A day out at Roundhay

Yesterday Elvira took me to Roundhay Park in Leeds. I have not been there for a while, in fact I think the last time I went it was with Elvira.
Elvira picked me up from home just before 10.00am, Tony waved us off, (he was probably glad of the rest) at least he would have some time to himself.

The weather for a change was really good, the sun was out a bit of a breeze good weather for strolling round the lake.

First we visited "Jeans willow tree" where Elvira placed some red roses. (Jean is Elvira's daughter who died from cancer a few years ago).

"Jeans Tree" had grown quite a lot since I last saw it.

The lake had some beautiful swans with cygnets swimming along, in front of them. 

A family day outing.

The large male swan came out from behind some reeds and put on a show for anyone who cared to watch.

Swan Lake Ballet.

He was an enormous bird, it is easy to see why the male swans can be so intimidating. However they are so graceful at the same time.

There were lots of coot's with babies on the lake. I have to admit I think these chicks are one of the ugliest of all the chicks I have seen. However they do change a lot as they grow, coots are quite cute .

Coots and their chicks.

 

As we walked we were getting quite hot the sun had become hotter, we sat on a bench and Elvira bought me an ice-cream. It was delicious. The ice-cream on the cornet had been dipped into caramel which had set hard on top. The taste reminded me of the Caramac bars we used to eat when we were younger. I would love to find another ice-cream van that sell's them. (I hope the one at York car boot sale does!)
We set of walking back in the direction of the car, watching all the people jogging, skipping and riding bikes. One person had caught our eyes. This person was quite over weight, he had ridden past us 2 or 3 times, this meant he had ridden his bike right round the lake that many times. The lake is about 1.5 miles round so he had traveled  about 4 - 4.5 miles it doesn't sound a lot but for the size of him believe me it was a lot.

As we approached the cafe the sound of people became louder, the seagulls hanging about in the air waiting for bread that young children were throwing, the laughter and chatter of all the children excited by their day out.

The seagulls hanging in the air waiting for food.

The black-headed gulls stood along the edge of the water waiting for anything that might be thrown to them, or simply resting in the sun. In amongst them was a young bird that was making itself known by shouting at the top of it's voice.

A young gull on the right made sure it was noticed.

The most unusual bird I managed to take a picture of was a cormorant. This bird had been swimming in the water with just a head showing, then all of a sudden it climbed out of the water, climbed on to the post and spread out it's wings to dry.

Cormorant

I enjoyed our day out, the company was excellent, the weather was good, the ice-cream amazing, I got the chance to take some different photo's. Of course the day would not have been complete with out the last picture.

A wild squirrel

yeehaa!

Until the next time...