Another Trip to Old Moor

Sometimes I find it difficult to keep things fresh and new when blogging.  As I'm sure you will agree, our lives tend to slip in to a pattern and mine is no exception.
We go through phases.  One month it might be canals and narrow boats, then stately homes, another might be pretty gardens and then down the line we might move on the bird watching and nature reserves.  We seem to be in the latter phase at present so you might notice that we keep having repeat trips to the Old Moor Nature Reserve at Dearne Valley, on the road to Barnsley.

I love this place, not only because it has lots of birds but also because the land it is set in is so beautiful.
As you can imagine, there are always lots of wild flowers and as a amateur photographer this gives me plenty of opportunities to practise honing my skills.

Flag Iris

It's great to be able to get up close to nature and the fresh air isn't bad either.

Old Moor - Dearne Valley - RSPB Wetland Centre

We've had a few days off and snatched a quick visit to Old Moor RSPB Wetland Centre.
If you are a regular to my blog you will know that this is one of our favourite haunts. We don't just go for the birds, there is also a lovely cafe serving food every day, a shop and it's a great place to have a good walk.

We were amazed at how many wild flowers had popped up since last time we visited.

Cowslips

Speedwell

Bluebells

 Bluebells always remind me of my Mum. She loves pictures of Bluebell woods.

 I love this area, spied from the garden birds hide.  It is so pretty and the patch of Comfrey in the middle attracts lots of different varieties of bees.  We would all do well to have a patch of this in our gardens.  I have bought some seeds and hope to grow some in the over grown bit at the bottom of ours.

 The garden fork left in the ground made a good perch for the birds flying in and out.

Hawthorne

The delicate blossom of the Hawthorne bush looked so beautiful in the little bit of sun that was around.

We really enjoyed this visit.  It felt just that bit more interesting for some reason and the flowers reminded us that Spring has definitely sprung.

We can't wait for Spring Watch tomorrow night on BBC2.

Old Moor RSPB - Dearne Valley

I love Sunday mornings, lounging in bed, blogging and watching Create and Craft on television. 
Steve is pottering in the garage and is leaving me a lone to get on with what I do best.  Being lazy!
Today I have the urge to make my Mum a birthday card and have a few ideas bubbling inside.  Also I have another magazine poised to be cut up to go in my scrap book, oh and a cupcake recipe to perhaps bake for my Knit and Natter friends.  Unfortunately Steve and I are on a little diet at the moment so he isn't munching sweets, cakes and biscuits.  This only started for him yesterday so he's still very motivated.

We had a brilliant visit to Old Moor Nature Reserve on Friday.  The trees have changed to their Autumn foliage which is just beautiful.  I love the way everything changes almost overnight, and the colours are just stunning.

I always think of fabrics and lipsticks when I see such vibrant colours and dream of having a dress with a gorgeous pattern using the colours of the Autumn foliage shades.

We sat in a very crowded hide watching the wading birds.  Here's a Heron.  There were Golden Plovers and Lapwings.  The noise of their bird calls was deafening.

At Old Moor they also have a great shop selling bird feeders, jewellery, gifts and Christmas ideas and there is a smashing cafe where we had lunch.

I loved the texture of this seed head and didn't notice until I transferred this picture that there are little insects feeding on it.

Flowers clinging on to life for just a little while longer.

Not so black blackberries.  I wonder if they will get chance to ripen.

What a lovely day we had.  I can't wait to go back.

Pensthorpe Medieval Festival

King Arthur

Hi and welcome to the next instalment of my Norfolk holiday.  Please don't think for one minute that I am boasting about my week away.  I just would like to show you what Norfolk has to offer.  I was totally blown away by how much there is to see and do in and around the area.
On bank holiday Monday we went to the Pensthorpe Medieval Festival.

In the tents above there were lots of exhibitors showing their own particular talents, be it making beer and wine the medieval way, making dipped wax candles and my particular favourite was the Mulberry Dyer who gave a demonstration on making paper and also how to spin wool with a drop spindle.  I of course had to have a go and it was inevitable that I had to buy the spindle, the unspun wool, a hank of ready spun undyed wool and a dying kit.  Oh yes, as you can imagine I was in my element.  This was definitely the best day of the whole holiday as far as I was concerned.

The farewell battle at the end was very funny with this lady (or rather man) really playing to the audience.
There were a few pretty impressive sword fights and at one time we actually thought someone had been hurt but it was all play acting.

As you can see the costumes looked authentic too.  The attention to detail was amazing.
Finally though I had better show you a couple of photographs of the birds to reassure you that we were at the Pensthorpe Nature Reserve.  You may remember that this was where they filmed Spring Watch.  I'm not sure if it was this year of last though.

Stork stood on one leg

Well that's all for tonight. I have had a new book delivered called Low Cost Living by John Harrison and I want to read a couple of pages before bedding down.  All the best. Paula x