Showing us who the boss is

We went to the Museum in the Park at lunchtime as we both wanted to see the exhibition of landscape paintings by Carolyn White, a local artist who sadly died a couple of weeks ago, two days after the exhibition opened. Having been unable to work for some time because of illness, she had been concentrating on mounting the show.

Her work showed her choice of many local scenes as her subjects, and the hillside opposite our rear garden featured in several, but she also travelled to the Mediterranean and Cornwall for her inspiration. I did take photos of some of the work to celebrate her with a blip, but because of the lighting and the reflections it was too hard to get images that would do justice to the paintings.

We also watched some projected photographs of old Stroud on a loop in another gallery, and it was interesting to try to identify the locations of the scenes, which spanned from the 1900s to the 1960s. Sometimes the scenes were unrecognisable, whilst others looked nearly the same as they do today.

Then we went upstairs in the museum, which is housed on two floors of a Grade II 17th century wool merchant's mansion originally built as the heart of Stratford Park, a 56 acre park located just outside the centre of Stroud. It is a very good local museum and Helena delights in taking visitors, particularly children, around its various collections. Going there reminded me what a rich source of potential blips lies hidden in its many rooms. You have been warned.

We walked back through the park to enjoy the beautiful autumnal colours of a few trees whose leaves were already turning and beginning to fall. The estate is well maintained by Stroud District Council and is managed as a nature reserve in many parts, encouraging wildlife and supporting rare habitats wherever possible. The river flowing down the Painswick valley runs through the park, and was dammed when the park was originally created to establish a fish pond, and now remains as a lake for fishermen. Woodpeckers has often blipped from the area around the lake in the park, as she works very close by.

We strolled through sloping woodland down to and across a lovely small arched bridge over the river, where we saw the three surviving cygnets whose lives she has watched since their parents had their nest on a tiny island in the lake. Today the cygnets are nearly full grown and I wondered when they would be 'encouraged' to leave home to avoid any over-crowding. A few young kids were walking quite close to the cygnets and I took some pictures of them.

The two adult parent swans were still swimming on the lake, until this one flapped its wings and walked up and out through the shallows to get onto the grass. Once there it flapped its wings to get rid of the excess water, as well as to show who is likely to be the boss. It was very impressive, and I just wish I had my settings adapted for such a event. But as I hadn't, this shot is not the best in the world, as I had little time to react. I must remember to create a camera preset, which the camera can do, to allow me instant access to the settings for multiple high speed images. I love the majesty of swans and am really glad that a family can breed here safely.