Symphony of Flowers - Winchester Cathedral

Friday 14th June 2013

Today we had a girls trip out, me my mum and daughter!  We went to Winchester Cathedral to see the Symphony of Flowers - a flower festival - it was absolutely brilliant.  It's not really a nature note or observation of nature but I wanted to include a few photos in my blog anyway.  The arrangements were all around the cathedral, it was just full of flowers - (and people!).

Winchester Cathedral.

There were even flowers outside the cathedral.

An English Country Garden - pays tribute to Jane Austen whose tomb and memorial are in the photo.

It's amazing what you can do with lots of test tubes!

Masses of red roses with little gems intertwined.

Elegant lillies.

Abstract arrangements in the crypt. 

This was my favourite, we had to queue to get into the crypt as it only accommodated about six at a time but it was well worth it, very atmospheric and very calm. 

There were about fifty arrangements around the cathedral and these photos just show a handful.  My daughter nipped around and took these photos and we were both really pleased with them, especially as it was difficult to take photos without people in!

Itchen Navigation

Sunday 9th June 2013

We went back to the Itchen Navigation again today to find that the swallows have returned to nest on the bridge under the M3, but in smaller numbers than last year.  It seemed that everyone had the same idea as us (well, not quite everyone!) this morning as there were lots of walkers about. 

Along the Itchen Navigation.

Badgers were here. 

There is one field along the route where the grass has been torn up like this all over the place.  Apparently this damage is done by badgers looking for crane fly larvae in the grass.

And over the stile onto a quieter footpath away from the river.



Stile to nowhere?  Where on earth this footpath is supposed to go is anyone's guess!

A well shorn sheep and her not so little lambs.

Near Burley

Saturday 8th June 2013

This afternoon we joined the other millions of people making their way to the New Forest via Lyndhurst.  The traffic usually keeps flowing fairly well on the Ashurst to Lyndhurst road, but not today, we queued from almost Ashurst.  There appeared to be no reason for the congestion apart from the volume of traffic but at least it kept moving even if it was slowly.  We decided to look for a geocache near Burley - luckily it didn't involve going into the centre of Burley as that would have been busy!  We had a lovely three mile walk through woodland and across heathland. 

Mill Lawn Brook - a very pleasant spot, if you turn around from this spot you see.......

........ these very contented cows.

We usually come across ponies all the time in the New Forest and we don't see many cows on the loose, but this lot seemed very calm and weren't in the slightest bothered by us being there.  We successfully found the cache we went for and walked back through the cooler woodland.  There was a great deal of bird song this afternoon, we heard another cuckoo, the fourth of the year, chaffinches, blue tits, jays, magpies, blackbirds and another unidentified very tuneful little number (we are not good at identifying many birds by their songs).

The hawthorn blossom is just going over.

We didn't see many walkers this afternoon, but just as we were getting back to the car we came across a couple with two border collies, one of which decided we needed to be rounded up and kept running backwards and forewards checking that we were keeping up - now that sort of dog I like - he didn't bother us or want any attention just wanted to do what comes naturally to border collies!

Testwood Lakes

Friday 7th June 2013

After a very wet morning we took the opportunity, once it had dried up a bit, to pop to Testwood Lakes near Totton for a spot of bird watching.  There are two bird hides at Testwood Lakes that the public are able to use between 10am and 4pm to spy on the local wildlife.  We went to the biggest hide first - the biggest one the luxury one has two floors!  There was already someone in there, but he soon left - not sure if it's something we said or if we smell!  The first thing I have to mention was the sand martins, there was lots of activity as they nest in the artificial bank on the edge of the lake.

Home for the sand martins for the summer.

We must have been in the hide for about an hour, in the peace and quiet just watching. 

Looking across one of the lakes to the scrape.



Here is a list of most of the birds and animals we spotted.

Kestrel                                                                  Coot

Starlings                                                               Shelducks

Swallows                                                              Sand martins

Lapwings                                                             Canada geese and babies

Mallards and babies                                           Robin

Black headed gulls                                              Herring gulls

Heron                                                                    Crow

Tufted ducks                                                         Blackbird

Woodpigeon                                                        Egret                                                        Pied  wagtail                                                        Moorhen

Oyster catcher                                                      Rabbits

Damsel flies                                                         Pond skaters

Red deer

A solitary red deer (zoomed in beyond the point of ever being in focus!)

