Scavenger Hunt for March 2016

My thanks to Suzzie ('greenthumb')
for choosing the words shown in blue on my post

and preparing the March Scavenger Hunt.

Local

We sometimes see this delightful character 

as she is often found grazing in one of our favourite local haunts.

City

We spent Easter in Salisbury,

and walked around the Cathedral Cloisters.

You can see the spire in the stained glass. 

The poet, George Herbert, lived just outside the city,

close to Wilton and to Old Sarum in a village called Bemerton. 

This stained glass window is in Bemerton Church.

What fine oak leaf and acorn decoration.

Stripes

These are perhaps flutes rather than stripes!

I love the crinkly-crankly lines along the edge.

We saw this shell on the beach at Cley-next-the-Sea last weekend.  

 

Crisp

We always enjoy seeing this wind pump 

at NT Wicken Fen, not far from Ely.  

The crisp lines and criss-crosses of the sails

always look wonderful against the wide skies of East Anglia.

Street art

 Not technically 'street art', 

but we try to keep an eye out

for cute or unusual signs on the road.

I have seen a flying pig sign not far from home ...

Tiles

This Robin spent a large part of the day

perched on the fence, in front of the tiles. 

Most of the time she had bits of twig and leaf in her bill,

so we hope there will soon be chicks.

RocksStairs

I could not find the photo I had in mind

of real stone stairs,

so this is a view of wooden steps

 - rather impressive ones -

at Tintagel.

Hair

One of our 'regulars'

enjoying a Good Hair Day!

Measure

'Measure for Measure'

or perhaps

the heart of love ...

Swans at Thorpeness,

displaying in front of the 

House in the Clouds.   

Large

I couldn't resist posting

one of Swansea's iconic buildings,

perched above the sea in Mumbles.

For one

Des res ...

an English duck's home is her castle,

in the grounds of Hedingham Castle. 

I was thrilled to see clumps of Coltsfoot on the bank. 

Landscape

Spring in Suffolk 

Twin lambs at NT Ickworth. 

*

If you have enjoyed seeing these pictures, why not join in the next Scavenger Hunt
and/or take a look at some of the other responses ... here.

Happy hunting!

 

Seasonal Splash: Spring is in the Air (we hope ...)

We have just returned from Salisbury. We didn't have any rain, but there was still a lot of snow banked up on the field edges. It was bitterly cold, but bright at times. The Mallard drake above was heading on downstream in the beautiful clear waters of the River Loddon. 

I am trying to recall the name of this waterside plant (above) ...

Do drop a line in the comments if you know! It grows in large clumps along the banks of a river or in marshland. 

 It is always a joy at Easter to see a clump of Primroses. This clump was gracing the walls of Old Basing.

What a luxurious des-res above for the Basing ladybirds and mini-beasts! I have yet to see my first Ladybird of 2013, but hope that I will not have to wait too much longer.

Just as we were leaving the site, a familiar shape flew over our heads. I grabbed my camera, and the resulting record shot will show you our first 2013 sighting of a Red Kite. By the time we returned home, we had seen at least one other.

The clump of Coltsfoot above was in Wilton, on the river Wylie. if you know Wilton and Wilton House, you might enjoy Arcadia by Adam Nicolson, which pays tribute to the landscape and its literary figures like Sir Philip Sydney.  

On our journey home, we stopped at Audley End, where I saw what I took to be a hybrid Mallard (above) among the ducks and geese. Dave Appleton tells me that he feels 'it’s simply a domestic variant of Mallard, not a hybrid between a Mallard and any other species. Domestic Mallards come in a bewildering variety of sizes, shapes and plumages.' So many thanks to Dave, whose 'hybrid duck' photos can be viewed here.

It was lovely to see some Tufted Ducks. These are classed Amber in the Conservation Status ranks. The dark duck on the left is a female.

It seems the staining on the swan's head above may be due iron or tannin in the water. Thanks to Martin Aldous for this information, which you can find here. I had assumed it was probably a kind of breeding or adolescent plumage.

 This was a lovely Easter Bank Holiday scene ... though the photo fails to say how chilly it felt!

Not everyone wanted tranquillity, however: this Coot had to hop away from the glare of the Canada Goose! 

Safe landing ...

 ... then time for a snooze.

Audley End