Thursday's Walk

Thursday's walk was a leisurely stroll around Westport Lake and later down the canal path we went to Middleport Pottery for lunch, it was a sunny but chilly day with a cool breeze so a thick pea and mint soup was consumed and enjoyed before we headed home.

The grass was white with daisies.

There were lots of lovely reflections in the small pools at the side of the lake.

Greylag goose

 

Swan and cygnets

Female Mallard with ducklings.

 

A brave Greylag hoping we had food

Canalside at the pottery.

Bottle Oven, Bottle Kiln or Pot Bank as they are called locally.

Pottery Entrance

Spotted - does this need a funny caption? My brain has been devoid of words the last few days.

 Sorry, that's three posts in one day but it seemed better to split up each walk to keep the posts  short or shorter.

Tuesday's Walk

Yesterday's walk  at Trentham Gardens was all about Lambs and Swans with a few other birds heard up in the woodland.  It was a beautiful morning so fresh and green after the rain the day before.

We brought the Merlin bird song identifier into use and along the paths up at the top of the estate we heard Jackdaw, Robin, Blackbird, Wren, Chiff Chaff, Blackcap and Jay.  Later down near the lake we heard Greylag geese, Blue tits, Coots, and Common Reed Warblers.  Up in the trees a woodpecker was tip-tapping but for some reason,  this didn't seem to register on the App.

It was lambing time on the Estate and we saw quite a few lambs.

The sheep are brought into the lambing area from the field when lambs are due.

There are a mixture of Jacob and Herdwicks.

Back down by the lake there were lots of swans.  

Quite a gathering in fact.

Whilst in the formal garden the tulips were looking wonderful.

I love all the different colours together

Such a cheerful sight.

Sunday's Walk

In the local park.  It was quiet first thing on an Easter Sunday morning.  Just a few hardy dog walkers out for some fresh air.

Pink blossom everywhere, along each path 

and dotted here and there amongst the newly greening trees.

In the wilder, less formal  side of the park there was bird song and a few wild flowers.

Snake's Head Fritillary

Primroses

Bluebells 

White bells.  Apparently, native ones are very rare so I guess this is a white Spanish bluebell as some of the bluebells in the park were non-native ones. Can anyone identify them?

In the Garden

 In the garden we've been pleased to see blossom on the small plum tree.  We planted this one after we had to take down the old plum tree at the top of the garden because it was diseased and was becoming unstable.

The new tree has grown from a plum stone taken from the fruit of the old tree that we had planted in a small pot a few years ago.  

It was planted in the garden before the old tree was taken down.

A few days later (below)

A couple of blog posts ago I mentioned that a badger or badgers - we have more than one visit - dug up some Tulip bulbs and ate some of them.  We rescued the rest and put them in smaller pots.  They have to be moved into the greenhouse each evening and out again in the morning but it's been worth it as they are now flowering.

The flowers in the smaller pots were originally all in the big black pot you can see at the top of the photo.

Sheepish

There is a colourful display of Shaun the Sheep sculptures at Trentham Gardens ready for the Easter holiday, it's called Find the Flock. Shaun the Sheep is a popular spin off character from the Wallace and Gromit film A Close Shave by Aardman Animations.  The sculptures made in collaboration with Aardman and Wild in Art are 160cm or 5ft 3ins tall. On their plinths they seem taller.  

Each of the flock have a theme and some of the detail on the art work is lovely.  Above are Beauty and The Beasties, Counting Sheep, Sakura, Shaun the Sheep, Baaaart Deco and Shoal the Sheep.

The six more above are A-Green-Culture, The Beekeeper, Trail Grazer, Hitsuji, Can't See the Wool for the Trees and Panda-monium.

Above are closer details of some of the sculptures most of which had a wildlife theme.

Shaun the Sheep stands in front of the tents where over the next few weeks lambing will happen for the flock of rare breed sheep.

All for now.  Have a happy and peaceful weekend.

Into April

We've been busy pottering both in and out of the garden.  We went to the local garden centre yesterday to buy potting compost, grit and bird food.  This was after going into the town centre to Boots to pop empty blister packs from medications into the recycling bin.  I was glad to find out about the recycling project there as I was loath to put the empty packs into the ordinary waste.

On Wednesday we visited Biddulph Grange Gardens for a walk around.  There was lots of work being done to resurface the entrance way and also the cleaning of stone edging in the Dahlia Walk.  

The Woodland Walk is now called the Wellbeing Walk and many grassy areas had been roped off to allow for re-growth and re-seeding.

The Chinese Garden was looking wonderful in the sunshine.

The Stumpery has recently been made larger with funding from the Blue Diamond Garden Centres Group.  

It is supposed to be the oldest Stumpery in the UK and it is now as large as the original one created by James Bateman in the early 1800s.

At home in the garden the Tulips are flowering.  

Well one pot is the other has been foraged by badgers, our fault as we took the protective sticks away too early.

What a mess.  One or two have been saved and I hope they will flower.

The Spirea Bridal Wreath is in flower as is the Amelanchier

In the wilder area at the top of the garden both Wood Anemone and Wild Garlic are doing well.

Right, time to think about lunch.  All for now.