fritillaries

Snakeshead Fritillaries catching the morning sun in my garden. These flowers traditionally grow in flood plains, perhaps they are looking good this year after the wet winter.

I have never seen them massed in the wild and we are busy this weekend when they should be looking good - maybe another year. If you want to see them in their natural habitats,  there are links to places to see wild fritillaries here.

a little adventure

A few photographs from our short holiday, we went to Lundy. This little island, now in the care of the National Trust and the Landmark Trust is just 3½ miles long and ½ a mile wide.

It felt like an adventure because we were leaving the mainland and travelling by helicopter, just a six minute flight. We had booked a three night break but due to dense fog we couldn't leave the first day so we had to make do with only two days. When we did arrive though it was like stepping into another world.

The scenery is stunning. The west coast which takes the full force of the Atlantic is more rugged

while the more sheltered east side is gentler in appearance with little patches of woodland in secluded valleys.

This is the village on the island and the blue building on the right is where we stayed.

The whole island is "open access" so you can wander wherever you like. There are working lighthouses on both the north and south of the island.

On the highest part of the island is the Old Light. This was operational for a few years but because of the prevalence of low cloud over the island there were many days when it wasn't visible so the two newer light houses were built closer to sea level. When I climbed up the old light I found these two deck chairs on the platform where the light used to be. I sat down and looked out westwards at the Atlantic - no land until America.

We didn't see many people on our walks but we weren't alone, wild deer,

the island's wild herd of Soay sheep and all the time in the north of the island the sound of skylarks.

The island is managed by the Landmark Trust and all the houses are used for staff accommodation or visitors. The houses have no televisions, there is no public wifi on the island and mobile phone signal is very patchy. It really did feel as if we had escaped the rat race for a while. Plenty of time to wander, take photographs, read and knit.

In the evenings we ate in the Marisco Tavern, excellent food with plenty of vegetarian options - a perfect way to end days spent outdoors.

All too soon our two days were over and after just six minutes in the helicopter we had left this little bit of paradise behind. It is so close to the mainland yet so different once you get there, I definitely want to go back.

an English spring

I know that in parts of the northern hemisphere the weather is not at all spring-like but here in the south of England we are making up for our cold, grey, wet winter with a few glorious spring days. Today it was cold and rainy again so spring is not settled but I enjoy the bright days we do get.

These photographs were taken near home a few days ago. The greens at this time of the year are so fresh, young Horse Chestnut leaves

and Dog's Mercury.

Lots of spring flowers, Celandines

Greater Stitchwort,

Wood Anenomes,

 
in the hedges, frothy Blackthorn blossom

and another sign of warmer days, this Small Tortoiseshell has woken from hibernation.

spring garden

We have just returned from a weekend break. I will post some pictures but at the moment I am still sorting through a ridiculously large amount of photographs from just three days away. I remember the days of film when I would have considered a 36 print film more than adequate for a weekend away, yet  I have several times that number to sort through. Something to think about, whether to take fewer pictures so that "sort through photographs" doesn't turn into a time consuming chore on a to do list.

On the other hand the ease of taking many photographs means that I am happy to record the changes in the garden through the seasons, something that I wouldn't have done in as much detail if I was paying for developing and printing.

I took the photographs earlier this morning, a few days before spring officially starts and already there is plenty of colour in the garden, a refreshing change after the dull, grey winter.

February Photo Challenge

I know, we are into March now, but I lost the plot a little with the photo challenge towards the end of the month. I found I didn't take photographs that fitted the prompts during the month and ended up posting some holiday snaps from last summer. Even so I missed out on some days. It was good to do this challenge with Tash from Vintage Pretty and interesting that we had similar approaches to some of the prompts though I don't think she missed any out like I did.

I am going to end with the last two days and again I am using photographs from last years holiday.

day 27 - me

There I am hiding behind my camera. After our escorted tour of southern Iceland, we had a few days on our own in Reykjavik. My husband wanted to go whale watching and I spent some time on my own exploring the town.
I walked, explored, took photographs, visited bookshops and the farmers' market, drank coffee, had a picnic lunch, looked at knitting wool and drank more coffee - all very "me" activities.

In case you are wondering what I was photographing, here are some pictures of the amazing Harpa building, a concert hall right by the harbour in Reykjavik.

It is a stunning building, both form the outside

and on the inside.

day 28 - reflection

This picture was taken the same day as I was waiting for my husband to return from his whale watching trip. It was a lovely warm sunny day and I chose this photograph to remember the warmth of the sun in the midst of our dull, grey, wet winter.