Lotherton Hall Bird Garden

Following on from my last post about the date I had with Mick at Lotherton Hall, I thought I'd show you some of the birds we saw in the bird garden.

Lotherton Bird Garden was built in the 1970's and has one of the most comprehensive collections of rare and endangered birds in the country and many of them are part of endangered breeding programmes. There's an education programme for all visitors, from families to schools and university students.

The first birds we came to were Flamingos, they were such a vivid pink colour. Apparently, the colour of a flamingo is determined by what they eat. They each had one of their legs tucked up in to their body and were standing on just one leg.

I love these Superb Starlings, such a gorgeous colour. They can commonly be found in East Africa. Lotherton has a number of unrelated pairs from which they're breeding a genetically diverse colony to inhabit the 'into Africa' exhibit which I talk about later in the post.

These are just some of the benches which are dotted around the bird garden, they're fun and educational. Aren't they lovely?

This is a Southern Helmeted Curassow. It eats mainly fruits, berries and leaves, but will also eat insects, small rodents and reptiles.

This Trumpeter Hornbill wouldn't win any beauty competitions. The casque on it's head is filled with honeycombed, light cellular bony tissue.

This Emu came right up to see us, I was a bit nervous that it would peck me. The emu is the second largest bird in the world, only the Ostrich is bigger. They can reach up to 6.5 feet in height and are flightless but can reach speeds up to 30mph.

I couldn't get a very good photo of the Andean Condors because of the wire bars, but I couldn't leave them out of my post. They're the largest bird of prey in the world and live in the Andean Mountains of South America. Lotherton is participating in the European Breeding Programme for the Andean Condor. Their numbers have declined due to farming practices encroaching on their habitats.

There's a couple of these fun binoculars around the garden. They can be used to get a better look at the birds up in the trees. I think they're really meant for children, but Mick's such a big kid that he had to have a go.

The Southern Ground Hornbill has bare patches of bright red skin on it's face and neck which, it's believed, is to keep dust out of it's eyes whilst it forages during the dry season.

This huge aviary has been designed to recreate an African water hole scene. We were able to go inside and wander round with birds within touching distance. The rest of this post is about the birds which we saw in this 'into Africa' setting.

There were lots of Little Egret nests high up in the trees. They didn't look very stable.

Many birds were asleep on the ground, they didn't seem at all bothered by all the visitors passing by.

I loved this African Crowned Crane, it looks like it's wearing a headdress.

This Waldrapp Ibis is an ugly bird, it looks like it's wearing a mask. It's a critically endangered bird, so sad. That's why breeding programmes such as those which Lotherton undertake are so important.

These are just a few of the birds which can be seen at Lotherton Bird Garden, there's so many more, including different species of owls which I didn't take any photos of but which are always a favourite, and the rheas which are so funny when they're running around.

I wrote about the bird garden on my Fabby Day post back in April 2011. Saturday was another Fabby Day, as I'm sure you can tell by my latest couple of posts. I'm really enjoying our dates, I wonder where we'll get to in June.

A Date At Lotherton Hall

Lotherton Hall is only five or ten minutes away from where we live by car, and we've visited many, many times, but have never actually been inside the house. Each month, Mick and I are going on a date as one of my yearly challenges, so I thought our date for May could be at Lotherton Hall, and we visited on Saturday.

I wrote a bit about the history of the house in my post Lotherton Hall and Doggy Ghosts back in 2011, though the pricing structure for entry to the house and grounds has changed since then.

The first thing we did was look around the bird garden. Dogs aren't allowed in this part of the estate, so Mick's never been in, but as Archie wasn't playing gooseberry on our date, it allowed us the chance to have a good look round. I'll tell you more about it in my next post.

Our next stop was the little chapel. It was built in the twelth century and restored between 1913 and 1917. Soldiers who came to stay at Lotherton, when it was used as a Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital, were able to worship in there.

Some Norman windows remain in the chapel, which are thought to date between 1170 and 1180 when the chapel was built. I think this little stained glass window showing the Virgin and Child is lovely.

It's a memorial to Mrs Gascoigne's sister, Evelyne Cunliffe, who died in 1928.

The font is a plaster copy probably taken from a medieval example which the Gascoignes saw on their foreign travels.

A Sunday service is still held once a month in the chapel.

