New Year - new Kew...

well new visits to Kew! 
A very grey day, most of the colour I found today was inside the glasshouses.

from my starting point at the Palm House I doubled back and headed across the grass to check out the hellebores - having seen my cousin showing some a few days ago from the park she visits

the ground was too muddy to kneel right down to see a lot of them well, they do like to dip their heads! 

 tonight is the last night of the Kew at Christmas event so I took advantage before they dismantle it, to take a few last pictures of some of the elements

 when I got to the lake, there was a lady feeding the ducks, they were splashing around!

 I stopped to talk to a second lady also feeding the ducks, I often see her at the gate waiting to go in, she must have been a few minutes behind me today!


The dogwoods were looking fabulous today all over the place.

 I decided to head up the side of the lake on the right hand side, towards the swans in the distance (white blob in this pic!)

 by the time I reached them they'd both climbed out of the water and were shaking off...

and preening

 I walked over to the log walk,  there were no children there

but often they have fun clambering over the tree trunks

 I walked through the bluebell wood area it was lovely and peaceful again though very grey today

 the fir tree at the end of the path still had the large groups of funghi under it, though some of them had decayed away a bit

 as I approached the Temperate House, the Treetop Walkway over to the left must still be closed for maintenance as there was no sign of people on the platform


Hopefully it will re-open soon

 inside the Temperate House it was nice and warm (not hot, obviously as the name implies)

I was drawn to these flowers

and spent some time photographing them

 this large group of yellow flowers was still looking fantastic

 the tree ferns are really growing

 from the steps down from the viewing platform

back outside, heading back towards the cafe




still some fruit on the sea buckthorn (if I remember it's name right)

a large spreading tree (labelled dwarf Russian almond)  was covered in lichens

 also prompted by my cousin, on my way to the cafe I took care to notice the flowering witch hazel...

 I love them

 the large tree by the cafe had lots of funghi in the mulch on the ground

 it was kind of not quite cold enough to make me eat my cake and drink my hot chocolate on the new bench outside.... though the drink didn't stay hot very long!

 a lady to my right was feeding the gulls
so I tried to get a few shots without spilling my snack!

found some more hellebores on my way dragon hunting!

 couldn't see what these were, but they were hard to photograph!

 flowering cactus (Christmas Cactus I presume, due to the time of year, Mum used to have one that flowered around now and another, Easter Cactus too that often flowered most of the year indoors)

 the baby wasn't sitting on the branch this week, daddy (or mummy!) was!

 I walked around looking for others...

 as I walked back round though, the guy who I spoke to last time was there with some grubs - to my astonishment, TWO babies scurried across from the water to him - I missed the second one, which dashed into the undergrowth...

 after another visitor nearly stepped on the one on the path in the above photo, it too moved to safety!







the parent was obviously too comfy where it was to move for food, so got hand fed!







I wandered off again

 through the cool orchid room

 I couldn't resist going back to the water dragons
one of the little ones was now out again

 the other one still under the plants - my camera was mis-behaving for a few minutes annoyingly

 the second one ran across to the water...
they are both completely different colours, one is much lighter than the other - I have no idea why and the Kew guy had gone away

just love him!

 I tore myself away again and went back through the orchids

as I did so, I noticed the Kew man clambering through the growth with his pot of grubs...







I climbed the steps to see from above

 Inside a large palm like plant...


I wondered if it might be nesting, but the man had gone again!

 I headed outside and down the Broad Walk


not much "colour" but some lovely seed heads

 and the grasses are always a favourite

 I decided to pay a last visit to these "paper" flowers

I'd love to know what they're made of, as they do rustle like paper but after 6 weeks can't possibly be paper, they'd have ripped to shreds.

 I went to the loo and then headed for the exit..

first I noticed these snowdrops in the bed outside the Orangery restaurant

 and these heathers

 a group of tables on the grass caught my eye (after I'd seen two Japanese men photographing them!)

 berberis

as I sat down near the exit to put my big lens away I remembered this!

I had meant to take more pictures with it but had forgotten!

Hopefully next time I will remember and maybe there'll be some sunshine too!

Thanks for joining me.