It turned out to be a very enjoyable visit to the zoo.  The weather was perfect and we got to see the animals before the crowds turned up on Sunday afternoon.  As we were leaving there was a queue waiting to enter that went all the way out to the street and around the corner.

River carried the camera and took an enormous number of pictures.  I’ve winnowed them down somewhat and posted a few of them here.

I think these birds were just passing through, but the photographs are amazing:

All the primates were interesting to watch and we could have spent even more time observing them if we hadn’t wanted to see other things as well.  This young orang-utan jumped up on it’s sleeping mother and started a wrestling match.

A robin, european-style.

Apparently, Sage makes this face for other people, too.  I thought maybe I was the only one?

Derby (pronounced “Darby”) is a Springer Spaniel and is about 11 weeks old.  He’s of the field breed rather than the show lineage of springer spaniels.  We had a great time meeting Derby and his mum and his brothers and sisters.  They were all really beautiful.  His dad’s name is Bushie.   Derby is really cute and is settling into his new family really well, though we didn’t sleep particularly well last night.

He really likes to play with River.  She is so good with him!

I parked just up the hill from Curbar village and soon found myself on Baslow Edge where there was an amazing view of Curbar Edge and Froggatt Edge to the north.  I think you just might be able to make out my car on the road below.  There were a few folk climbing here on Baslow Edge, but I didn’t bring my climbing gear since I was planning a relatively long walk and didn’t want to spend too much time climbing and not make it back to collect the kids in time.

I soon came to Eagle Rock and I wished that I had brought my climbing shoes since this stone just calls out to be climbed.  Legend, according to the author of the route instructions I was following, claims that this rock was a favorite of ancient witches of the area and that local lads used to climb it before becoming betrothed.

There are some interesting monuments to the Duke of Wellington and Admiral Nelson along the cliff edges as well as a decent view of the Chatsworth estate, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.  I have a vague plan to go visit there sometime.  There is apparently a farmyard and adventure playground that might add appeal to the younger set who have perhaps become a bit jaded about seeing more enormous stately homes.

I also came across a fold of highland cattle.  For some reason, a group of highland cattle are not referred to as a “herd” but as a “fold”.  Anyway, these beautiful animals are well adapted to harsh conditions and low quality pasture and have been transplanted far and wide from their native Scottish Highlands.  I love the color of their shaggy coats.

I came upon more rock faces that I could only look at whistfully since by this point I was running short of time.

I did complete the walk and get back in time to pick up the kids and even had a couple of minutes to kick back in the sun and take these pictures from our garden:

Spring is coming!

The snow-covered rocks were very beautiful!

We were prepared for cold weather, but not precipitation.

The views of the canyon were remarkable despite the overcast sky.  It must have been warmer at the bottom of the canyon since there was no snow below the Bright Angel shale.

It snowed even more on our second day and the the canyon was filled with clouds.  It was like looking into a wall of fog.  We were glad it had been relatively clear the day before, but we had a great time romping around in the snow.

Sage thought it was really funny to walk around with her hat over her eyes.

We had planned to descend into the canyon on the South Kaibab trail, but decided that views from the inside of a cloud weren’t worth the risk of an icy trail along thousand foot cliffs.  The south rim trail provided plenty of entertainment.

We came across a herd of elk near the road.  They didn’t seem bothered at all as we approached quite close.

The kids ate plenty of snow and threw balls any that were to big to be consumed.  Watch out!

Visiting the canyon in the snow was very different from the way I remembered it, but it was still very beautiful and we had a great time!

We spent the night in a Victorian era hotel in Strathpeffer, just north of Inverness.  Apparently, it was one of the first locations to have electricity installed.  Sage has been learning about Victorian times and was excited to tell us about how they would have done things when the hotel was first built.

We stayed on the third floor and it was a veritable labyrinth to get to our room. We didn’t mind the walk, though, and we loved the character of the hotel. The garden outside was beautiful as well.

From Strathpeffer, we went to Chanonry Point to look for dolphins and seals swimming in the Moray Firth. For those like me who were not familiar with the word, a firth is a narrow inlet of the sea or an estuary. The most northerly population of bottlenose dolphins lives in the Moray Firth and can often be seen swimming close to shore here.

We quickly spotted several seals who kept poking their heads out of the water to look around. We spent some time exploring the beach, but were just about to leave without seeing any dolphins when we noticed one in the water off the point. There was a pair of dolphins that leapt through the water together. We couldn’t tell if there was more than one pair, though, or if they just kept swimming in circles and reappearing in the same place. Anyway, they were beautiful to watch.

Next, we went to see Culloden battlefield, the location of the last battle between Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite forces and the government soldiers. We have an interest in the Bonnie Prince because he and his army camped in the fields outside our house near the Swarkestone bridge before retreating back into Scotland. Also, one of our local pubs is “The Bonnie Prince”.

Anyway, the new visitor centre there is fantastic. The interpretive displays presented the background of the conflict and the details of the battle in a very accessible way. It is perhaps the best historical presentation I’ve ever seen. We saw interactive maps showing how the armies moved through Scotland and England, heard accounts from soldiers from both armies, and got a chance to hold some of the rifles and pistols used in the battle.

Finally, we drove along Loch Ness towards our accommodation on the Isle of Skye.  Loch Ness was beautiful and very, very long. We talked a lot about the Loch Ness monster and Molly read about the evidence for and against the existence of such a creature. River was convinced that it was a hoax.

We stopped to check out the ruins of Castle Urquhart, located picturesquely on the north shore of the loch.

And we stopped at just about every wide stop in the road, just because it was Loch Ness and it was a particularly beautiful, sunny day in the Great Glen

The kids were ready to go before we finished packing and spent some time on the swings waiting for us.

