Yorkshire Field of Poppy's

It's taken me a while to get round to looking at these shots. I played around with some of the presets in Lightroom which resulted in a kind of yesterday/punchy feel to the shot. I'd never seem so many poppy's and just by coincident a similar shot had also appeared in the local paper.

Summer Blackberries

We live next door to a empty property. The front garden has become wild and untamed, but there is some benefit. I have been greedily feeding off a large wild blackberry bush right next to my fence each summer. Over the last couple of weeks I have been keenly watching the heavily laden bush change colour and become dotted with purple bulbous jewels. This morning however, I realised I had competition!  I watched Mrs Blackbird sit on top of the bin cupboard jumping up and grabbing the ripened fruit. Lets just say 3 kg later of freshly picked blackberries and I was pretty happy. Now I have to find the time to turn it into jam!

A Conversation with the Churchill's

On the basis that my knee injury from our Mull trip is just badly sprained and nothing torn as first thought. We decided that a short easy walk and time enjoying the good weather was required. Close by is Chartwell, once the home of  Sir Winston Churchill. He spent as much time as he could here right up until his death in 1965. You can certainly understand why. With such interesting sections of different garden areas and magnificent views across the Weald of Kent. Why would you need to go anywhere else? Although this was my third visit, it was the first time I'd come across this Nemon Statue hidden in the furthest corner of the garden. I wonder what else there is to find!!

Taken with a LensBaby

Know One's Onions

Last winter I planted one of the vegetable patches full with red and white onion sets. Now I'm the very proud owner of an abundance of onions to keep me going throughout the rest of the year. A few of them did flower which resulted in lack of growth but an eye catching display and food for the insects.

Texture by Kim Klassen

Pond Life

I have two ponds in my garden. A new contemporary one built into the decking where the fish are and a very old one which we left for the wildlife. In the summer I can spend ages sitting next to the old pond watching the insects and birds going about their business. If you could have seen me trying to get this shot you would have fallen over with laughter. After persevering I managed to get the frame I wanted. I came to a blank of what type of dragonfly it actually is. I think it looks like a Darter, any help in identification would be warmly welcomed!

Double Take

We have spent the last week exploring the Isle of Mull in Scotland, as part of Nick Garbutt's wildlife tours. Just off the west coast is Lunga one of the Treshnish Isles. It's home to thousands of sea birds. Colonies of Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, Guillemots, Shags and Kittiwakes nest along the cliffs of the island. It's a hive of activity this time of year. A small group of us were lucky enough to stay on the island until sunset. It was fascinating watching and listening to these amazing birds, who were totally at ease with our presence.

Pretty in Pink

Wow, it's so hot today in Kent! I'm very much a sun worshiper but even I had to reside to the shade because I couldn't cope with the heat. I took this shot this morning to create a birthday card for a friend. The daisy's were actually more white when I bought the plant, then the second set of flowers it produced were pink! I think there are rather pretty.

It's marco Friday over at Blogging for Boliva. There are some great photos to brighten up your weekend!