Bigger Beasts

Mrs B and I took a Sunday trip out to Norfolk Botanical Gardens on Sunday without Banished Jr., who went to the beach with his big sister.

 

It turned out not to be a big day for butterflies ( a few Eastern Tailed Blues and distant Sleepy Oranges) or dragonflies. But there were other bigger beasts out and about. Mrs B. spotted the Black Snake (Pantherophis obsoletus) slithering in and around the little Monkey Shrine. Only a baby yet it was around 2 feet long but no thicker than my finger.

 

 

 

 

Moving on we crossed the canal on a bridge we shared with a Five Lined Skink (Eumeces inexpectatus)

 

 

Alas not a juvenile so there was no bright blue tail but a red-brown head and about 4 inches from the head to the tip of the tail.

 

Snapping plants and flowers as we wandered a shadow passed overhead and we saw a large bird come to rest in the tree above us. Now I was out for plants and bugs originally so I took the macro and super macro lenses and didnt drag the long lens along. I always end up regretting not taking it and it was true again Sunday as I could have used it for the juvenile Red Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) sitting happily in the pine above our heads As it was I had to make do with what I had on hand... and a good deal of later cropping. 

 

 

And the flight pics when he decided to head out the tree and across to the lakeside werent what I'd have wished for but at least he did turn up within the frame