Rekindling a hobby from my youth in Beveridge Park, Fife, Scotland

As a teenager, I used to do holiday jobs to get money to do two things. One was to be able to play golf and the other was to help pay for my passion for photography. In those days of course it was all film and so very expensive. In fact I stopped as it was too expensive to actually enjoy it. Not like now, where we can snap snap snap and not worry about running out of film or having to have photos processed.

However, with the arrival of smartphones, my interest in that hobby slowly started to rekindle, and now is in full flow after I bought my new toy. The baby arrived is where I told you about my Canon Powershot SX 70HS bridge camera.

We have been having rain this week. I also had a wee reminder from @coquicoin that there was a certain Silvers Bloggers prompt that I was to write about, so away for a walk I went with my camera.

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Top of my road and entrance to Beveridge Park

I live on one of the main roads through the town, and it is a bit of bypass as you don't need to go down into the centre. The park is on the other side of the railway line. One day I will get a picture of a train going over the bridge.

Can you see the sky, the grey clouds meant rain was not far away!

One of the five park entrances

This is one of the two main entrances, ignoring all the entrances via the woods, there are five entrances into Beverdige Park, where we are standing now. There is a track that runs round it, and they used to race motorbikes on it, hence the wooden mototrbike sculpture. When I was here last week they had not planted any flowers. I was cursing the council for cutbacks, but I was glad to see the gardeners were out and planted flowers. However, I was cursing them later on my walk.

New Snack Van

Last year we had two snack vans at the park, the food was not the best but certainly not the worst I have had.
This year however, they had gone to be replaced by this colourful one. I haven't eaten there yet, but will let you know when we do!

It is a colourful van, but I can't help thinking that the reindeer looks so happy because he has eaten some of the magic mushrooms🍄😃

The Rose Garden

Situated between the snack van and the boat pond is The Rose Garden. There are benches around the perimeter, so often we will come here to eat lunch and spot the wildlife.

#alwaysaflower by the wonderful @dswigle is an awesome tag, and I am glad that the beds of roses are flowering now.

What is your favourite colour of rose?

I don't have a particular favourite rose colour, but I did like the look of this lilac pink one. You can see the raindrops, a reminder that rain was still out and about!

The pesky gatekeepers

As Kirkcaldy is a coastal town, we are inundated with seagulls. They perch on the entrances to The Rose Garden, and are forever divebombing unsuspecting people, especially when they are eating. Not sure about your country, but here they are all proteced species by law.

The boating pond

Prior to Covid you could rent rowing boats out to go on the pond. However the birds seem to have taken it over now. Although today it seemed quite quiet.

Female Mallards looking at a fish show

I am guessing these three girls were looking at fish and not a peep show. One of them as you see decided to show us her ass!

Fight time

As I was on my own today, feeding the ducks and taking their pictures was a tad tricky. At this time of the year we get Pomeranian Ducks visiting and they are bigger than the resident Mallard ducks. You can see the female Mallard on the right was not going to be bullied by the Pomeranian.

The New Dafty!

Some of you might remember Dafty the Pomeranian Duck from last year. What a romantic rascal he was, with his love trysts in Love Island and having Milly and Molly involved in his love triangle. I can tell you that Dafty 2 is even more vocal than Dafty. There you go @jane1289 my ducks are back for you. @bloghound and @ifarmgirl you might recognise the similarities between Dafty and Dafty 2.

Eating out of my hand

The one I called Dafty 2 came up and took the duck food pellets out of my hand, what a cheeky bugger! These ones have no problem coming upto me.

The pies not wanting to miss out

Last year Steve and Susie Swan had six curviving cygnets and I have been trying to find out the story this year. As I was feeding the ducks, teh two pies came over to get fed. Last year I called the six cygnets 'pies'.
I just love the way they move effortlessly over the water.

Aren't I cute says cutie-pie?

Here you go Super Eli @coquicoin cutie-pie saying hello hello to you. I put in a picture of her beside a male mallard duck to show that she is still a juvenile and not Susie.

I think that Susie and Stevie Swan have gone to Raith Lake, it may be that they decided Beveridge Park got too busy this year with all the people back. Their nesting site of last year has not been used either. I am pretty sure that she was here with her brother Mud-pie.

