Petworth House and Park - National Cream Tea Day

Well, despite the dullness of the day (it brightened up nicely later) I headed off for a walk at Petworth.

It was nearly lunchtime so I headed off to the house for a bit to eat

This used to be the diary and was then converted to house the fire engine!!

Ponders and Fido ready for action!!

and the, in celebration of National Cream Tea Day (which Petworth cafe seemed unaware of) an excellent scone with all the 'bits'.  Back to normality in terms of having spread instead of jam and cream from tomorrow onwards.  But it was excellent.

Then off for a wander..

Small Heath butterfly

Down on the lake, dozens of Greyland and Canada Geese

And a few Mallards.. now going into eclipse..

and a Ponders & Fido enjoying the peace and quiet..

I sat on a seat here for a while; reading and just enjoying the stillness and warmth..

The Geese all came over to 'my' side of the lake

then a slow wander back..

Lovely to be back again....

Warnham LNR.. first visit for a few weeks!!

Managed to get to Warnham LNR today; first time in many weeks.

The pictures are record shots only.. but I was able to hold the camera up.,,, so this was more an assessment of what I could do rather than brilliant photographic quality pics!!  Well,,, that's my excuse...

Seemed to be 2 Adult and 2 young Common Terns.. there may have been more

Also spotted 2 Adult and 2 young Great Crested Grebes

A rather smart Chaffinch

A few orchids were growing

Water lily

And some sleepy Mallards

And a new hide!! This has appeared since my last visit pre April.

It's all complete and ready to go BUT  there's a pair of Reed Warblers nesting right outside one of the windows... currently feeding their young.. so opening of the hide has been put on hold!!

Nymans.. revisited!!

Today my daughter came up and we went over to Nymans...  We were both hungry and thirsty when we got there so first stop was an early 'lunch' ..  cream tea for 2!!  The cream and jam a special treat :)

A wander round the garden.  The weather was dry but very overcast and black clouds mostly. so photographically = not good!!

Ponders enjoyed being at one of his fave Gardens..

A selfie.. not something that I'm very relaxed about.. :D