English Fauna

Whenever I travel, I'm enchanted by a country's critters as much, if not more, than the buildings and museums and plazas.

I love animals, tame or wild, pedestrian or unusual. Animals make me stop in my tracks, run backwards, drop to my belly in the mud, and do all manner of silly things to capture them on film. The Hubby, and my fellow hiking buddies in England's Lake District, got quite used to me suddenly dropping to my knees, hanging over rocks, and flopping on my fanny to get a shot of a critter. After a while, they even would point them out to me if I missed one (like the moth in the men's room--thank you, Geoff!)

Here are some of my favorite animals from my recent trip (but no dog photos, because that was a separate post a few days ago):

Fern-bedecked Swaledale sheep, Lake District

Slug, Lake District

Fell Pony, Lowther Estate, Lake District

Nesting swallows, Cambridge University

Dogs playing in the River Cam, Grantchester

Cygnets and swan, the River Cam

Momma swan, the River Cam

Cows, Grantchester

Mud Hen chick, Cambridge

Canada Geese, Hyde Park, London

Bumblebee, grounds of the Museum of Natural History, London

Unidentified green moth in the men's bathroom, Coniston

Vole, Lake District

Dead shrew, Lake District

Tiny frog on the grounds of Williams Wordsworth's last home, Rydall Mount

Unidentified butterfly, Lake District

Three-week-old calf on Farmer Brian's spread, Buttermere

"Minnie," Farmer Brian's three-month-old pet lamb, Buttermere

Momma cow, Farmer Brian's farm, Buttermere

Rubber duckies in our hotel bathtub, Cambridge