Thor's Cave, Garden and Ronnie

I am now well settled back home from our holiday. Home feels nice and a calm place to be.

I like spending time outdoors. Garden seems to be a happy place for me, if I am not walking in the woods or in the countryside.

Peggy (hen) was on her own for a while after we lost Maggie (hen) and Nibbles (bunny) last year before Christmas.

 But now she has a friend, Ronnie, to chat with, even though she was not happy to share her food with her for the first two days. Ronnie is well settled and has started laying already. Wow! That was quick. It is quite small compared to Peggy's egg.

The birds seems to be very busy this time of the year. We have got three Palm trees in our back garden. A bit of a tropical feel, and the birds favourite tree, as they get lot of the hairy bits from the trunk of the palm.

 Robin and black bird middle of their conversation.

Goldfinch was so quick from moving back and forth from the palm to where my garlics are. And I thought I clicked my camera in time but when I looked into the above photo, goldfinch was gone.

But eventually I did manage to click and capture the finch in my lenses.

Yesterday morning straight after breakfast we went to the Thor's Cave in the Peak District. You can see how small Ronnie's eggs are as compared to Peggy. They are delicious though.

 Olivia, at thirteen still enjoys making flower crowns.

The woodland was filled with wild garlics and the smell of it was yummy.

Carpets of flowers everywhere in the woods.

A quick mark making.

 Emily fell asleep in the pushchair and so me and Olivia climbed up all the way to the cave.

Was happy that the bears don't live there anymore.

And my new Kilim back pack which I bought in a Morracan/ Asian shop in spain. Also bought two Kilim cushions, couldn't stop myself.

 After waking up little Emily was happy to play with the stones and thought it was bit like at the seaside only without the water.

The dry river bed had two beautiful rusted piece which came back home with me. Love to find bits and bobs.

 By three we were back home, weather was so good didn't feel like going indoors.

So there I was under the honeysuckle, in my shed.

With my new found rusted pieces and my sketch book.

And some more bird watching.

Spain - Part 3

Easter Holiday is over, the girls are back to school and nursery. Life back to normal again.
During our stay in Marbella, we went to the seaside..
Went to Malaga town, did a bit of shopping.
Went to a Safari park and Adventure Amazonia.

We went up by cable cart and the most interesting thing happened. While we were watching the bird of prey show, one of the buzzard decided to fly from one head to another. I could not believe when that happened to me. Yes! I had a buzzard sitting for few seconds on my head. Year round resident over much of Europe, favours open country including mountains and moorlands, often with tracts of woodland. Distinctive far-carrying cat-like meowing. It was very exciting, but I am sure if that happened in wild I wouldn't find it funny.
 
Nature and wildlife inspire me and my favourite bird is owl. But I do like all birds of prey; in general almost all the birds and animals. I have been many times to the wild national parks in India before getting married, and this is something I wish to do again soon. I also one day would like to go on an African Safari, but for all this to happen I need to wait: wait a little bit more until the little one is big and sensible enough so we can take her there. Until then I will keep visiting the Bird of prey shows, and safari parks. The last image is work in progress, which I started while the girls were away.