After a good look round the chapel, we went in to the house. Unfortunately, photography isn't allowed, so I can't show you any photos, but I can highly recommend it. Restored servants' rooms have recently been opened to the public, and an exhibition, Dressed For Battle, is also running, which shows how the war influenced fashion. Two of the bedrooms are displayed as they would have looked when the house was being used as a military hospital.

We had a wander around the grounds, which are full of colour at the moment with these polyanthus spread around lots of the flower beds.

They're even brightening up this stone trough.

The wild garlic, or ramsons, is just starting to come in to flower. The woodland floor is covered with them at Lotherton.

We made our way to the Stables Cafe where we indulged in tea and cake, though Mick had a cold drink, he doesn't like tea. It was a lovely day, even though it was a little windy, so we decided to make the most of it and sit outside. I had a piece of chocolate and orange marble cake, whilst Mick had a square of caramel shortbread. He was rather disappointed with it as he said it wasn't a patch on the caramel shortbread which I make, praise indeed.

It was another lovely date, and it just goes to show that you don't have to travel far for a wonderful day out. My next post will be all about the bird garden.

The Best Kind Of Bargains

It's habit, when I go to the supermarket, to look in the cabinet where the reduced items are. I've picked up many a bargain this way. Mick's totally on board with my money saving schemes, and when he goes to the supermarket alone, he does the same thing.

Last night, he popped out to get some provisions for our picnic today and came back with these Ferrero Rochers for me, he knows how much I love them. They had been reduced from £4.00 to just £1.00. I've only had the ones in the gold wrappers before, so I'll enjoy trying the other varieties.

I'm trying to lose a few pounds again, but I don't mind coming off my diet for a while whilst I indulge, afterall, it's not everyday you find these kind of bargains.

Kirkstall Abbey Deli Market

We had a trip over to the other side of Leeds on Sunday to visit Kirkstall Abbey Deli Market. Those who have been reading my blog for a while may remember my post a couple of years ago about Kirkstall Abbey. This is the first time we've been since that trip.

The market is held on the last weekend of the month in the Abbey cloisters. The Saturday market seems to be geared more towards food, and the Sunday market is more of a craft market, though there's a mixture of stalls on both days.

The stalls are set out around the edges with plenty of seating available in the centre, where a band was playing.

There was such a variety of stalls selling all manner of things, plants, textiles, pies, cheeses, button badges, cakes, toys, the list goes on.

We'll definitely be making a return visit, this time on a Saturday. The food stalls we saw on Sunday were fabulous, lots of lovely goodies on offer, so I'd really like to see what the Saturday market is like.

As we were leaving, I noticed the dandelions growing in the walls of the ruins.

It's amazing how plants grow in the most inhospitable locations.

The weather is lovely here today, sunny and warm. I do hope it continues for the bank holiday weekend. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, whatever the weather.

Challenge Update - April

My 2013 challenges are:-

1) Watch one old film each month.

2) List five items on Ebay each month.

3)  Have a date night with Mick each month.

The film I watched this month is one I haven't seen before, All About Eve. I'd bought the DVD for my mum one Christmas, as Bette Davis is one of her favourite actresses. She was nominated for an Oscar for Best Leading Actress for her role as Margo Channing in this film. The film was actually nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six. One of Marilyn Monroe's earliest roles was in All About Eve.

The Ebay listings are going well, apart from me making a silly miscalculation with postage on an item this month. I knew the postage rates for parcels had changed, they're supposed to be easier to work out now, but I made the silly mistake of quoting for a small parcel when it should have been a medium parcel. Can you believe that the cost of posting a medium sized parcel within the UK is now £8.00? It's probably cheaper to send by courier, I must look in to this.

This month, our date night was a date day. I did a post all about it, so if you'd like to read about it, just click on the link.

I'm still enjoying my challenges. I'm trying to think of somewhere to go for our date night in May. This year seems to be whizzing by, only one more day left of April.

Wicked

Eleanor and I love going to see shows at the theatre, especially musicals. One of the shows Eleanor really wants to see is Wicked, so when I found out that it will be touring next year, I knew I must get tickets.

Wicked is the story of the two witches from The Wizard of Oz, Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West, as they meet and become friends as sorcery students. This is as much as I know about the storyline, so I'm really looking forward to seeing it. I find I really enjoy shows where I don't know what to expect, you tend not to go with pre conceived ideas and just enjoy it for what it is.