It isn’t particularly far to Hartington from Derby, but the kids made themselves comfortable and passed the time singing along to music.

The campground is in a field on a farm, apparently typical for camping in England. Molly brought her hammock, but was unable to find any suitable sturdy trees. The grass does provide a nice, soft surface for sleeping, though.

There were a number of our home educating friends who were there as well and the kids had a wonderful time romping through the meadow.

It threatened to rain just before dinner, so the kids got out the umbrellas. The clouds passed without any precipitation and the umbrellas became dens for some sort of game.

Not surprisingly, there were plenty of ungulates in the vicinity. I estimate that there are about 45 million ruminates (sheep and cattle). While this doesn’t approach the shear volume of countries like China and Australia or the ruminate/person ratios of New Zealand and the Falkland Islands (only 0.7 per person compared to 15 per person), it is a remarkable number of grazers in a relatively small area and they have a huge impact on the ecology and the landscape.

Here we are walking through one such landscape. The remarkable thing about this photo, besides the number of buttercups (apparently they aren’t tasty) is how tall River is compared to Molly. I think she must be having another growth spurt.

This is actually the same River Dove that we explored previously, only further upstream. An idyllic spot for a picnic and a swim.

The water was actually very, very, cold. The kids didn’t seem too bothered by it, though. I managed to get in for a few seconds, but it was too shallow to swim any distance and it was too cold to just lie there, so I gave up fairly quickly.

This patch of mud was nice and squishy!

River walked across the stepping stones to get across.

It is a beautiful time of year in England right now. Everything has been very green recently. Flowers are blooming everywhere.

I can’t resist taking wildflower pictures. This thistle was an amazing color!

Mayflies were abundant as well.

The kids spent a lot of time exploring a tunnel through the limestone cliff that connected the large cave opening with a smaller opening off to the side. Molly sent Sage through with the video camera. Needless to say, a video of a dark cave is not visually stimulating, but I found it fascinating nonetheless. You can hear the camera banging into the rock walls. Conversing while traversing this dark world apparently helped distract them from what might otherwise have been frightening.

One of the kids had a bat detector and we listened to some Chiropteran conversations as well. I think the bat detector works by frequency shifting the short wavelengths used by bats to communicate into pitches that our ears are capable of discerning.

Some of the folk we went with are planning to stay for the week. If the weather cooperates, we’re thinking of going back next weekend for another go.

It has been relatively warm here the last few days and we’ve been sleeping with the window open. On Sunday night, we awoke to a sound something like this. It turns out Chester had been perched in the open window and had snagged a bat as it flew past. He carried it into the hallway, but it soon flew away. We saw it flying around during dinner last night. We’ve been trying to leave enough windows open so that it can get back outside.

They were so cute! The lambs and their mothers are brought to these small pens for the first 24 hours so ensure that they are getting enough milk. They are also given some medical care before being moved to a big tent where they are monitored for several more days before going out into the field again.

Sage wants to get a pet lamb.

The ewes looked like they’d not like anything to get too close to their babies.

This lamb was climbing on top of it’s mummy. It reminded me of some kids I know.

Here they’ve been moved inside the big marquee tent.

River decided to stay with Molly, who was home doing long overdue administrivia, to decorate the house for her birthday. I imagine you’ll probably see some festive pictures before the weekend is over.

The earthquake Wednesday night shook us awake. At first it seemed like it might be just an especially big gust of wind, but it soon became obvious that it was an earthquake. It wasn’t powerful enough here to do any damage, but it was another exciting occurrence in an already dynamic week.

Several people have asked me what I’m going to do now that I’m not home educating the kids anymore. The short answer is that I don’t know.

The longer answer is that in the short term, I’m planning to do things that I like to do. As any parent can tell you, there is never enough time to care for the kids and do things for yourself. So I’m thinking of indulging myself with some things I haven’t had time to pursue in the past seven and a half years.

On Tuesday, I rode my bike along the Trent and Mersey canal that runs near our house. The first section of the path is part of the National Cycle Trail and is quite smooth riding. After the cycle trail veers off towards Melbourne, it becomes more of a muddy footpath until you get to Shardlow about seven miles down the line. Shardlow is apparently a hive of canal boat activity; there is quite a marina there. The

path ends with the confluence of the Trent and Mersey canal, the River Trent, and the River Derwent. I saw a few water birds here, including some tufted ducks,

a couple of goosanders,

and a group of coots.

Paintings courtesy of the RSPB birdguide.

On my return trip, I noticed I was riding on my rims and I ended up walking the last 3 or 4 miles back. Yesterday, I found several very large thorns embedded in the tires and patched five punctures. Anway, when I got home I ate lunch and had an hours nap. Then I picked the kids up from school, made homemade pizzas for dinner which we ate with one of Molly’s co-workers and his friend from California. Finally, I went to capoeira.

I don’t expect every day will be as full as that one, but I am looking forward to having some time to myself!

In 2007, over 400,000 people took part by counting the birds in their garden for an hour. Together they spotted 6 million birds across 236,000 gardens, helping reveal the winners and losers in the garden bird world. Over the past three decades participants have made a significant contribution to monitoring garden bird numbers and helped highlight that some garden birds are in need of help. The survey has recorded the huge declines in some of our most familiar birds. Since 1979, the number of house sparrows counted has fallen by 52% and the number of starlings by 76%. However, it isn’t all bad news – chaffinchs and great tits have both seen their numbers increase since 1979 by 36 and 52 per cent respectively. Our scientists can then use these patterns in bird numbers to help prioritise our bird conservation work.

I spent a nice hour with the cats yesterday morning, counting birds and drinking coffee!

Here are some of the birds we commonly see in our garden:

The blue tit

The chaffinch

The collared dove

The dunnock

The great tit

The greenfinch

The robin

The blackbird