Nature – Page 11 – Antony Simpson – Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.

Back To Penrhos Cottage & Visiting Animalarium Borth Zoo

By AntonyAdventures, Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, NatureNo Comments

Blackberries

Last weekend a friend and I went to stay at the lovely Penrhos Cottage for some rest and relaxation. I’ve previously stayed at Penrhos Cottage, see my blog post: Mid-Wales, Part 1: The Lovely Penrhos Cottage. We spent the time catching up, enjoying nature, watching TV and reading books. It was great to have no schedule.

On the Saturday I took the opportunity to walk up into the hills and found a private garden with some miniature buildings. I hiked further up the hills and found some abandoned slate ruins. See some photos below:

Private Garden Miniature Buildings 1	Private Garden Miniature Buildings 2
Slate Ruins 1	Slate Ruins 2

On the Sunday we stopped off at Animalarium, Borth’s Zoo on our way home. Animalarium is a small Zoo that also takes in unwanted pets. You can really get close and interact with the animals at this Zoo. You can even buy pots of food and feed some of the animals. This animal interaction makes it an ideal place to take children. Throughout the day it had a number of free talks about some of the animals and some opportunities to see animals getting fed. My friend and I had an enjoyable time, here are some photos of the animals:

Animalarium: Lemur	Animalarium: Monkey 1
Animalarium: Monkey 2	Animalarium: Meerkats 1
Animalarium: Meerkats 2	Animalarium: Goat
Animalarium: Cat
Animalarium: Wallerby	Animalarium: Jaguar – Sunbathing.
Animalarium: Some sort of Bird	Animalarium: Calf
Animalarium: Pythons	Animalarium: Pythons Sign

Animalarium is a small Zoo and as such felt like a place that needs more financial support. My friend and I talked about maybe adopting an animal or two there, it’s something I certainly intend to do when money is less tight.

Hope you enjoyed the update and photos.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Sunday 28 September 2014

Manchester Museum – Lots of History to See

By AntonyAdventures, Happiness & Joy, History, Love & Relationships, Nature2 Comments

The other weekend Boyfriend-A, his housemates and I visited Manchester Museum. Manchester Museum is on Oxford Road, in the heart of Manchester City Centre and has free entry. It has lots of history to see including (click on any picture for full size image):

Gorgosaurus Skeleton	Gorgosaurus Information Board
Mammoth Skeleton (front)	Mammoth Skeleton (side)
Many vases, bowls, etc. to View	A great Classic Weapons Collection – If there’s ever a zombie apocalypse, I’m looting my weapons from here.
Slavery Chains

My two favourite sections were the Egyptian section and Geology section. In the Egyptian section I was fascinated by the Soul Homes (photo below) and creepy looking mummy (also photographed below):

Egyptian Artefacts	Egyptian Soul Homes
Egyptian Sarcophagus with creepy looking Mummy

In ancient Egypt soul homes were for people who couldn’t afford a tomb to be built. Somewhere for their soul to live during the afterlife. Boyfriend-A couldn’t believe how bad my geography was, after I thought Egypt was in Europe. Apparently it’s in Africa.

We moved on to Geology section, with this rather nice quartz crystal cluster that I wanted to take home:

Geology Section

Geology Section: A Large Quartz Cluster

We finished with the main attraction a complete T-Rex Skeleton:

T-Rex Skeleton

A Random Room-sized Fish Skeleton

There’s lots of history to see at Manchester Museum, but more interactivity e.g. videos/staffed tours would have added to the experience.

Even so we had a great time. If you’ve never been, go and check it out. Oh and it has a good gift shop that is reasonably priced to.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Sunday 20 July 2014

Blackpool Part 1: Sealife Centre

By AntonyHappiness & Joy, Love & Relationships, NatureNo Comments

Bob – The Fish

At the weekend Boyfriend-A and I went to Blackpool. We had pre-booked tickets to the Sealife Centre and Madame Tussauds. In this post I’ll write about the Sealife Centre.

The Sealife Centre was alive with all sorts of marine life in its well-stocked tanks. Boyfriend-A and I wondered around leisurely, starting with seeing shark eggs and recently born baby sharks (click any image for full size photo):

Breeding: Shark Eggs	Breeding: Shark Eggs
Breeding: Newly Born Sharks

The many tanks often included rays as well as starfish:

One of the Tanks	Rays-A-Plenty: There were many rays
Camouflage Fish	A starfish
Mr Ray showing off his sharp teeth	Mr Ray 2

We saw ‘The Big Daddy,’ a giant crab that is so big he has an entry in the Guinness World Records Book.

‘The Big Daddy’ – A Giant Crab

We watched delicate small seahorses:

A Seahorse

And these jellyfish under neon colour-changing light:

Neon Jellyfish 1	Neon Jellyfish 2
Neon Jellyfish 3

Many of the fish I tried to photograph moved too quickly for the camera. This included dory (from Finding Nemo) look-a-likes.

Trying to snap Dory, they are too quick.

We saw mean-looking paranha fish. I’m sure they were eyeing me up as a meal:

Mean-looking Piranhas 1

Mean-looking Piranhas 2

Then we moved on to the sharks:

Shark Nursery: Breeding sign	Shark Nursery: A baby shark
Sharks: An adult having a lie down	Sharks: A vegetarian shark
Sharks: Another shark (side on)

We had a great time. Then we head to Madame Tussaunds, which I will write about and share pictures in my next blog post.

Write soon,

Antony

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Sunday 22 June 2014

Happy Belated Litha & More Rivington Photos

By AntonyAdventures, Happiness & Joy, Inspiration, Life, Love & Relationships, Nature, PaganismNo Comments

Happy Belated Litha (see Pagan Festivals)!

Boyfriend-A and I took a spontaneous outing to Rivington on Friday. It happened to be Litha, which is the longest day of the year. It was bright, warm and the perfect evening to explore Rivington. We spent quality time together and I also took the opportunity to appreciate nature.

I have previously blogged about Rivington and included plenty of photos. But I felt compelled to take some more photos of this beautiful place on Friday. So here are some of those photos (click on any image for full size):

Boyfriend-A Looking at the view	Rivington Ruins 1
Rivington Ruins 2	The Pond 1
The Pond 2	Rivington: A Gorgeous View
Rivington: Another View	Pigeon Tower Information Board
Pigeon Tower