It's so expensive to go to the theatre these days, so I usually buy seats in the balcony which are a bit cheaper, but as this is a show which Eleanor really wants to see, I decided to splash out and buy seats in the stalls. It's going to be part of her Christmas present anyway, so I don't mind paying a bit more on this occasion.

There's three other shows coming up in the next three months which we've got tickets for, so that's exciting. I'll tell you more about those as we see them.

Goosey Goosey Gander

It was only a couple of posts ago that I mentioned I'd only ever eaten eggs from hens before, so I'd bought some duck eggs to try. So, what a coincidence that I won a goose egg in a competition on Sue's Our New Life in the Country blog.

Three Skyline hens recently came to live with Sue, so she set a competition for her readers to name them. The three winners would be sent a goose egg layed by one of Sue's Chinese Grey geese, Harry, Larry and Mo.

Sue posted a photo on her blog, and I thought the name Dolly would suit one of them just fine, so this was the name I suggested. Sue liked it, so I was chosen as one of the winners, and on Friday afternoon, the postman duly delivered my goose egg. I have to say that Sue had done a marvellous job in protecting it for it's journey through the post. It was wrapped in large bubble wrap and nestled safely inside an ice cream tub. I'd had reservations about whether it would reach me in once piece, but I needn't have worried.

Goose eggs are equivalent in size to three hen eggs, you can see the difference.

I had a very tasty breakfast on Saturday, scrambled goose egg, two slices of toast and a rasher of bacon. It was delicious. There wasn't really a difference in taste between the goose egg and a hen egg, but it certainly tasted fresh, and just look at the colour of it, the yolk was so bright.

Thank you, Sue, and a huge thank you to Harry, Larry and Mo too.

Rippling

I can do it. I can ripple. Though I had serious doubts I'd ever be able to master it when I was trying to do the first row. It took me three attempts to get it right, but once you get your head around the increases and decreases, it's easy.

I'm loving the repetitive pattern, it's so relaxing and easy to do whilst chatting or watching tv as you really don't need to concentrate. It's an Attic24 pattern, the Neat Ripple Pattern, and as usual with Lucy's patterns, it's so easy to follow.

I started with 171 chains, (12X14+3), and this has made a width which will fit nicely on a single bed. It will hang over a little and the border will widen it a little more. I'm making this blanket for Daniel so it's being made in boy colours and I'm loving how the colours are working together.

Even Archie's impressed. I think he's eyeing it up.

I'm still working on my One A Day blanket too, I'll give you an update on that soon.

Date Day

One of my challenges this year is to have a date night with Mick each month. For April, we decided that instead of going out on an evening, we would spend Saturday together.

The day started at Poppleton Garden Centre in York where we enjoyed breakfast. Our house is a hive of activity on a morning, even on a weekend, we never get a leisurely breakfast as someone is always rushing around getting ready to go somewhere. It was nice to be able to actually talk to each other over breakfast for once. We were very naughty and had a full English, it was very tasty.

We had a mooch around the garden centre and made a few purchases before heading off to the car boot sale which is held each Saturday morning at York Racecourse. It's a huge car boot fair, but I find that the prices are quite high, and we didn't buy anything. It was good for a look round though.

The second Saturday of each month sees Malton's Food Lovers Market taking place, so after we'd had a walk around the car boot sale, we decided to head that way.

Each market has a seasonal theme and Saturday's was Yorkshire Rhubarb. There's both an indoor and outdoor market, and there's lots of produce to taste before you buy.

We came home with some Epicure's Larder Wold White cheese, an absolutely delicious soft cheese produced from rare breeds on the Yorkshire Wolds. It's made in a variety of flavours, I thought the garlic was very tasty but Mick preferred the plain flavour, so that's what we bought.

We also bought some duck eggs, just because I've never eaten duck eggs before and I wanted to try them. I had one poached for my breakfast yesterday, but I didn't notice any real difference other than it being slightly bigger than usual.

After visiting the Food Lovers Market, we had a little wander around Malton. I loved this display on the side of a cycle shop, it looks as though a bike is smashing through the wall.

It was really unusual having the day to ourselves, it made a lovely change. It was nice doing something different too for our date rather than just going out for a meal on an evening, I'm sure we'll do something similar again.