Last visit of the year (probably) to Kew...

I decided to go today, rather than my normal Saturday (though to be fair, all the days seem the same when you're off work)  -  they even ran a train for me...

I am cheating with the first photo as I went in the other gate today as the trains were running at funny times so I wasn't early enough to walk round to the nearest one to here....

but as usual we'll start with this one...
grey, and cloudy as you can see... not cold though

 my proper first pic...

 it looks quite mono-tone to begin with..

 till you look closer

 the seed heads were not co-operating with the focus for some reason

 against the very grey sky

 stem of one of the Christmas trees along the Broad Walk

as I walked up the Broad Walk I kept seeing birds flying out of these seedheads - I had left the longer zoom at home again (for weight reasons) and wished I had it with me... but you can see this one before I tried to creep closer and disturbed it.

I think it's a chaffinch (tentatively) and there were jays too but they were much too fast for me!

 as I got to the pond I was pleased to see loads of great reflections

 especially of this large tree

I changed lenses so you could see it above ground and in the water

 making this one large as I love this one - the lack of colour other than grey and white,  no manipulation at all.

 from the pond I then headed in the other direction, intending to go to the lake soonish


quite a big fir tree!

 gorgeous lichen on a branch

to my right there was a clump of red berries in a bed in the grass. 

as I went closer I saw this robin, but this was a shyer one than the one I found in the Palm House a few weeks ago, and flew off when I tried to creep closer


I'm quite pleased I caught him in this one though

 immediately to the other side of this group of berries was a large tree with these odd dangly things... couldn't see a name plate..

 still very grey...

 the big beech tree (the one with all those lights on) 

As I walked past these again I noticed a huge pop of colour on the other side of the path so went off to investigate....

 wow! 


very pink  - it is an Indian Currant (symphoricarpos orbiculatus) 

they were fascinating. 

 as I walked across the grass, deep with soggy leaves, I noticed several clumps of this - I've seen it before  - not really sure what it is.

looks like water droplets but they're more solid than that and go sort of sticky when you poke them with a stick, like when you disturb a cobweb

 catkins

 more lichen on a seat this time

 as  I took this one I heard splashing along the lake...









as one of the swans climbed out of the water

 it's mate stayed in the water

 I continued along the lakeside

signs of new life everywhere though...


 musk willow, 

 

 as I got to the top of the lake I headed across the grass again towards the woodland area

this large piece of funghi had been detached from whatever it was growing on

 as I walked through the woodland area (looking very different without the bluebells)  I saw this tree stump covered in moss...

what I didn't see until I uploaded the photo here, is the little group of funghi....

 I took this wider angle to show more of what it really was!

 it was very peaceful (if you ignored the aeroplanes overhead)  with birdsong all around

 more funghi on the bottom of a tree trunk







As I reached a crossroads I saw a peacock ahead, but not only that, under a large fir tree, a huge group of funghi...

 frilly and soggy looking, although I didn't touch it to test that bit!

I have some more on my phone but they've not uploaded to the "cloud" yet...

 his tail feathers are growing, ready for mating season in the spring!

close up of a fir tree

 crossed the path with the pagoda in the distance...


but I was heading for the Temperate House now

 a patch of light... was the cloud about to part??






Over to my right I could see another light patch under a tree...  I went to check it out first ...

yes, another huge patch of funghi

 I was able to get in amongst it (treading very carefully) 

 once in the Temperate House...

 I came across these teeny tiny flowers... so pretty (and confusing for the camera's focus)

 the label said it was a type of Erica (which is the heather group)  the greenery hidden by the flowers was kind of heather-like) 

I loved it.

 there was lots of colour in the TH

when I returned outside, I was amazed to see - blue sky!

the shape of this cloud captivated me...


you can skip ahead there are lots!

 the sun was bright behind the cloud

 I crossed the grass towards the gallery

shadows cast by the sun... what a difference a few minutes had made to the day!

 it was like someone had brushed the sky with white paint!

 I still had the ultra wide angle lens on , so got a shadow selfie trying to take these twisting branches

As I had the wide angle on I went in to the gallery to look at the tree drawings...




but had forgotten

it was story telling time for Christmas!

I left them to it, will go another day

 outside the sunlight was illuminating these leaves

 the sun was now strong (for December) and casting shadows.. the dew hasn't melted though as you can see from the white looking areas on the grass

 I headed back to the cafe (well the loo I had stopped for coffee (hot chocolate) and cake before I started!)

 and walked round the lake, the colours were stunning now

 to think I had regretted not coming yesterday when it was sunny all day (train strike)


it was perfect now!

 cut through the little wooded path to the Princess of Wales,  loads of funghi on the bark lining the path..

tiny round ones

 flat ones

 bracket ones

frilly ones

 the palm house through the trees in the sun

 inside, I went to check for the dragon.... yep, still sat on his branch!

 took this one from the side, it's not very good but I love how he's holding onto the branch with his arms and legs bent round the branch!

so cute...



no-one around to ask if it had actually moved again! 

quick pic for Elizabeth

 I took a slightly different route back to the exit and saw another clump of funghi, hiding amongst the leaf litter beneath another big tree... you had to look closely to see them

these were even harder to spot at least the red ones stood out a bit

 alpine house hiding

 POW

 the Hive

 the water feature in the secluded garden, the sun was catching the water as it splashed down..

 as I walked down the final path, I noticed more signs of spring already - daffodils poking through. 

flat clouds as I crossed Kew Bridge going back to the station.


thanks for joining me....
another beautiful day at Kew (and I completely forgot about the photography globe in my bag)

ah well, there'll be another trip!