I wonder if the peacock shown below is the most photographed bird by tourists and day visitors throughout the world. Parks, Gardens and Castles are some of the places they can be seen. A brief Google search has told me that the Blue peacock is the national bird of India – I wasn’t aware of that. I have always associated it with historic gardens and castles and my memories are of visitors with cameras, often nervously I am quite sure, following them trying to get photos as close as they dare and not knowing which direction it will turn – and peacocks can move fast!

Since writing this gardenwatch, and using my cameras for it, I have found that I am much more observant of my surroundings wherever I am now. Taking photographs has made me look that bit closer and made me want to see more! I definitely recommend taking a camera out on visits and walks.

As the weekend approaches I’m sure beaches across the world, even in the rain, will have people drawn to collecting shells and searching for sea creatures. I know I am keen to get out there myself to see the wild flowers, that grip along the edges of any piece of soil, just as much as the walk along the sand looking for shells. When on holiday in Wales I gave myself a project to see how many different wild flowers I could photograph and identify – I secretly wanted to find something rare! I bought a book with good clear photographs – ‘Complete British Wild Flowers’ by Collins. On looking through the photos in the book I also recovered plants I remember from my childhood walks. It would be good to continue this project in my local area now – although it could see it could become compulsive!

On searching for my nominations for the previous post I discovered a blog that I believe many of my visitors who enjoy seeing photographs of birds, and nature, would also enjoy too. There are so many bird blogs on the Internet but I think this one is quite special. However this one is not actually a ‘bird blog’ it is a Wildlife Photographic Journal and that, for me makes all the difference to the reader. I particularly like the photos of garden birds, as you might expect, but I looked back the archives and in March 2007 there are photos of Hares and in October 2006 there are photos of Foxes. I could give you direct links to these posts but I will let you take your own browse around this site! Richard Steel is an Environmental consultant in the UK and you will find his blog here at Wildlife Photographic Journals and I hope you enjoy your visit.

Enjoy your weekend!

The photos shown above were taken in Bodnant Garden, in North Wales, on 2nd July 2007.