Whitby Goth Festival week-end

The Whitby Goth Festiival was held last week-end. Whitby has become the Goth capital of England over the last few years but I've never been able to take photographs before. This year I decided I'd just ask anyone who I wanted to take and go with the flow. Everyone was really nice, happy to pose and talk and I got some good shots. This is just a couple of them. It was the last day of the festival and they were parading up and down and wonderful to see. I was told there are many types of Goths but my pictures were mostly Traditional or Romantic.

Quackers....

Unlike the old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do this mallard, mother of seventeen puffy little fluffball ducklings knew exactly what to do when they were attacked by a mute swan.
She ushered them all up on to the safety of the bank side encouraging them to settle down there whilst hurling occasional abusive quacks at the hissing cob swan.
He eventually swam off leaving the family in peace.

Mum mallard and a trio of her ducklings

rockery

I finally finished planting up the rockery with the plants I have,
I still need a few more to plug the odd gaps but I'm pleased with
the overall effect of re-designing it and the waterfall.
Just need to keep that blasted cat from next door off it now!

weeping

Majestic willow why do you weep?

Your delicate fronds, like angels hair, reflect the sunlight from their new green growth and flutter gently in the wafting breeze.

Your beauty's unsurpassed.

forget-me-nots

The same forget-me-nots after I played about with the colours

forget-me-nots

Delicate tiny flowers of the forget-me-not smiling out amid the green foliage

spring

Spring has finally got her act together and produced a mass of colour in the garden. This collage shows just a small portion.

The cherry tree has come into it's own over the last couple of days, luxuriously hung with delicate cascades of soft pink blossom it's awash with bees buzzing from flower to flower. I love to sit on the bench by the pond, it's just underneath the cherry, listening to their hum and watching the fish gliding through the water, flashing glints of silver, gold and orange. The frogs are still singing love songs and adorning the plants with clumps of spawn.

The magnolia has opened it's delicate pink tinged buds displaying it's white blooms for the sun and closing them again in the shade of evening, daffodils and tulips are vying for a space in the borders and the grape hyacinths are a carpet of blue.
The bleeding heart stems are arching delicately, covered in tight red buds just waiting to burst forth and the snakes head fritilaries are bowing their checkered heads and swaying gently on their spindly stalks which always look too delicate to support them.
Hosta's are popping their tightly twisted budding leaves through the brown soil and the peony shoots have turned from red to green.....

Bees buzz, butterflies cruise and spotty red ladybirds are waking from sleep....

An abundance of growth and colour, just a small snapshot of Mother Nature's diversity albeit she was hampered a little by Winter this year.