Garden birds in the rain......................................

Spring Bank Holiday Monday...and it rained all day.

The garden feeders were still busy with all the juvenile sparrows and a couple of very active Blue Tits going to and fro all morning.

Magpie

Dunnock looking damp and unimpressed

Juvenile Woodpigeon

My bird food is going at an alarming rate......and I think this is why.

To see more lovely birds from around the world please click on the image below.

  

Chirk Castle............................................................................ the interior

 

Armour and weapons from the past.

 The Castle, completed in 1310, stands guard over the Ceiriog Valley. 

The Dining Room

The 18th century state apartments.

  From the elegant and comfortable interior state rooms to the award winning gardens Chirk Castle contains fine examples of interior and exterior architectural and decorative features which have been added over the centuries.

The 17th century Long Gallery

Scroll down to read and view more about Chirk Castle in my last post.

Chirk Castle.................................................................. from the outside

I had a lovely day on Saturday visiting Chirk Castle in Wales.

Not far from home just a round trip of about 60 miles.
As a member of the National Trust and for an annual fee of about £50 you get entry into some amazing properties.
This year I intend to make the most of my membership.

  Completed in 1310 Chirk is the last Welsh castle from the reign of Edward I that is still lived in today.

Features from its 700 year history include a medieval tower, dungeon, 17th-century Long Gallery, and the grand 18th-century state apartments.

The award-winning gardens contain clipped yews, herbaceous borders, shrub and rock gardens.

The gardens are lovely to walk around

A terrace with stunning views looks out over the Cheshire and Shropshire plains.

The hill in the centre is Beeston Castle from my walk a couple of weeks ago.

A "guard" showing the kids how to use the pike... they were very aggressive.
It was very entertaining.

The parkland provides a habitat for rare invertebrates, wild flowers and contains many mature trees and also the splendid wrought-iron gates, made in 1719 by the Davies brothers.

My next post will show the interior of this lovely castle.

The Big Cats........................................... close up

To stand within a few feet of  Lions, Tigers, Jaguars and Cheetahs and feel relaxed in their company can only happen at a zoo.  Chester Zoos Jaguars are housed in a lovely building with plenty of outside access which has been entirely sponsored by the Jaguar Car Company at a cost of around £2 million.

The entrance to the Jaguar house.

The outside space for the Jaguars has been well thought out.

Jaguar...a beautiful beast.

The Asiatic Lions were just about to be fed.....

.....and were very restless.

A video clip (sorry hand held with a Dslr so it;s a bit shaky).

Sumatran Tiger...

It is the smallest of the tiger species.
There are less than 500 wild tigers left in the forests of Sumatra.

It may be the smallest tiger on the planet but as I was just a few feet away I was very grateful of the wire fence........ small they are not.

A remote camera in the tiger hide captured images of the viewing.public.
It was a demonstration of how they set camera traps in the wild.
This surprised specimen is me.

Cheetah

The fastest land animal on the planet.

Chester Zoos big cats are beautiful animals to see.

Big spacious enclosures and so accessible to the public.

The Lions ,Tigers, Jaguars and Cheetahs of Chester Zoo are in very capable hands.

Flamingos and Penguins................. side by side

Only at a zoo could such beautiful birds as Flamingos and Penguins be neighbours.
Chester Zoo is fantastic

 

Caribbean Flamingo

 Humboldts Penguin

Great characters.....

Glass viewing walls at the side of the penguin enclosure.

The Flamingos and Humboldts Penguin enclosures are situated right next to each other. 
They are beautiful birds to see.
Chester Zoo has two species of Flamingo... the brightly coloured Caribbean and the Chilean.

This is my post this week to World Bird Wednesday.
To see more birds click on the image below.


Please scroll down and read my last couple of posts about Chester Zoo.
I will also be adding more over the next few days if you would like to look in and view.

Six hours 1000 images...................... Chester Zoo

I feel like I have just been on safari...what a great day!

Cheetahs....my favourite big cat

  I walked for miles, six hours and I still didn't see everything.

Chester Zoo is amazing.

Bactrian Camel

The information available for all the species seen is fantastic.

It will take me a few days to sort out my images so expect a few more posts about Chester Zoo.

Manchester........................................ a lovely day

I live 25 miles south of the city of Manchester... my son Craig lives 11 miles away to the north.

I have just had a lovely afternoon catching up with our first get together since his wedding in March.

Craig went to University in Manchester and these meetings used to be common place so we both had a nice time reminiscing.

A few new buildings have sprung up since we last met.
 I know building plots are scarce but this Holiday Inn was built on the smallest plot I have ever seen.

Manchester's newest Holiday Inn

Flatter than New York's Flat Iron



Land is expensive so old buildings get a new hat

Craig is doing the Three Peaks Challenge which means climbing the highest mountain in Scotland Ben Nevis driving south to climb the highest peak in England Scafell Pike then on to Wales to ascent Snowdon all within 24 hours in the aid of charity.

I was asked to advise on some footwear and waterproofs and I think we got some bargains that should give a few years service if he isn't put off hillwalking forever after this event.

We have done Snowdon and Ben Nevis together before his 12th birthday but somehow we never got around to climbing to the highest point of the county of his birth.
Manchester has a big wheel and the views are fantastic.


The local RSPB have set up scopes so the public can view the breeding Peregrine Falcons.

Bald bloke looking for the resident Peregrine Falcons...
Yes it's me

Manchester is buzzing.

The two local soccer teams have between them won the two major trophies in England. 

League Champions Manchester United are also in the European Cup Final against Barcelona of Spain next weekend which just happens to played in England this year at Wembley Stadium in London.



This busker in St Annes Square was amazing.



Manchester has some beautiful buildings and I will be adding some more info soon.

URBIS
This building will soon house the National Football Museum
Soccer to my friends over the pond.





 At 47 floors high the Beetham Tower is Europe's highest residential building.

The first 23 floors are Manchester's Hilton Hotel.

Beeston Castle............................. built to impress

A wet morning but I decided to do a favourite section of the Sandstone Trail and have a walk near Tarporley and take in a visit to Beeston Castle.

The Castle on the Rock

The medieval ruins of Beeston Castle stand on a rocky summit 500ft above the Cheshire plain, offering stunning views from the Pennines in the east to the mountains of Wales in the west.

The fortification dates from 1225 when it was built by Ranulf, the sixth Earl of Chester, and contains one of the deepest castle wells in the country.

   The castle was seized by King Henry III in 1237 and used by him and later his son, King Edward I, as a base for their campaigns against the Welsh.

The castle was finally destroyed at the end of the Civil War.

  

 Beeston Castle has commanding views over the Cheshire Plains and was ideal for defending the English border against the Welsh - with points around the compass; To the north - the Shropshire Union Canal, to the north east - Jodrell Bank radio telescopes, to the east - the Pennine Hills, due south - Shropshire's Wrekin Hill and the privately owned Peckforton Castle, to the west - the Welsh Mountains and to the north west Chester and Liverpool.

     During the English Civil War, Beeston Castle was an important stronghold, playing an major part in the fighting in Cheshire, being occupied by both warring sides (Parliamentarians - the Roundheads and Royalists - the Cavaliers) at different times between 1642 and 1646.

Today Beeston Castle has a modern - mock castle - gatehouse and the site is walled. The whole area is slowly becoming naturalised with birch, rowan, oak and bracken but English Heritage have plans to control the growth and return the land features to the 13th century landscape. Ravens and lately Peregrine Falcons nest on the near vertical rock crags.