A day at the races at Kempton Park a few weekends ago.

We arrived just in time for me to rush to put a bet on the first race. The horses were already being loaded into the starting stalls.  I had clocked a horse called Mahadee going through the form that morning and I already knew he was going to be the one I was going, so I quickly put my pennies on and climbed the stand to watch the race.

Being the professional that I am I only after I took photos of Mahadee in the winners’ circle I discovered I had not adjusted the shutterspeed, so pictures  have quite a bit of motion blur. I don’t mind the result, but I doubt anyone else would be impressed with my skill ;oP

The next race was the listed Snowdrop Fillies’ Stakes. I put my money on Festoso in the first small picture (click for bigger photo). Unfortunately she only managed to finish sixth. The winner was Born Tobouggie in the second picture.

Born Tobouggie runs today at Goodwood in the Conqueror Stakes at 2.55.

Next it was the Easter Stakes. As soon as the horses came into the paddock my eye was caught by a colt called Pure Poetry.

He looked so good I put a small each way bet on him at 16/1. He won! When he was fighting for the lead in the stretch I was far too excited to take photos, but here he is again in the winners’ circle. It is my favourite photo from that day:

He is running today in the 2,000 Guineas. He is a longshot, but I put a couple of pounds on him anyway :o)

In the 3.45 Something won at 20/1:

In the 4.15 Forgotten Voice seemed a pretty little horse in the paddock, but had not started since 2007. Considering that, he was the surprisingly short-priced favourite. He certainly justified favouritism in his race, winning by a length.

In the 4.50 it was Laudatory that conquered (1st picture) while my bet Proclaim (second picture) went off quite fast but couldn’t quite last to the finish and finished only sixth:

In the 5.25 the ‘Darth Vader’ horse (it is the mask, ahem blinkers, and the cape, ahem rug) Kavaloti beat the field. My friend was on him so he was very pleased!

In the last race of the race it was Press The Button that did the business:

I will probably post some more of my favourite photos from this day at the races, but these were all the winners :o)

Finally got to go and see the bluebells at Banstead last weekend. I had been rearing to go for a while, but had to wait the right time.  As it was, I think they may have been better before the rain, but honestly I am not complaining!

Next time (probably next year) I might take a tripod with me though – I could not achieve the apertures needed to have the whole thing in focus handheld. You live and learn :o)

A few weekends ago we were happy to finally see some sunshine and took a late afternoon trip to Richmond Park. We immediately decided we would take a walk through the Isabella Plantation. The Isabella Plantation is a woodland garden that is always lovely to have a wander through, whatever the time of year, but spring is a lovely time. There is so much colour around every corner.

There were plenty of daffodils. They are one of those flowers that just makes me happy:

There was plenty of other colour around as well.

And of course we always have to go and have a look at the ducks at the pond! :o)

I have had a bit of a busy month with little time to post I am afraid! I have been out taking photographs though and I have a bit of a backlog going on. I am hoping I can make up time in the next week to show what I have been up to!

Here are a few from yesterday morning:

Finally, here are the photos from Thursday’s trip to Whipsnade Zoo. I really enjoyed the day – apart from it being a really good zoo with big spacious enclosures for the animals, it was a lovely sunny day (though quite windy!).

My favourite was probably the brown bears – they looked so cute and cuddly, like proper teddy bears. And funnily enough, I had never seen them in a zoo before. They had a fantastic enclosure with their own forest and stream and plenty of space to roam around in. They looked quite content!

The rhino youngsters were very cute, especially the asian rhino one, it was jumping around in the mud after its mum. The cheetahs were beautiful as always, they are one of my favourite animals in general, so athletic and elegant.

Anyway, here are some of the photos.

It has been a lovely few days. We have a little time off and are enjoying the lovely weather. On Thursday we went to Whipsnade Zoo – I will be posting the photos from that trip in a few days’ time. Today I mainly lazed about, but the weather was too good not to go out at all, so I went out with my camera.

I saw my first butterfly in my local wildlife park today. I saw some yellow butterflies in Banstead Woods the other day, but this was the first locally to my home.

I noticed that there was quite a bit of life in the pond already as well. I saw this bundle of black and thought they would be tadpoles, but wondering whether it was a little early. When I looked through my zoom I saw they were actually newt larvae (newtpoles?). I saw an adult as well, but it was too deep under water to photograph.

Of course some of the usual suspects were around as well, such as a squirrel, and a wood pigeon:

When I went out later, the sun was off the pond and the ‘newtpoles’ were nowhere to be seen, but just as I was about to go, I caught these two toads canoodling!

Anyway, it was pretty clear today that spring has well and truly started!

On Sunday the weather was so beautiful I just could not stay inside.  We finally decided to go to Banstead woods. We had never been there before and it’s a gem, that’s for sure.

We were laughing at the sign – somebody had given it a bobblehat!

We just had a nice walk following the walking trail (or trying to follow to trail anyway!).

I noticed all the greenery between the trees, it seems like big parts of the woods will be a carpet of bluebells in a few weeks and I am hoping to return to see it!

And while we were walking along, we saw something darting across the forest floor to a moss covered fallen tree. A head popped up from the tree and disappeared again. It quickly kept having a look at us while we were trying to catch a glimpse of it. The little fellow was either a stoat or a weasel, not quite sure which. I tried looking online to find out, but apparently they look a lot alike… I have never seen one before, so thought it quite exciting! I took some pictures, but it was quite far away and darted back and fro. The result was less than great, but I don’t care, we saw a stoat…. or a weasel… and it was cute!

It has been a while. I have not been out and about much to take photos so far this year. There always seems to be a drop in inspiration this time of year I think. Just one of those things.

Yesterday the sun was out and we decided to take a long walk around Wimbledon Common.  The sun was in and out and there were too many golfers around the golf course, but it was nice to be out and about!

Here are some photos I took while out walking:

Hopefully many more photographs will follow from now on.

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

This is not an actual calendar – just a collection of photographs taken during 2008, one from each month. They are not necessarily the best from that month, but they are personal favourites for one reason or another. Click the picture for a bigger image on Flickr.

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July-December coming in the next few days in part II