Cotswold Sky

 

Taken in the walled garden at Cotswold Wildlife Park

 

Feeding Time

Cotswold Animals

A few weeks ago I visited Cotswold Wildlife park with my wife, while we were there I took quite a few photos with my DSLR but as it had a long lens on I was stuck for close photos so I used my trusty phone

This squirrel was manic and I managed to get a shot of him looking out the class of his enclosure 

Not sure what this little fellow is sat on a branch

Another one contemplating something

You have to love this mother and baby on her back

I was taken by the colour of these birds

Koi Carp

Porcupine who was bigger than I thought (I'm thinking Hedgehog size it was dog size) 

Young Camel

Last time I saw him he was only a few weeks old

Turned into quite a big fellow now

An last the Peacock such a beautiful bird. I will be publishing a longer version in my Exploration Blog in the near Future

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

Kisses in the Sky

My wife spotted these while we were in the garden so hd to get a photo

Two kisses for my love

Dog's Des Rez

The Acorn

I took a photo of this and featured in Wordless Wednesday a while ago but on a recent visit to Cotswold Wildlife park  I noticed the plaque nearby. The sculpture of  the Acorn is by Joe Smith

Funny I did not notice the plaque last time

The Acorn is a tribute to John Heyworth who founded Cotswold Wildlife Park

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

Sky at the Forty

Happy Easter

Harry Not Hopalot

The Archaeological Dig

Behind the Fence was a blog I wrote last year on an archaeological dig that was happening in Cholsey. I show some of the finds found there. From time to time I revisited after to see what was happening. This was the information boar placed by the site on one occasion.

The Whole site was cleared back to the layer underneath the topsoil

 

Looking at the level it was about 18" down or nearly 500mm

This is a panoramic view of the site

The archaeologists working on site 

The place at times was quite busy

A new board was put up which made interesting reading

 

Pits were all around the site

This was the last shot I took of the site

 

So what did I learn from reading about it. Well there was an iron age settlement here which was extensively used but a previous family of small group of people could have even been a small village. When the Romans came they built a more substantial building or it may well have been a Briton who became wealthy enough with the Romans to afford the  luxury of a Roman type villa as they found hyper course tiles here. After the Romans left the place was left and deteriorated. The Saxons built the Village in another part of the area further down. Eventually the are became farmland and all trace disappeared until the housing was due to be build and the excavation found what you see here. The local archaeological society and schools have been on site helping at times though I still have to go back for some last photos.   The findings will be published and made public at a later date

The Church Explorer

This weeks church is St Leonard Woodcote in Oxfordshire

Moulsford Bottom

Few weeks ago I published some photos from a place called Lowbury Hill this was all for a blog I wrote for my Rural Explorations Blog and called the Battle of Ashdown. These are the last photos I took that day. You can read about it in the link. 

 The photo here looks through Mouslford Bottom, just around the hill to the left you will come to the Thames around a mile from here

 This is a wider view of Moulsford Bottom

 Turning around 180deg you look up this part called Unhill Bottom

If you walked past the farm here and around the bend in the distance it will bring you to a place called Deans Bottom. I've yet to walk that part.

Taking Part in Skywatch Friday

Daffodils on the Green