picspam the second
May. 28th, 2007 03:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaAfter St Fagans on Friday, I had Small to sleep over for the night. Then on Saturday we all went to Bristol Zoo for the day, to meet Deb and Ray. En route, my Dad re-enacted an ancient family custom - when we were little, we used to go to Bristol Zoo every summer, and every single time he'd get lost. This weekend was no different - the zoo really isn't that hard to find, and yet Dad managed to get spectacularly lost. Still, we got there in the end. Six adults and one child, but it was as good a place to meet as any - Deb needed to see us, and we wanted to see her. And we all enjoyed seeing the animals, no matter what our age!
Only took pictures of a few animals.
First, the gorilla family. First, the daddy of the family, Jock, striking a heroic pose.
Next up, Romina, one of Jock's two women, and their two-year-old son, Namoki. Before going out to feed, little Namoki could be seen having a fantastic time indoors, his keeper tickling him through the wire.
And then there was Jock's other lady friend, Salome, who can be seen cradling her five month old baby in her arm while she eats. He's young enough still that she just about never puts him down - gorillas breastfeed for three years, so she's got a long way to go yet before he's off her hands!
Pygmy hippo having a scratch.
The lions had been moved into a small and rather cramped enclosure when we visited them, while their larger enclosure was cleaned. So, they each dealt with the boredom of this temporary confinement in their own highly unique ways - the male by sleeping through it and the female by pacing fretfully and growling at visitors!
The monkeys seemed to be having a lot of fun!
And this one seal was performing all kinds of underwater acrobatics, as you'd expect - but then scrubbed his eyes with his flippers every time he surfaced, as if he doesn't like the feel of water in his eyes!
I love this sculpture of stag beetles dancing the tango.
Then today, being spring bank holiday and rather nice and sunny, albeit cold - I gather it is raining across the rest of the country, but we've barely had any rain here - I took myself off for a walk around Roath Park Lake.
Roath Park is my favourite walk, not least because it is the nearest! I just have to go around the corner from my house, cross the road, and I'm there. There are three parks all in a row. The first is the Recreation park, which is all open space and, in season, sports an array of rugby and football posts. Follow the stream along the edge of the park, cross the lane, and you're in Fairoaks Park, which is all ornamental gardens, tennis courts and bowls lawns. Then cross the main road, and you are in Roath Park proper, the largest of the three.
The park has a hothouse full of exotic plants and rescued wildlife: terrapins, carp and exotic-looking birds. There are rose gardens, a children's playground, and then there is the lake. Standing at the south end of the lake looking north, it's hard to believe you're in the middle of the city, and that beyond those tree tops there are actually several miles of city suburbs before you reach the Wenallt, the hill on the horizon.
Look at that blue sky - what rainy bank holiday Monday? It was glorious in Cardiff this morning! The lake has four little islands at the north end, and is full of all kinds of wildfowl - there are 40-50 swans, and more ducks and geese than I can count, plus moorhens and herons, seabirds that have migrated inland, and others that I don't know the names of. A truly bustling habitat.
I love this tree. It kind of looks like the Loch Ness Monster!
And that's enough pics for one day!
Only took pictures of a few animals.
First, the gorilla family. First, the daddy of the family, Jock, striking a heroic pose.
Next up, Romina, one of Jock's two women, and their two-year-old son, Namoki. Before going out to feed, little Namoki could be seen having a fantastic time indoors, his keeper tickling him through the wire.
And then there was Jock's other lady friend, Salome, who can be seen cradling her five month old baby in her arm while she eats. He's young enough still that she just about never puts him down - gorillas breastfeed for three years, so she's got a long way to go yet before he's off her hands!
Pygmy hippo having a scratch.
The lions had been moved into a small and rather cramped enclosure when we visited them, while their larger enclosure was cleaned. So, they each dealt with the boredom of this temporary confinement in their own highly unique ways - the male by sleeping through it and the female by pacing fretfully and growling at visitors!
The monkeys seemed to be having a lot of fun!
And this one seal was performing all kinds of underwater acrobatics, as you'd expect - but then scrubbed his eyes with his flippers every time he surfaced, as if he doesn't like the feel of water in his eyes!
I love this sculpture of stag beetles dancing the tango.
Then today, being spring bank holiday and rather nice and sunny, albeit cold - I gather it is raining across the rest of the country, but we've barely had any rain here - I took myself off for a walk around Roath Park Lake.
Roath Park is my favourite walk, not least because it is the nearest! I just have to go around the corner from my house, cross the road, and I'm there. There are three parks all in a row. The first is the Recreation park, which is all open space and, in season, sports an array of rugby and football posts. Follow the stream along the edge of the park, cross the lane, and you're in Fairoaks Park, which is all ornamental gardens, tennis courts and bowls lawns. Then cross the main road, and you are in Roath Park proper, the largest of the three.
The park has a hothouse full of exotic plants and rescued wildlife: terrapins, carp and exotic-looking birds. There are rose gardens, a children's playground, and then there is the lake. Standing at the south end of the lake looking north, it's hard to believe you're in the middle of the city, and that beyond those tree tops there are actually several miles of city suburbs before you reach the Wenallt, the hill on the horizon.
Look at that blue sky - what rainy bank holiday Monday? It was glorious in Cardiff this morning! The lake has four little islands at the north end, and is full of all kinds of wildfowl - there are 40-50 swans, and more ducks and geese than I can count, plus moorhens and herons, seabirds that have migrated inland, and others that I don't know the names of. A truly bustling habitat.
I love this tree. It kind of looks like the Loch Ness Monster!
And that's enough pics for one day!