This deer wandered along the edge of the lake for quite a while all on his own.  I was particularly pleased to have seen him.  After about an hour we walked back to the car, which was only about three quarters of a mile away and I was beginning to regret my choice of a sweatshirt, as the sun came out and it began to warm up.

View across one of the lakes - a nice spot to sit and ponder.

                                                       

Royal Victoria Country Park

Thursday 6th June 2013

As it was forecast to be yet another lovely day we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and went to The Royal Victoria Country Park in Netley on the shores of Southampton Water.  The park comprises of 200 acres of mature woodland and grassy parkland as well as a small shingle beach.  From 1863 to 1966, the site was home to the Royal Victoria Hospital.  All that remains of the hospital  is the chapel which is now a heritage centre

Photo taken in January 1944 (chapel is slightly right of centre)

We found five geocaches on our walk of about 3.5 miles around the park and the last one of the day was our 800th find.  There are lots of caches around the park but as it was a lovely day there were loads of people about so it made it very difficult to look for most of them without arousing suspicion! 

Our walk took us to the hospital cemetery which was constructed to accommodate military and civilian casualties from across the empire from the end of the Crimean War up until the Second World War.  There was a very large rabbit grazing on the grass in the cemetery, at first I thought it was a hare, it wasn't but it was definitely a monster rabbit!  Also on our walk we saw an as yet unidentified very large bird being chased off by a jay flying through the trees.  We are beginning to think it must have been a buzzard because of it's size compared to the jay but it looked very pale in colour for a buzzard.  We saw the usual small birds and I think I frightened a fox in the woods. Dog walkers were everywhere!

Edited at 20.54 -  Iolo Williams on Springwatch has just said that he has seen dark coloured buzzards and light coloured buzzards so maybe we did just see a light coloured buzzard - mystery solved.

Back on the shores of Southampton Water we saw a hovercraft, most unusual, I'm not sure what that was all about. 

Here we have a container ship (looking as ever top heavy - how do those containers stay on there?)  and behind it about to overtake the container ship is the Red Funnel Isle of Wight ferry.  It's good to see that the sea is at an angle again - maybe one day I'll get it right!!

A view of Fawley Oil Refinery (and now the ferry has overtaken the container ship).

 Today's walk was a very pleasant, sunny and warm one with a mix of woodland, lakes, grass parkland and views over the sea.

Baby Woodpigeon on Window Sill

Tuesday 4th June 2013

This baby woodpigeon was sitting on the kitchen window sill for quite a while when I came downstairs this morning.  It didn't seem bothered by me moving about in the kitchen or even by the camera flash.  The more I look at these pictures the more dinosaur like it looks!

Having a yawn - it's tiring being a baby bird!

I took the bird food out into the garden and that soon made it fly off - obviously not happy to see me! 

There were fourteen starlings in the garden at one stage this morning, mostly babies.  They were making an awful noise as they tried to get the adults to feed them.

Hiltingbury Lakes

Saturday 1st June 2013

It's been six months since I started blogging about odds and ends that we observe whilst out walking or things that we notice in our garden and  It's whizzed by.  I have really enjoyed blogging and taking photos and it's been a great way to use my photos instead of them just lurking in cyber space!

Anyway, back to today's observations, we nipped up the road and walked from Hiltingbury Lakes in Chandlers Ford  http://www.chandlersford.org.uk/open-spaces/hiltingbury-lakes.html
It was a very pleasant day, warm and sunny with a nice breeze. 

More rhododendrons.

On the main lake there were lots of ducklings, this family included eight little babies.

This is the whole mallard family.

The little chap at the back (far left) was a fair bit smaller than his or her brothers and sisters and kept getting left behind, but it was still a speedy little mover.  There was also a moorhen family on the lake, and the four little fluffy moorhen babies were just all over the place, the mother must surely need a lie down in a darkened room after trying to look after that lot for any length of time!  The moorhen babies had enormous great feet compared to the size of their little bodies and they had little tiny wings (hardly wings, more like 'winglets').  There was also one solitary canada goose floating and gliding elegantly around, it pushed with it's feet once and glided along for ages, while the ducklings were paddling like crazy.

Below is a photo taken Thursday on a walk round Southampton Common.  It had rained lots overnight and the air smelt very fresh and woody, it's always hard to believe you are in the centre of town. 

The ornamental lake on Southampton Common.