The fresh colours of spring on a miserable wet day

It's mid March and the first of the spring bulbs join the Hellebores in lighting up the garden on this miserable day.

Scillia

Anemonie Blanda - closed up today. They need some sunshine!

Hellebore Orientalis

Hellebore Argutifolius

Hellebore Orientalis with Eurphorbia Robbiae reflecting in the wet mirror

Jetfire Daffodil

Hellebore Orientalis

Euphorobia  Robbiae 

Hamamellis Diane

Fresh leaves of Aquilega

Jetfire Daffodils with  heads bowed after the rain

Winter trees at Cantley, Wokingham

A cold start to the day at around -4.  on January 20th  Brrrr. A quick look out the curtains at 07.45, and a promising sky, but not enough time to travel too far or I  would miss it.  Drove less than a mile from home to Cantley Park on the edge of Wokingham.

Winkworth Arboretum

It's been a funny season this autumn. Too warm for the leaves to turn to a vibrant colour.  The normal peak of colours just hasn't happened, but we took a trip today to Winkworth Arboretum, Nr Godalming, which has the benefit of a lake hoping for some good reflections. We drove in thick fog as we approached, and thought that we were wasting our time. The fog thankfully lifted just as we arrived. The sun made a brief appearance to provide enough light even if the conditions were not ideal.

The first view of the lake, with a bit of mist still lingering in the trees

And the first glimpse of the front of the "Boat House".

Continuing around the lake, and a view now back to the Boat House

The bank of trees which rises above the lake, and at last some blue sky.

The Acers were the stars of the show today

Gorgeous crimson Acer, with  purple leaves of Liquidamber beyond.

This bench is NOT level! Man surrounded by Acers

Stems of a Snakebark Maple

The borrowed view beyond the gardens.

Stowe Landscape Gardens October 2014

Following an enjoyable visit to Stowe in the summer, we had great hopes of autumnal colour. Beyond the first avenue of trees, it was however a bit disappointing...... not the fault of Stowe, just the "wrong" weather this year to get the best out of the deciduous trees. A few nice areas though. It was very quiet, and only saw about a dozen people during our visit, so used them where possible, to add a bit of life to the landscapes.

Co-incidentally, it was also my "Blip birthday" as I was to
publish my 365 consecutive photograph on Blipfoto.com today.

This tree bark was also very colourful.  Hubby in the distance wit his tripod.

This large Beech tree was the star of the day. At least whilst the sun was shining. Later, we lost the sun
and the colour was gone.

The large Beech also provided lovely shadows beneath.

Good day for reflections too.

Just 2 of only a dozen or so that we saw the whole time!

The sun came and went and at times the light went completely flat, but at this
point, great reflections and I liked the bit of grasses as foreground. 

Set my tripod up here for 20 mins whilst we ate lunch. Kept hoping
that the sun might return to light up the carpet of leaves..... it never did.

Wildlife in the garden today

I got in the garden today with my camera in an attempt to capture some wildlife. It turned out to be an interesting day starting with a frog. He sat still for  along time. Long enough for me to swap lenses and put on the macro lens! He is looking a bit thin. Perhaps his days are numbered?

Next up the ongoing battle to try to capture a decent shot of a bee........ and still failing! At least he is healthy. Never stopped still for a second as usual.

Then I was on the look out for a butterfly.  Not many around today, or most did not stay long enough to photograph them.  Then what I would describe as a Red Admiral flew in and landed on our pond. I thought this was a more unusual shot for a butterfly, rather than one on a plant,  so took a few shots. 

Then I noticed the Waterboatmen moving in on the butterfly! 3 are closing in!!

And here one is actually on the edge of the butterfly. This called for desperate action!

I reached for our pond net and managed to gently pull the butterfly towards the edge of the pond. 

It sat here for ages....... long enough for me to get a couple of shots. Then it folded it's wings tight. After a few minutes, I give it a gentle prod with my finger, and it opened and closed it wings, but still did  not move.   I had to go out for an hour , so set up my GoPro camera out of interest, so that I would know it had safely flown off once it had dried out. I came back to find it still there. I gave it another gentle prod and it fell back in the pond! At that point I lost it. As I write this blog, I have just popped back into the garden out of curiosity and the butterfly was floating on the pond. I pulled it in with the net, but this time, no sign of life.  I decided the Waterboatmen need their food too, so returned my butterfly to the pond.

A very emotional day!