Hall Lee Bank Park, Westhoughton.

Hall Lee Bank Park, Westhoughton.

What a glorious morning today here in Westhoughton.  The weather has been quite lovely for the past few days and today was no exception.  The light coming through the trees has a lovely warm look and feel to it and it makes things look really quite special.

I took a wee stroll through Hall Lee Bank Park and was really quite taken with the way the light shone through the new growth.  For the first shot in this post I really wasn't sure what to do.  There are some very dark areas as I was shooting into the sun and some very bright areas on the water.  I decided to take several shots at different exposures and blend them together in Photomatix Pro.  Please click on the image to get an enlarged view and perhaps let me know what you think.

I must say that it was really very lovely to see things springing into life and looking so new, fresh and clean.  For the rest of this post I've added just a few more shots from my stroll through the park to amuse you.  In the one with the hawthorn, perhaps you can let me know what the large brown growth is.  I haven't a clue but I'm sure one of you reading this will know.

I just loved the way these new leaves were illuminated by the sun

A hawthorn tree, but what is that brown growth?!?  It looks like a conker ... but it isn't!

New growth on a sycamore tree.  Gorgeous the way these leaves unfold from the buds. 

Daffodils lit by the morning sun.  A really lovely time of the day.

Spring!

Back in the UK now and the weather is glorious!  Amazing I know.  Not renown for good weather, Manchester is normally associated with dreary, wet and miserable conditions, but not just now.  The skies are clear and blue.  Yesterday I couldn't find a cloud in the sky.  It's also warm.  Record highs are being broken for this time of the year and we're enjoying temperatures in the low twenties.  Very pleasant indeed.  There's also lots of flowers and blooms springing in to life.  It's really a very pretty time of the year and the weather is just perfect.  The first two shots in this post are of some blooms in my parents' front gardens.  Very pretty.

New leaves ... spring very much on the way here in the UK.

All this lovely weather is causing some problems though.  They're now a little short of water!  The next two shots were taken at Anglezark, a local reservoir.  In this you can see just how low the water has gone and imagine how low it will go if this lovely weather continues.

Anglezarke reservoir.

Anglezarke reservoir.  Geese in the foreground, blue skies, and very low water levels.