Had a quick wander round the meadow this afternoon, on the hunt for butterflies. There are still loads of those Six Spot Burnet Moths about but there was also plenty more to chase about in the sunshine.
We had a walk round Sheffield Botanical Gardens yesterday, loads of flowers to photograph but it weren't half hot!
On the cycle to work during the week, I stopped off at the meadow to see I could see anything of the Kestrel. No birds of prey that morning but there must have been hundreds of Six Spot Burnet Moths emerging, drying and flying absolutely everywhere.
With the weather being beyond too hot & humid to bare, we had a wander round the garden last night, Debbie with her camera snapping away and me with my camera cursing away.
Debbie, it seems, has mastered the art of low light photography with her Canon while me and my Nikon are still trying to work it out!
It was gone half past nine and the light was almost gone, yet Debbie was still shooting as though it was noon. As we edged towards ten o'clock, even Mrs David Bailey had to admit defeat.
We had a great walk through the Rivelin Valley in Sheffield on Sunday, picking up the river on the outskirts of the city and following it's course for miles until the heat beat us.
It's a beautiful place to explore, although the light played ticks with both cameras all day so the pictures don't really do it justice.
I'm not sure if they are called Wentworth Gardens but "the public gardens behind the garden centre in Wentworth" is a bit long for a title!
We've been to the garden centre loads of times over the years and often noticed the lovely gardens just over the wall, however, until today we've never got around to having a look.
The gardens are lovely but they are in the middle of some renovation work at the moment so some areas were off limits but it promises to be even better when the work is complete. Even with the limited access, Debbie got some great shots of the flora and fauna on show.
We arrived at Wyming Brook on Sunday morning early enough to beat the crowds on a hot sunny day. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the Dippers again with it being quieter but alas it wasn't to be this time. Despite the absence of our bobbing friend, we really enjoyed our walk, right down to the bottom of the brook and back up the track to the car park. Along the way we saw plenty of white butterflies, fast flowing waterfalls, odd looking nettles and of course, gorgeous views in every direction.
I've lost count of number the plants, flowers, seeds and bulbs we've added to the garden this year and every week something new appears. Debbie had a walk round at the weekend and captured the array of colours on show.
I've been calling in at a meadow looking for birds on my way to work recently and couldn't fail to notice the great expanse of buttercups. On warmer mornings, I also noticed the odd butterfly dancing in the wind so on Saturday afternoon, in the glorious sunshine, I took Debbie for a visit to see if we could find some.
We didn't do too bad, certainly more butterflies here than we've seen anywhere else so far this year and one or two of them actually stopped still for longer than a split second!
After all the excitement of the holiday, it was back to work as usual, did not really do much all week, just the usual work, home, twitter n sleep.
On Friday evening, 5pm time to set off home and pick Paul up for the weekly shop, when the heavens open, we had solid rain for 24 hours!!
On Saturday it was the hairdressers, followed by a nip into town for a few bits we needed, we ended up at the retail park for a summer coat as the rain was still coming down, would u believe it, not one shop had any summer coats! not impressed...lol...while we were there we had to nip into BnQ for some seedling trays and hey ho Paul just happened to get some wood and treatment for the sheds.
Now this ain't the norm! Paul doing DIY, but there is a good reason, when we moved the bird feeders he happened to mention he would love a bird hide, hence one of the sheds has now got a cut out window and soon will be nice and painted, that's if he can stay out of the hide long enough to do the job...lol....
On Sunday we had invited Dad for dinner, after getting up I felt a bit sick but pushed it to one side and got on with some jobs, after brekkie, the sickness returned and I went blurred in my right eye, yikes, migraine alert, I got layed down on the sofa, took one of me pain killers, while Paul went to check out his new plot.
I finally woke up at 5pm realising Dad was not there, Paul had rang him and explained I was not feeling very well and could we make it another day, he was fine about it, mind you he did miss out on one of my lovely Sunday dinners.
Can't wait for the weekend, me car is going to the doctors for a check up and then I will be out with Paul, Lucy and me camera ready to take some lovely shots if I can find them :o)
Debbie
