Stourhead and Langford Lakes

After recovering from my visit to France, photographic outings were fairly close to home.  These two trips to Stourhead and to Langford Lakes were on 13th May 2012.

Lakeside activity at Stourhead – well, I'm not too sure you could call it activity in the case of the young Mallard!

Coot

Mallard

Mallard

In the water, this Mute Swan was still on guard duty.

This was a 'new' Robin – i.e. one that I hadn't met before.

Second port-of-call was Langford Lakes at Steeple Langford, Wiltshire.

It's not very often you can get near the Blackbirds here.

Most of my attention was focused on a family of Great Crested Grebe.

Waiting for a parent to return

"Is that my leg?"

"What was that?"

Family meeting

"I thought he was with you!"

"Go on.  Get on with it"

"Keep going!"

"More!"

"... more!"

High speed delivery

A closer look

Now the more advanced lessons.  The parent is dropping the fish just as the chick is about to take it and the youngster is encouraged to 'go get it'.

This one's got it

That's the way

Great Crested Grebe weren't the only birds on the lake, but they were by far the most interesting at that time.  There was a largish shoal of small fish surface-feeding just nearby – hence the activity – and the GCG were repelling intruders.

This Mute Swan appeared uninterested.

Watching from nearby:

Coot

Going walk-about, but I expect the parents were not too far away.

Juvenile Moorhen

Lunchtime beckoned.  End of session.

Monet's Garden

This is the last of the posts relating to my recent trip to France.

On my last full day in France I visited the garden at Claude Monet's house in Giverny, Eure.  I have tried in my images to capture the flavour of the Impressionist style in which the garden was designed and is still lovingly maintained.  I took the photographs as I strolled around the garden, looking to right and left, and sometimes over my shoulder – sometimes stopping to get down to a bloom.  The sequence, in consequence, is as much the product of my wanderings as it is of anything else!

The weather forecast that day was for rain in the afternoon, so I was there early and waiting on the step for the house and garden to open.  When the staff opened up, there were already about 30 people waiting.  In I went.  You can see in the earlier images that things are still relatively quiet, but that didn't last long and a great many visitors seem to prefer to crowd into the Lily Pond garden.

Conversations are struck up when you are close to the same people for some time.  I enjoyed two such encounters.  One was with a couple from Arizona.  She was a keen amateur photographer and was wishing she had brought along a longer lens for some of the subjects.  She was taking some photographs of the gardener in the punt (see later) and said that, although she knew it wasn't M. Monet, the "folks back home ... ..."  The other was with a French couple who were passionately interested in the aesthetics of the garden.  They later joined me on a bench as I waited for a chance to capture the bridge over the Lily Pond sans personnes.  They understood totally what I was about.

The house

The original front path – gate to door

The open windows of Monet's bedroom

The 'new' studio

THE pond

THE bridge

Very noisy residents of the Lily Pond

Not THE bridge

THE bridge – nearly empty!

Empty!!! (I waited 20 minutes for this shot)

Taken from one of those bedroom windows

... and then for an enjoyable lunch in the village.  It was possible to eat outside on the terrace of the restaurant, sheltered from the light breeze.

It didn't rain until evening.