Young robin

From a couple of weeks back. We seem to have a lot of robins around at the moment. In the first photo, I am quite sure he was sunning himself the way I have seen blackbirds do; wings spread out, beak open, glazed look in their eyes - but I've never seen an adult robin do it.

I'm pretty sure it's what the adult starling in the first of these pictures is doing too - you can see his wings spread wide out. The second picture is a juvenile starling - he just been bathing in the water dish, but by the time I got my camera he'd flown up into the tree.

Sheep Country...

Did I say it had been thirty years since I was last in Connemara? I'd forgotten how many sheep there were - everywhere. (And lakes...) Next time I make a card with a sheep on it, I'll have a better memory of how to colour it. Most of the ones we saw had black faces.
The rope sheep were in the grounds of Kylemore Abbey, near the walled garden.

Pied Wagtail

Things with Wings...

And no, this time it's not birds.
I've been feeling that I should finish off my Paris trip before making more posts - but being realistic in the summer days I just don't get a lot of photo editing done. And now my good widescreen monitor is in the throes of giving up the ghost (so that it spends more time on the floor not working than it does in front of me). So that will have to be a rainy day project - I really do want to share some of my Giverny photos.
Here are some of the wildlife that I took when we had a week's holiday over in the west of Ireland earlier this month. We were mostly in Clare but also spent a couple of days in Connemara.

Black-tailed skimmer

Common Blue Damselfly

The first butterfly shot isn't as good but I had to include it - take a look at that eye!!

I only took my Canon with me this time, since I wasn't even bringing the laptop. Disaster nearly struck when I realised that I'd left the charger at home. Even with one spare fully-charged battery, that wasn't going to be enough for a week. Luckily a good old-fashioned camera shop in Ennis had a multi-purpose charger with moveable contacts, and checked that it would work with my batteries. Now I can even charge them in car if necessary - pretty unlikely, though. Thankfully C understood that a holiday without a camera for me would be like him having to do without his guitar, so he was happy to make the unscheduled trip and purchase.

June Favourites

We had some good weather in June, meaning that it was too hot for a lot of card-making for a couple of weeks. And, as previously mentioned, too bright for reliable photo-editing.

Paris Day 5 ~ Part 1

Monday was my birthday. We decided not to go to Giverny this day, not being sure what the transport would be like on Easter Monday. On the other hand, a lot of places that would normally be open were closed, including one of the museums still on my wishlist.
So we took an easy day...a leisurely morning, and then we got the metro over to Parc Monceau, always a favourite (apart from all the joggers!). It's full of odd follies and memorials. There's a plaque commemorating the first jump with a silk parachute, too.

Chopin

Here, for your safety, this area is inaccessible to the public.
Dangerous Tree
This tree is diseased, a lignin/wood-eating fungus has developed in its wood and roots,
causing it to become fragile and dangerous.

There is a children's playground, and pony rides - and a very boy-themed carousel. I really liked that submarine with shades of Ten Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Paris Day 4 ~ Part 4

 A last few photos from the cemetery.
It's been far too bright to do any photo editing recently, but a rainy day today (and a day off) has given me time to catch up a little.
The blackbird was sitting on the yew hedge having a good preening session. I think that the cemetery must provide a habitat for quite a lot of wildlife - a couple of mornings later we were walking up the side of it and saw a jay in a tree.