A Word a Week: Orange – Autumn Colours

Good morning from a wet and grey Hastings.

I had this post all planned last night and then this morning I read my emails and found that this weeks Word a Week challenge is orange.  So now I can use these photos in this challenge.

http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-orange/

Sue showed the most amazing sunrise.

Today here in New Zealand it is the official start of winter.  So yesterday I made the most of the sunny and warm weather and headed out to take some photos of the autumn colours.  So I think all the shades of orange have come out.

The first place I went to was Oak Avenue.  This is a short avenue lined with oak trees that were planted in 1874.  I found it hard driving up this road as it was breathtaking.

Then on both sides of the avenue there are orchards which are just glorious at the moment.  I had to go when the sun was up at a certain angle to really get the depth of colour.  The farmers have sent their sheep in to keep the grass down among the trees.  This group took off as soon as I started to head towards them.

Then it was off to Pakowhai Park.  The colours were breathtaking.  There was no wind and the stream was like a mirror.

Here is another great post for this challenge by Nowathome.

http://nowathome.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-orange/

Thank you for visiting and for all your support.

Birdlife at Pakowhai Park

Good evening from a cool Saturday night in Hastings.

After a cold start the weather turned out rather warm and so to get a bit of photo therapy I headed out to find some autumn colours which I will show tomorrow.

I also found some bird life while I was out.  There were lots of fantails flying around enjoying the warm sunshine.  The only thing was that there were dogs running around so that just as I was focusing on the fantails a dog would start barking and the bird would fly off.  This was the best shot.

Then there were the usual sparrows.

I found these stilts walking not far from the motorway. I really struggled with the zoom with these, trying to get the right depth of field.  These were the best of my photos and I had to heavily crop them as well.

Finally a feather to finish of this post.