Seagulls and Jackdaws were late to the party

I do not feed the seagulls, the swans usually scare them away, the ducks and swans get on together, but if too many seagulls appear, then I leave and go to another part of the pond. I had finished one bag of food for them, and being conscious of the weather, I made a move inland.

A Lone Wee Coot

Coots are the ones with the white mark on their head and white beak. This wee one was walking with me to the other end of the pond.

Last years swan's nesting area

Normally the swans build their nest on the island, but last year they built it on the reeds in this section of the park. As there were not many people around, that would have been fine as the family would not have been disturbed that often by people or dogs.
This year there is no sign of any nest.

Dafty's Love island

This is the island where the swans normally build their nest, it is inaccessible to humans so ideal for the cygnets to grow up. Last year though, this was where Dafty The Pomeranian Duck would take his duck harem. A serious rascal he was! Although it was a grey day, there was no wind and you can see a cracking reflection on the water.

The view from the bottom

This is the second spot that I feed the ducks and swans, if the seagulls get too many up the other end then I come down here and feed them again. It is also where the coots and moorhens hang out.
Can you see the white things at the top of the pond? What do you mean, No!

Let's Zoom in then!

Yes it is cutie-pie and mud-pi with some Mallard Ducks. this is why I love this camera, and a big thank you to @papilloncharity for answering my questions, you should be a Canon salesman😁

Sticking out like a sore thumb

Nature is amazing, take trees, there are so many different types, and look at this fir I think it is. It sticks out like a sore thumb. I was now heading to the secluded garden where we normally eat lunch and see the magpies and tits and other smaller birds.

I was in for a shock!

The council in their wisdom had chopped won one of two trees, they had removed some gorgeous shrubs and replaced with turf. I was pissed off and went to chat to a gardener that I saw. Apparantly his bosses had said it was done to cut down on maintenance. ffs the shrubs were flowering shrubs and a magent for bees and pollinators, what a shower of shites the council are, all penny pinching, and no thought of our environment!

Memorial Garden

So I carried on and here is the The Memorial Garden. The Mayor of Kirkcaldy was Mayor Beveridge, and his wife wanted more green spaces and places for people to be able to enjoy, so she persuaded her husband to create the park many many years ago.

Loving Fountain

The fountain is a memorial to the pair of Beveridges who the park is anmed after. This is only a ten minute walk from my house, so I thank Mrs Beveridge for convincing her husband to create the park.

Handsome ~ Oh yes I am !

If swans are my favourite aquatic bird, then Magpies are my favourite non aquatic bird. There is something about them that just makes me smile.
Now that I am recapturing my love for photography as a hobby and getting more time to pursue it, but I am also getting back into birdwatching as a hobby.
When I was a wee bairn, I rememebr one of the best Christmas presents I ever was given. My great aunt was very much nature aware and she sponsored a Mallard Duck from the RSPB in my name, and I got sent a wee certificate of sponsorship. The duck had been ringed, and I would get updates whenever it was spotted. Getting letters in my name as an eight year old, I was fair chuffed!

My Blue behind

Blue is my favourite colour so perhaps that is another reason I like Magpies, just look how stunning he is! Do you see his left leg up as if he is marching!

The Way Home

This is the back of the nesting area from last year, and you can still see indentations in the reeds, where the nest from last year has stopped the growth of reeds this year. There were now spits of rain and I decided that I had pushed my luck.

Now I realised that today is Wednesday and this would be a suitable walk for #wednesdaywalk from @tattoodjay and as I have been smiling also for #MakeMeSmile hosted by @elizacheng.
To see more info on that do read Wednesday Walk On the harbor walk from @tattoodjay

However, this post is for the #silverprompt about hobbies from Silver Bloggers , please read Silver Prompt - New Topic for July 3, 2022

Who was Percy the Pigeon looking at?

Just before I put my camera away so it would not get wet, I saw Percy.

Just look at the stare on him, can you guess who he is giving the eye too?

It's me ~ Sammy the Squirrel

Yes @eylz619 I caught Sammy saying hello to you!

Now the heavens opened, and I got absolutely drenched, it was raining cats and dogs, and by the time I got home I was like a drookit rat!

The things that I do for you @coquicoin

I hope you enjoyed this wee multi topic post that really highlights the hobbies that I want to get into now that I have more time on my hands! My next goal is start looking at edits. Wish me luck🤞