folks,

with yesterday well and truly out of the way it's time to solider on till consultation day on Monday and yet another trip to London.

Well onwards and upwards, Sue is out so I have put Little Legs to bed and read her a story like I usually do. Bless her it really helped having her today to take my mind off other things and that's just what she did.

First off we had to wait for a car to be taken away so I got out a bike that Keith a neighbour had given Daisy a few months ago, it was still a bit big for her but we tried a trip around the green with a piece of rope tied to the front so that I could pull her along.  All she had to do was steer and brake, it worked out very well and we did a circuit of the green before getting ready to go out.

Sandwiches at the ready off we went to Capstone Park and sat and had lunch by the lake before doing a circuit around to the swings.

The lake was very quite with not many birds around at all, a few gulls but not a sign of any Cormorants or Geese, all in all very quiet except for this Coot swimming across the lake on its' own. There were a few Ducks on the island asleep in the sunshine but not much else.

Off to the play area we went and after a few minutes we realised that she had her new trainers on so we had to leave the park with loads of tears and go home for her old Nursery shoes.

She had also forgotten her camera so we picked it up and went the Luton Rec Play area to give that a go as there were no children in sight. Off went Miss Bailey snapping away to her hearts content with her Lego camera.  I kid you not, its case is really Lego and you can alter the design by adding bricks to it. It works quite well as you saw in the last blog and she is learning to press the shutter without moving the camera.

With the advent of the Olympics, Daisy is getting ready the the 2032 or what ever session, as you can see the play area was still deserted.

She really doesn't mind playing on her own but when another child entered the play area Daisy latches onto then and follows them about to try and make friends. This is a newly designed slide without the conventional ladder which she soon got to grips with.

Daisy, still on her own but she is quite happy playing.

Back home a very tired Daisy had her tea and was soon off to bed.

Oh the Daffodils, well just before our neighbour and good friend Margaret went to Australia a couple of days ago she gave Sue some flowers which have now bloomed. As she will be following the blog in Oz I thought she would like to see them. Hope you had a good trip out there, we followed you with plane finder to Singapore then lost the connecting flight to Australia. It was fascinating to watch as she travelled all the way to Heathrow and came back by plane across Maidstone and crossed the Channel at Deal going across Europe and Brussels. We then went to bed.

Well that's it. another Daisy Day over and a happy Michael.

Thanks for looking.

nite nite, luv Mike XX

Back again!

Hi folks,

Well I must say I prefer this on, shoosh, dont tell blogger.

I will never forget Eileen' s birthday after the day I had yesterday.

Please forgive me as there is a lot going on here at the moment and I am struggling to cope. Will try to get a proper blog up tonight it I dont get too many distractions.

This is one Daisy took with her Lego Camera last week, I think we had all better watch out.

Have a good day and thanks for looking.

Cheers, luv Mike XX

On the move

Hi folks,

please try http://ekim.zenfolio.com/blog

just setting up please bear with me.

nite nite, luv Mike XX

My take on Loose Village, Maidstone

Hi folks,

Last Wednesday Sue Trev and myself took a trip to Loose after dropping Daisy at Nursery. It was a pleasant day except that we arrived late in the day with long shadows to contend with.

This house is one of the most photographed ones in the village, next to the stream.

Looking up the valley towards Maidstone, this house is up for sale, I wonder how much?

This is a Hebridean Sheep, click on the link to find out more.

Spring is now well under way

This tree caught my eye

After a ten minute walk we came across this scene further along the valley.

Getting back to the pub and the end of our day

This Mallard was asking for a picture. What's up Duck?

Thanks for looking, I hope you enjoyed our day out.

nite nite, luv Mike XX

Longhorns at Pegwell Bay

Hi folks,

I'm letting Trevor get well away from me blog wise otherwise all the Wednesday pictures will be alike, so I will continue with out Tuesday trip to Pegwell Bay with Sue and Daisy.

After Daisy and the Dogs we, that is Daisy and I moved further into the park well away from the car park looking for the cattle that were grazing there. This way I could take pictures without worrying about little legs as she could play in a fenced off area.

After I talked to the locals I knew that there were cattle here but I was very surprised to find these as  apparently are here all year.

There were about ten of them contained within a field.

I tried a close up of the eye like our master photographer Kendo did a while back but I was a bit disappointed with the amount of fur around the eye. 

I was quite lucky with the pose as he kept his head up quite a while and was looking at a little red blob running around over the fence making a lot of noise.

I think they keep moving them about as this one was enjoying his afternoon tree.

After Sue had finished Daisy said " are we going to the seaside?", I had not the heart to tell he that we were already at the seaside so we took her into Ramsgate, that's another story for another day.

Thanks for looking.

nite nite, luv Mike XX