[England 2014] Actually go figure, this is my last Bakewell post, lol.

[moonvoice]

We had both Bakewell pudding and the tart in Bakewell.
They were okay, I think?
I was all bakery-fooded out.
I had never missed like...refreshing types of food more than when we were in Bakewell, since my parents tend to go to pubs and bakeries for food.
I ended up eating a lot of salads at home to make up for all the doughy-urghness.


The river Wye






I was so fucking sick when we went on this walk. I had caught a second illness in Bakewell, that eventually became severe bronchitis that took 7 months to shake, and required a call-out doctor in Perth, to make sure I didn't need to go to the hospital.









White swan! Total novelty for me.

























A part of Holme House

















This is a 13th century bridge, and it was awesome to walk over.





















The horses that went by every morning in Bakewell. This was on our last morning there.





Next stop: Messingham!

Comments

[cmcmck]

Nice!

And ooh! Bridgesquee! :o)

[moonvoice]

Yes! :D It was awesome

[redheart]

Sometimes my brain goes "adurr" at moments of remembering the ecological variation in our respective homes. If I can catch the flock of white swans that lives by the house I grew up in the next time I'm back in Maryland, I'll take a bunch of photos for you. What type of swans (or other large waterfowl) do you have in the vicinity of Perth? :)

[moonvoice]

We only have black swans here. Our state bird is the black swan. And they're more slender, and have longer, thinner necks. :)

[feralkiss]

"This is a 13th century bridge, and it was awesome to walk over."

Come in Southern France visit our Roman bridges and aqueducts. \o/

[moonvoice]

Yes please!!

[fox_bard]

Wonderful pics!!

[moonvoice]

Thank you c:

[silverjackal]

Your appreciation for white swans is delightful! :D Heh. The rest of the world does consider swans to be white by default! Unless of course one has the luxury of a good zoological collection to see the black ones. I've been fortunate to see them multiple times. We have one endangered swan here, and another that migrates through, and both are white.

I suspect I've seen that bridge in some BBC programme or other, but I could be wrong. There's enough preserved around England that there could be several such bridges.

I've been very much enjoying these photos! Thank you for sharing them! (For comparison, it is currently snowing sideways here, and we had 10 cm today. If the forecast holds it should thaw over the next couple of days, but in the mean time the roads are "interesting" after the manner of the apocryphal Ancient Chinese Curse.)

[moonvoice]

Yeah, we're weird with our black swans. *grin* I always thought like - they're what I've always seen in the media, in everything really, so I thought I'd be kind of nonplussed a little when I saw them in person - but it just feels different. I noticed little things like how much more robust they seemed - our black swans are bigger, but they're skinner, and their necks are longer and thinner. Stuff like that. Plus the black isn't a sort of plush, seamless black (i.e. I couldn't easily see individual feathers on the neck of breast of the white swan I saw), it's broken up.

[silverjackal]

how much more robust they seemed - our black swans are bigger, but they're skinner, and their necks are longer and thinner

Having worked with a variety of waterfowl I don't think of any adult swan of any species as a light weight including your black swans. They are all powerful, and capable of inflicting considerable damage with beak and wings, and take considerable strength to restrain. Heh. There speaks the voice of having worked banding wild waterfowl. It's quite the workout even if one leaves aside the "extra" of being copiously shat upon. Glamorous! ;D

I couldn't easily see individual feathers on the neck of breast of the white swan I saw

In my experience it is only mute swans which present that appearance of flawless, seamless white. Most other species show the feathers a bit more even when they are prime condition.

Have you seen the video of the waterfowl wintering at an open lake somewhere in Siberia? As beautiful as it was, the din was incredible (and entirely normal to me as I've been around large congregations of Canada geese). If you have't seen it I'll try to hunt it down for you because I think you'd enjoy it.

Edited to add: found it!

[ariestess]

Gorgeous! I'm in love with the swans! Especially that two-toned one.

[copperbeech]

Beautiful photos! I hope you are well!

[kath_ballantyne]

The age of things still gets me.
ugh yeah. My mum's cooking was generally stodgy food. Meat and veg cooked way too long and it's not surprising that when I took over cooking I cooked stirfries and sushi and salads.

When we lived in the Hunter Valley/Newcastle we got both colours of swan (and massive pelicans). I don't think we got mute swans though.
Haven't seen either colour of swan out here (about 8 hours drive inland from Sydney) but then it's not often wet enough and we don't live near any permanent sources of water. Lots of wedge-tailed eagles and hawkes and many, many parrots of various kinds but not many water birds