Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Thursday 30 September 2010

September Visit to Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens

I had a few hours of free time this afternoon so had to decide whether to return to Shustoke Reservoir where 8 Little Gulls had been seen yesterday or to pay a visit to Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens. Bearing in mind that the Little Gulls could well have moved on and my failure to see one there recently and the fact that I haven't been to Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens this month, I decided to go to the Gardens.

I didn't see a lot of wildlife just a lot of magpies and a mixed blue and long-tailed tit flock. There was a grey squirrel running around the trees and several bees in the vegetable garden feeding on nasturtium and calendula flowers. I was hoping to see some red admirals but the only butterfly I saw was a brief sighting of a possible small copper hiding amongst some leaves high up on a wall.

Apologies for the amount of photos - I have got rather carried away again. I have done quite a few blog postings on these gardens so I have tried to include "new" photos although I am afraid several are similar to those posted before!


Courtyard by the entrance





Melon Ground






Armilliary Sphere at the centre of the Holly Maze



There are a lot of holly trees around the gardens - quite a few had a healthy berry crop



There are still a lot of flowers blooming









I love this flower (Love Lies Bleeding) and I think I will try and buy some for our garden next year.











A lovely carpet of cyclamen under the trees









Patches of autumn leaf tints are appearing in some of the trees







There were lots of apples and pears on the trees and many different types of berry

Cockspur Thorn



Medlar



Rose Hips



There were so many different seedheads and I took quite a lot of photos - here are just a few














This Sunday, the 3rd is Apple Day at the Gardens. There will be many different varieties of apples to taste and buy together with stalls, competitions and dancing displays.

Apples, pumpkins and potatoes had already been displayed in the greenhouse and summerhouse









Whilst wandering around the wilder gardens outside the formal walled area, I came across a "stumpery" hidden away in a wood. The photos aren't very good as it was so gloomy I had to use flash but its nice to see toadstools growing on some of the tree stumps






I've experimented again with black and white photos although I must admit I think black and white probably works best with old black and white timbered buildings









1 comment:

The Quacks of Life said...

nice set of pictures! looks a lovely garden