April Power

The Thorseby Country Show has for as long as we have been going been held in late February.  I struck me as a strange time to have a large show because of the variability of the weather.  I always thought that it should be held later in the year when the weather was warmer and hopefully more reliable.

Well, this time around, the show was moved the weekend of 9th and 10th April and it was a lot better for it.  We attended on the Sunday and the visitor numbers seemed to be substantially up on previous years.  The fine April weather helping to a good turn out.

I've posted about Thorseby Show before (link here).  This year for the first time we actually went in the morning as opposed to mid afternoon so got to see some of the displays that was going in the main display ring.

The first display were Stunt Mania, a motor cycle stunt team who where impressive to watch.

 The climax of the stunt show was the jumping over the truck and trailer, length ways.

Something We had heard about on Television but never really seen was a relatively new sport called Horse boarding where I horse and jockey pull a board rider around the area through a series of gates.  It was fast and action packed (very easy for the board riders to come to a crashing halt).

Fowl Play

We've had a good friend staying with us recently and as we also had the week off we opted for an afternoon out and paid another visit to Rufford Abbey.  I have posted pictures from here before (you can find them here) but this time I actually brought my camera with me rather than relying on my mobile phone.

I've grouped the photos together and decided to split them into three separate posts.  This one is on the wild fowl that call Rufford and its lake home.

Sunrise Station

Last week I was working in Nottingham, which meant a long and boring journey down the Robin Hood Line.  The train from Retford arrives 15 minutes before the Nottingham train, so I would call in at the station cafe for a  Latte (recommended) and then head back over the pedestrian bridge to the other platform.

Now Worksop train station could do with a fresh lick of paint here and there but my brief waiting time coincided perfectly with the sunrise and on Tuesday and Friday the morning sky was beautiful.

I took these photos using my mobile phone, Other than some cropping and a black and white filter nothing else has been added.  The first set of photos where taken on the 17th February.

The pictures below where taken on Friday (19th February).   I was lucky enough the actually catch the sun peeking over the horizon before I had to get on the train. 

You may have noticed that regular updates to the blog have become a little spaced out.  The reason for this is lack of time and other commitments (rooms don't decorate themselves, unfortunately).  The weather has also been terrible on the weekends and I haven't gotten out and about (B&Q aside) as I would like to.

Spider-Monkey

I've been meaning to post these pictures for awhile now but somehow I never got round to them.  These pictures where taken at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park and we were lucky as just as we arrived at the enclosure the keepers opened up their enclosure to let the Spider Monkeys out.

As you can imagine, they are agile creatures and seemed quite at home with people being on their territory.  I was quite surprised how close they would come to the public as they explored their surroundings and sped across their runs above our heads.

Skying

First post of a new year and earlier this week I heard the telltale thump of a twin-rotored Chinook helicopter passing over the house.  I didn't really think anything of it until I saw on the nine o clock news a Chinook that was shoring up a breached flood defence in the north west of England and it got me wondering if this was the same aircraft that I had photographed earlier in the day.

I've taken the odd picture of military helicopters passing over in recent months but I've never really had enough shots to make a post.  The Chinook pictures are below combined with some gunships (I'm guessing Apaches) that I've spotted in recent months.