Saturday Afternoon Walk.

Routine dictates that usually on a Saturday afternoon, myself and the boys would meet up with our dear friends back in Farnham and go for a long walks; the Bourne Woods of Gladiator fame and Frensham Ponds were always a favourite. Up hill and down dale we would leisurely wander, stopping only to feed starving kids (our own of course, not some random country urchins left over from the filming of Robin Hood). Occasionally we would be lucky enough to spot a deer in the undergrowth, but usually the only animals we had the pleasure of regarding were horses or dogs, out on similar Saturday afternoon jaunts. However as of now, five weeks in to our adventure  we have yet to make any friends that we would wish to carry on this tradition with (please, no violins!). 

Instead then, yesterday afternoon, DH, YS and I went on a short ramble through the hillside and greenery behind the back of our condo. ES has yet to be torn away from the Ipad! The heat was high, so an hour was long enough; walking downhill was fine, but the return journey uphill? Wow that was a struggle! I am sure I am going to lose pounds, hopefully stones, in weight due to sweat! Sorry Great-Grandmother, Louie, for my coarseness, for if I remember correctly only horses sweat, men perspire and ladies glow!! 

No horses were to be seen and the only dogs noticed were the ones barking, guarding their property no doubt. However, I would like to share some photos of the wildlife we did see - or at least the ones I was quick enough to point the camera at: forgive me, they are only snaps of an amateur.

Butterflies can be found everywhere, all shapes and sizes and colours. 

I think this one is my favourite, because it looks yellow when flying around, but is almost camouflaged when on the leaf. Not sure what it is called though, nor the one below! Another thing to add to my list of things to find out.

I do know however that the birds that sang to us continually on our walk are parakeets. There are plenty of them where we live; they do a fly past at least three times an hour every day. Haven't managed to catch them in flight on camera though, but did spend an age trying to get snap them whilst they were still on the trees. Shame it came out so dark though, as you can't see their beautiful green plumage.

Lastly though, on the home straight up the hill, left dawdling behind DH and YS, I spotted what I think was a Four-Striped Whiptail, a small lizard, with fours pale yellow lines running down its back, that can be found sunning itself most places in the Caribbean and Costa Rica. As an adult, its thin tail is greyish-brown, but as a young juvenile lizard, its can be easily spotted because its tail is bright blue; the one I followed had radiant red and yellow stripes all down the length of its body! Unfortunately, it moved too quick, and my skill with the camera is not great, so my photos will not make National Geographic, but here they are:

I hope to get some pictures of the howler monkeys soon - they wake us up most mornings!!