A day at the zoo!

So...I had a weekend in London for Rowan's third birthday and had him all to myself for a day at the zoo...

He was very wary of this Gorilla...

But forced a smile before the tiger leapt on him.

Spooked by a goat!

Seems he has an interest in dentistry.

He loved driving this...

Locusts

The diver waved at him. He didn't wave back.

Sleeping lion...

Penguins...

An angel?

Karma, karma, karma, karma...

Turtle

Colobus Monkeys

After a long but lovely day, I took this monkey home!

Festive Penrith.

So...as you might expect I have been busy with one thing and another. This is the first of a few 'catch-up' posts.

Winter 'Up Over'.

Herdwick, warm and wooly

I know that face!

Blencathra snowcapped.

Molehill

Bare branches

Muddy fields

Blencathra again

Ravaged hedges

Silver Birch

Black and grey

Texel

Green

Ruin

Powerlines

Goat Willow

Beck

Magpie nest

Under the M6

Overarching grey

Elderly Lichen coated Hawthorn

Mossy wall

Rook

Stark

Bulrushes

Back 'oop norf!'

So...I am back in the UK. My mum had a fall a few weeks ago and after 'umming' and 'aahhing' about what to do have decided to come back to see her. It turns out she has a fractured shoulder and will be unable to use her left arm for awhile yet until it heals.

She was in a hospital on the coast which was a long trek to get too for everybody but has since been moved to the hospital here in the town where I am staying which makes things much easier. In the other hospital she had her own room but here she is in a four bed ward. She doesn't like it.

" I don't like being here with all these old people! "

They are all younger than she is!

Too many Cicadas!!

So...the hotter weather is upon us and the cicadas are emerging from underground. We get cicadas calling every year here but this year is a particularly noisy one because of the sheer numbers that have emerged. The last time we had such numbers was about 7 years ago so these cicadas have been underground since then as 'nymphs' attached to tree roots feeding on the sap. In America there are cicadas that live underground for up to 17 years and apparently this year there too they are having a busy year as the 13 year and 17 year cicada cycles have emerged at the same time. When they emerge the nymphs climb up out of the ground, usually at night, and metamorphosize in their shells and emerge as a cicada and then fly off onto the trees to find a mate. They only live for up to three weeks after coming out of the ground. The female cicadas scrape a notch in the tree bark and lay their eggs which then hatch and the nymph crawls down the tree to live underground attached to the tree roots for years.

Nymph casing. Note the slit in the back where the cicada came out.

Waiting for it's wings to 'inflate'

Newly emerged cicada

An idea of their size

In flagrante!

Too many cicadas?...