the last visit before Christmas... another sunny day!
a heavy dew, not quite frosty, it was gorgeous!
me outside the gates (I was messaging Lesley )
I was a bit more wrapped up than I needed to be, it wasn't as cold as I thought they'd said...
view across the parterre beds to the pond.
this week Kim and I headed to the lake first
the sun was casting fabulous shadows on the grass
I needed sunglasses but they kept misting up from my breath so I quite soon gave up, couldn't see with them on, or off!
there were lots of gulls already flying around the benches and crows too - on the way to the lake both Kim and I had been attacked by a crow - luckily my hat had stopped the claws on my head but Kim wasn't so lucky.
he was obviously impatient for his monkey nuts!
the heron was there already
the Egyptian geese - well all the birds - were making a right racket today.
I think he's saying, "who are you looking at!"
two flew over our heads to the grass behind us and started squaring up - or maybe it's a courtship dance...
the heron kept ruffling his chest and head feathers if the larger birds got too close,but it was hard to catch the moment...
the gulls were flying around on the lake and past our heads
I managed to get some in focus
can't resist the heron though!
Bowie turned up
the grey blur on the left of the flying birds is the heron taking flight
I watched him fly over to the other side of the lake crossing before he disappeared from sight, but soon came back.. almost got him landing beside us again
We were about to head on our way, but Peter turned up so we stayed a few minutes longer,
the birds were happy to see him
blogger has had enough of the correct order... this is from the crossing
island in the lake
heading to the lake crossing !
I still had the long zoom on so took some of the colours as we crossed the lake on my phone
not that I could see what I was getting due to the low sun - all I could see as I took these was my reflection on the phone screen
it was a day for reflections and shadows
heading towards the treetop walkway
we were amazed as we past it to see the lift working - bet next week it won't be again!
outside the back of the Temperate House
more shadows
stars hanging in trees near the Pavilion restaurant - it was tea time!
mocha kitkat this week gifted by Peter after he saw us (me) talking on FB last week about the gingerbread ones
had to be hot chocolate for me .
after we'd finished we headed across the grass past the Temperate House (not going in this time, there wasn't much in there last week)
ahead of us was the winter garden looks resplendent with it's dogwoods
so that's where we went
from the path before you walk through the garden
Kim was trying to take pics of the dogwoods from the grass without people walking through her shot on the path... so I headed that way to bomb her shot....
there was dew still on the euphorbias
the edgworthia are flowering
but you need to be down low to see the colour
up in the centre of the pathway the top level of dogwood
it won't be long before the witch hazels start to come out
carrying on the path through the winter garden, the hellebores were sparkling
as I bent to take the dark purple ones, my camera jammed and the zip of my coat decided to come undone from the bottom upwards so I had a bit of a struggle
carrying on!!
some early camellias in camellia walk
as we neared the Palm House again
we headed to the pond to cross between the lights -
I can't resist these and ant to make the most of them before they get taken down
we bumped into some more regulars that we chat to at the gate here, and chatted for a bit. I wish the pond would freeze though, they'd look so cool reflected on ice!
it's not going to happen though, temperatures are not predicted to get that cold before the end of the Kew Christmas event
but they do look good in the still water.
I had the wrong lens on to get the reflections of the dogwood in the water
but the camera shows it well
we headed to the Princess of Wales
walking through the orchid room
artist at work as she often is. it's interesting to see she works with her paper on a long roll
back round in the rainforest section
and back out through the cacti section
we walked through the rock garden to the alpine house
more groups of snowdrops out
the earliest ones under the acer were in the sun
then out to ee the grass garden
we walked along the side of the rock garden back to the exit
the sign in front of the Botanical restaurant was casting great shadows on the wall
then it was into the shop to finish my Christmas shopping and home
thanks for looking (every week) and see you next week - till then, I hope you have a fabulous Christmas
I needed sunglasses but they kept misting up from my breath so I quite soon gave up, couldn't see with them on, or off! 
there were lots of gulls already flying around the benches and crows too - on the way to the lake both Kim and I had been attacked by a crow - luckily my hat had stopped the claws on my head but Kim wasn't so lucky. 
two flew over our heads to the grass behind us and started squaring up - or maybe it's a courtship dance...
the heron kept ruffling his chest and head feathers if the larger birds got too close,but it was hard to catch the moment...
the gulls were flying around on the lake and past our heads 
I managed to get some in focus 
can't resist the heron though!
Bowie turned up
the grey blur on the left of the flying birds is the heron taking flight
I watched him fly over to the other side of the lake crossing before he disappeared from sight, but soon came back.. almost got him landing beside us again
We were about to head on our way, but Peter turned up so we stayed a few minutes longer, 
after we'd finished we headed across the grass past the Temperate House (not going in this time, there wasn't much in there last week)
ahead of us was the winter garden looks resplendent with it's dogwoods
so that's where we went 
from the path before you walk through the garden
but they do look good in the still water. 
No comments:
Post a Comment