Kew, with a half marathon

Not by me, obviously!  I had forgotten about it, but the crowds heading for the race entrance as I made my way to my entrance soon reminded me!

So it was anything but a peaceful 8am start, but oh so beautiful...

 it was bright, but chilly to start with before the sun started to warm things up

 Summer Sun was looking resplendent

 as were the cannas

 great reflections from the urns in the water

 the Broad Walk was a popular place for runners to do their warming up exercises and over to the left where the start was, a tannoy relayed the warm up music....

 the echinacea are fading

 I took a right towards the Hive

the light shining through the flowers was stunning

 I bent down to see the gaura more closely

 the remaining wildflowers by the hive are now just seedheads, but beautiful for all that

 I had the longer lens on at the Hive,










but as last time, the phone captures the light perfectly

 walking down the steps the other side of the hive, more seedheads

this is always a favourite September view in the low early light

 in the Evolution garden

 still quite a lot of colour

 I headed round the far side of the pond

 and just after 8.30 the first wave of runners came pounding through

I didn't know the route they were taking (can't remember from last year) so headed past Sapphire Star (which is on the route as there were arrows directing runners)

but it was looking gorgeous with the sun reflecting off it's spikes

the dew was evident on the purple reeds

and again, the phone captured a great shot

 taken through the door,

 I headed for the lake, having to bide my time to cross paths full of runners!

 the reflections were great

as I reached the far side of the crossing I changed my lens, but as I did so a flock of geese flew overhead, so I missed them until they'd landed...dammit!

 I walked up the path on the right side (as I was now facing it)

the surface this end is covered again!

 and at the end on his normal post, the heron was sat looking for an early lunch or maybe a late breakfast!

 I dodged some runners again and headed down cedar vista,

 I could hear drumming off to my right....



so followed my ears

 they were encouraging the runners, and very good they were too

I found them on facebook, they are a drumming group called Stix and are based near Eastbourne (Sussex) but travel to events like this 

 I decided not to try and get through this lot and cross the path but doubled back the other way!

 the Nijima Float glinting

light shining through the Japanese anemones

 I walked back towards the Temperate House

 where a wave of runners was passing (no distance markers so have no idea how far they'd gone)

 the morning was warming up nicely now

 dodged the runners on the path again... was becoming a bit of a feature!

 time for play!  took it with me all over London and it didn't make it out of the bag!

ha ha!!

 I walked up the grass towards the Palm House

past trees turning autumnal

 although this one hasn't changed much since I was here 2 weeks ago

 not sure if they passed the back of the Palm House last year, they may have done



It was nearly 10 so I headed for the cafe and tea and coffee before the general opening and even more people came in!

lemon muffin today

as I threw my rubbish away I noticed this on the bin and grabbed my camera
just in time, before it flew off

 I went into the Waterlily house quickly before it got busy

 the gourds are .... decaying

back outside, a group from Macmillan Cancer were dancing and cheering on the runners (not so many left now so it was easier to get across the paths)

 in the Princess of Wales glasshouse I was rewarded by a water dragon on the top of the pillar

 trying to get a decent view through the branches

 trumpet vines in one of the orchid rooms

 in the cooler orchid room, haven't seen this one for weeks.  sitting on a ledge at the top, I have no idea how it gets up there

 large palm covered in fruit (I assume)

checking on my way down again -  still on the pillar but has moved along a little!

 grevillea

 walked through the Alpine House to see what was new

autumn scilla


so pretty

 so are the colchicum

 and these slightly smaller ones

 back to the Broad Walk,

 to the Temperate House

 I only saw this as a girl was standing photographing it and I looked to see what it was..

(musella lasiocarpa if you need to know)

 clementines still ripening nicely

hibiscus still huge

 tree fern

 they look so different with the plants growing up so much around the Chihuly

 back outside, most of the runners had gone now



it was relatively peaceful again as the music had stopped over the tannoy...

 the Lime Crystal tower sparkling in the sun

I went back to the POW glasshouse before leaving.

found one of the younger ones, on the branch

they are hard to photograph under here with the leaves in the way

 so hard to see too especially sitting with it's back to you

 this one still on it's ledge too

 and round under the mangroves, the one from the top of the pillar is now on the ledge at the back of the pond

good for capturing

 especially as it moved forward out from the greenery

fabulous end to the morning!


thanks for looking again