orange tip | Christine Lucas

I wasn’t going to do a Sunday Sevens (devised by Natalie at Threads and bobbins). I haven’t taken that many pictures this week, but I thought I would give it a try and see what I could come up with.

Beauty:

Among a bunch of flowers I bought this week, were some yellow roses. I thought how pretty the folds of petals looked.

Yellow Rose

Dan Brown’s Origin

Book I am reading:

I’m currently enjoying Dan Brown’s latest Robert Langdon offering, Origin. Though it’s punctuated with endless lectures on the many geographical and historical places in the novel. I am looking forward to finding out the true reason for Winston!

#walk1000miles:

A quick update on my weeks mileage, which has been 33. Bringing my annual total to 643 miles.

Yarden:

This Saturday, David and I took a visit to my favourite garden centre, Lady Green. We went in the hope of getting (shade loving) rockery plants for around the pond, but ended up getting the wrong type (sun loving). However the mistake was a blessing as the phlox I bought ended up in the main yarden around David’s recently moved acer. In total we bought five plants, and all have now got new homes. 🙂

Bee Sculpture

I also fell in love with some funky art for the yarden. These funny bee sculptures really do brighten the yarden up and at £3.99, weren’t too expensive either. 🙂

Riley Walks:

This Bank Holiday weekend has been unprecedented. The NW of England has been blessed with wall to wall sunshine and temperatures hitting 24°C. It truly has been a lovely Bank Holiday. On Sunday David and I took a hot Riley to a local nature reserve, Lunt Meadows. We visited Lunt last year as part of my 30 days Wild, so decided to go for another 4.5 mile walk around the reserve.

Christine and Riley

David and Riley

Lunt Nature Reserve

Greylag Geese

The sun was hot even at 10am! Peregrines soared before a cloudless blue sky, while greylag geese eyed us wearily. Bees buzzed among orchids and there were innumerous bird songs, most I could not identify. Speckled woods fluttered in nearby woodland. Orange tips, small tortoiseshells and peacocks, were all too fast for us to take a picture! Our leisurely morning walk flew by. Riley, though hot seemed to enjoy the different smells and sounds of the lovely nature reserve.

What have you been up to this Bank Holiday?

That was my week, how was yours?

Thanks for reading,

Christine x

Once again I thought I would participate in this weeks, Sunday Sevens, devised by Natalie.

Delamere Forest: The bank holiday Monday saw David and I venture to Delamere Forest, for a six mile walk. Neither of us had been since we were children. We had never seen a forest so busy! Families Gruffalo hunting, cyclists and joggers all jostled along the woodland paths. Instead of a leisurely walk in nature it became too overwhelming for David! The only wildlife we did spot was black headed gulls squawking on Blakemere Moss, speckled wood and orange tip butterflies.

Delamere Forest

Blakemere Moss

#walk1000miles: The walk around Delamere aided my rather sedate week of walking, and has brought my mileage for the week to 25 miles, meaning I have passed the 400 mile mark!

30 Days Wild: I applied to be a featured blog on this years Wildlife Trusts’ My Wild Life. Last year I followed many bloggers who were participating in June’s 30 Days Wild and learned something new almost daily. For me, part of the experience was the camaraderie in blog-land, everyone was just so lovely and the sharing of nature enriched my June. I look forward to this years 30 Days Wild and hope to make some more wildlife friend bloggers. Why not follow the link above to join in!

Wildlife: Linking in with the above, David and I have recently bought a bird box for robins. Hopefully we can encourage them to nest or at least give some shelter to those in the area.

Robin nest box

Bee oasis

I also purchased some marbles this week and placed them in my poppy feeder. I topped the feeder up with water and hopefully it will be a restful oasis for passing bees. The marbles I read, give the bees something to stand on while drinking, save them drowning.

Yarden: The yarden at the moment is looking verdant. One particular plant that seems to be doing well this year is the clematis.

Clematis

The Lonely

Book I am reading: I’m 100 pages into Andrew Michael Hurley’s The Lonely. It’s a slow burn at the moment. Hope the narrative picks up!

Collecting: I managed to find my first Beatrix Potter 50p! David collects the 50p’s but he didn’t have any Beatrix Potter ones, until Friday, when I found Peter Rabbit!