Thursday 27 April 2017

Exploring North Leicester

Hello all, long time no blog!  Hope all my lovely readers are in good spirits and that 2017 is treating you well so far.  I'm thrilled to bits to be back at my keyboard typing away, there's been a lot of upheaval in my life since my last post (including parting ways with my last partner, moving out of the home we shared and starting a new job) so posts stopped for a period while I got myself together again and started putting affairs in order.  There's been a fair bit of tumult but the job I'm in is going well at the moment and I'm happy in a new relationship, so I'm feeling in a better position than I was a couple of years ago.  I'm currently working as Administration and Finance Officer for an arts education charity called Pedestrian, so I'm still involved with creative activity but since I'm working there four days a week (and then learning to drive one day a week) illustration work has taken something of a back seat.

My new fella is from out of town (he hails from Manchester) and is down visiting this week, so I have decided to show him some of the sights of Leicester as well as treating him to a spa day.  Yesterday I took him to the north side of the city to see Abbey Park, Abbey Pumping Station, Belgrave Hall and Gardens as well as Belgrave Road (The Golden Mile). 

I took my trusty DSLR along for the trip, with a couple of new lenses to play with: a telephoto zoom and a wide angle.  There were plenty of opportunities to put them to use, starting right at the beginning of our jaunt when we spotted this Heron at Abbey Park!  Sadly it looks like I didn't manage to get him in focus properly but it was still a fab sighting.


Heron on the bank of the River Soar, Abbey Park

Keepers House, Abbey Park

Statue of Cardinal Wolsey outside the Cafe Pavilion, Abbey Park

Bridge outside the Cafe Pavilion, Abbey Park

Coot chicks, Abbey Park

Canada Geese, Abbey Park

Canada Geese, Abbey Park

Goldfinch, canal towpath

Abbey Pumping Station

Beam engine room, Abbey Pumping Station

Original boiler, Abbey Pumping Station

Belgrave Hall




Belgrave Hall Gardens

Belgrave Hall Gardens

Belgrave Hall Gardens

Belgrave Hall Gardens

Belgrave Hall Gardens

Belgrave Hall Gardens

As you can see it was a good day for bird spotting - Coots were out with their chicks, as well as Canada Geese and Goldfinches!  I loved my zoom lens for allowing me to get much closer shots of them than usual.

As always thank you so much for reading, hope to see you next time!