LIVING COAST - DARWIN DAY Part Three

There were fun and educational themes too, seems that Banksy had been through at some stage with a trail of cute little penguins dotted about, and visitors were feeding their kids to the penguin shaped trash bin.

A member of staff dressed up as Penguin anthropithecus (he/she didn't say much) and went to see the seals, the penguins former home (sorry no photo today).

Thanks again Living Coast, spent over three hours there. Maybe after they analyze their attendance numbers today they might consider off-season entry prices of £5 for an adult with child ticket?? Have to say even on normal days you can visit the restaurant with seaviews and the gift shop without paying for entry. Highly recommended; a good place to visit with genuinely friendly staff, and I just walked off the street. I suspect Mr Darwin would have been delighted if Living Coast was there when he visited Torquay all those years ago!

LIVING COASTS - DARWIN DAY Part Two

There were other bird sections at living coast; auks and estuarine waders, also equally well done. The auk section was really good with an artificial cliff with a crashing wave machine dumping foam into the plungepool. The estuarine display was quite impressive. For someone who has spent whole days of their life stalking stilts, avocets, redshanks, even yellow eyes and eider ducks, it was embarassingly easy and almost annoying to get photos better than those from my lying in the mud days!

LIVING COASTS - DARWIN DAY Part One

Well it must be said there are not many things in life that are free, but thanks to the good folks at the Living Coasts - Torquay's Coastal Zoo, Devon UK, it is true! To celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles ('Chaz' to his friends) Darwin a free open day was held and very well attended...and a good time was had by all the folks and even the animals from what I could tell. So walking quickly past the Research Councils displays on Chaz and evolution and a lonely extinct Great Auk (sadly leaving the building it would appear). it seems all visitors had done their own research and rushed to the back of the facility to await Penguin feeding, very engagingly and informatively carried out by the friendly LC crew.

The penguins knew when breakfast was, and were stationed about, queueing up as if in the staff canteen, sunning themselves as though not interested, or even engaged in a game of winghanging blink. When Attenborough covered these guys it looked like one massive brawl, so maybe with respect to Mr Darwin they were on best behaviour today.

Pat (an african penguin) the famed oldest resident at 31 years old pushed through the crowd (of people) and insisted on having her portrait taken for Darwin Day. I obliged. Sadly little blues or fairy penguins were only represented as a wall carving. Overhead the cohort of Inca terns were amazing, playing drop-catch with a spare sardine(?), I have no idea how the scoring works. However they would drop everything (literally) for a hola-hoop.

Torkay

Some views of the local Torquay area taken in the last week, the harbour, the pedestrian/cycle bridge. Having seven hills (?) like Rome, you have to be a fit and brave cyclist to man the streets. Interestingly no cycle route along the promenade, but doesn't stop people using common sense and cycling on all these wide surfaces with the walkers. Never understood the logic why cyclists are supposed to share with buses! Excuse the rubbish horizon lines.. I need a camera with a horizon line similar to the that bauble thingy in an aircraft cockpit.

No Snow

Apart from a slight frost or snow dusting that melted with early sun, the Torbay area of South Devon, UK has escaped all the snow that has dumped on Dartmoor further north. Indeed heavy rain and thunder was the local treat on Thursday (05FEB09) night, when Exeter some dozen miles north had folks stuck in snow. Here we have some more photos taken near Babbacombe overlooking Lyme Bay to the North East, showing Teignmouth with snow in their fields, and last two of Torbay to the South, Berry Head and Paignton respectively, hardly any wind, almost a spring day (indeed first crocus seen, a blue one).

First Step

New to blogging, I have previously used whole domains, so this will be interesting..or not most likely.
Any road you are probably here by mistake as there are 3 billion other webpages to look at. Ha!
I will try and post a photo or 2. These photos are the last of a recent visit to the Aquataine/Charente border, delayed return by snow. Ironically now in south devon, that has escaped almost all the problems UK is currently experiencing with heavy snow.