28 Apr 2009

My World Tuesday - Flowers and Birds


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My World Tuesday is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Louise, Wren and Fishing Guy. A big thankyou to all of our wonderful hosts.

Spring is such glorious time. The best time to do birdwatching and then there are such wonderful amounts of bright springflowers in the parks and nature

Today's edition comes from a place called:


It is the fairly modern commercial center of the town Espoo (right next to Helsinki), where I live, but also offers a lot of nature and parks. It's not as such a new area but has undergone a lot of changes and new developments in the recent years. A recent introduction but from a different perspective to this same area was given by Chrome3 for MWT.


Here is an architectural view to start with. This is the hotel Tapiola Garden behind a pool of water. Two in fact. A big square one and this small round one in front.


Walking along we come to this bridge crossing a narrow channel


There I saw this bird that I've only seen in pictures before. It's called an Oyster Catcher.


In the park, where the grass would turn green if we had some rain, two Seagulls were kissing while a Magpie respectfully turned the other way


Continuing the walk I noticed how the new leaves were bursting out on trees and shrubs.


Also the Lark tree is making new soft needles


In the brook the Water Irises are already tall and soon they'll have their glorious yellow flowers


The Lupin leaves were already quite big too


Walking along the walkway amongst shady trees ...


... we come past the marina, where not too many boats were out in the water yet.


In places the white Woodanenemies were growing like a carpet on the woodland floor


In other more open spaces the Coltsfoot was specled on the ground like little suns


We come past a carpet of Bird-in-a-bush flowers (a natural variety)


This Magpie had found something under a bush ...


... while this Blackbird ...


... and this Field Fare were considering jumping into one to hide from the camera


Then we walk past a field of Striped Squill flowers ...


... and arrive to a field of blue Scilla flowers


At one point we walked passed some red Osier Dogwood shrubs. Only these were actually both red and green on the same branches. I've never seen that before. Only seen either red or green one coloured shrubs.


Finally we arrive at the seaside bay, which Tapiola is situated at.


There I saw a pair of Eurasian Wigeons


I also saw a pair of Tufted Ducks allthough the tufts aren't really visible in this photo.


There were lots of Barnacle Geese there ...


... and a Canada Goose as well


The pussywillows and many other trees and shrubs were already flowering ...


... while others had already gone to seed


Turning back we cross the bridge over the Ring I road (there are three ringroads around the Helsinki area) ...


... and walk past this water tower


In one place near the center of Tapiola a pipe with a bit of a differense was sticking up behing an apartment house


So we have taken our walk and have come back to the center part.

There's a lot to take in but this is just to give you an overall view of what I saw and experienced on this walk, which I would not have taken you on had I not left my car in for service a bit earlier and wanted to just kill some time before it would be ready to collect again.


If you are interested in what Helsinki is like then you are welcome to view my new blog Helsinki Daily

13 comments:

Mary Elizabeth said...

You have post some stunning photos today. Thanks for sharing your world.
Mary Elizabeth @ Now and Then

hpy said...

There's somuch to see on yoiur posts that it's hard to comment everything. But, I like scillas very much! They are so beautufully blue.

Ebie said...

That was a great tour. Let me see, counting all the photos and stops, I bet it took you an hour. It is just amazing how we could admire nature through your lens. Cheers!

Clara said...

What a beautiful walk. So many different birds and flowers! Each more wonderful than the last. Helsinki looks like an amazing place. Thanks for taking me along on your walk today.

Leanne said...

What a nice walk thanks for taking me along.

VALKYRIEN said...

En fantastisk fin tur du har hatt! Også jeg! Flott kombinasjon av by og land! Nydelige bilder av fugler du fanger for tiden! Nesten vanskelig å si noe om alle sammen, men jeg må si bilde 9 og 12 var utrolig vakre! Nydelig lys i de bildene der!

Judy said...

Lovely walk, Tarolino! I am glad the garage was near someplace interesting like this! All the ones here seem to be in the middle of nowhere, or beside a mall. Boring! I am going to go look at all the photos again now!

DeniseinVA said...

Fantastic series of photographs. I enjoyed them all. Great tour of your part of the world. So beautiful!

Marites said...

Your world is quite beautiful, it got my mouth gaping. Really stunning photos you took of them. :)

Linnea said...

That's an amazing walk. You have so much nature coexisting with the urban area! Thanks for your detailed account of your walk. I wonder how long it would take if you didn't stop for photos!

Thanks for your comment on MY World. Yes, it's always a shame to have to tear old buildings down. Here in California it is so costly to renovate that usually it's just more cost effective to rebuild. Luckily all of our new buildings are "green" and we've even installed solar panels throughout our parking lots, which now provide 20% of our energy needs. I'll post photos of the final products...still months away though! Enjoy the day...

Erin said...

oh what a wonderful walk you took us on...i so enjoyed the water features, the birds and the beautiful flowers ... every thing was lovely....thank you for sharing it all with us. enjoyed.

George said...

I enjoyed the walk you took us on. The scenery was was beautiful as were the photos.

soile said...

Tutun näköiset maisemat :-D Eilen just ajeltiin tuolla nurkilla ja katselin kaihoisasti skilla-ja sinivuokkomeriä,jonne suunnittelin istuttavani koirat ja ottavani hienoja kuvia.