07 March 2008

Photo Hunt - Different



The theme for this week's Photo Hunt is different and yet again what shall I post? Once again I will stretch the meaning of the different for a few photos from the garden of Langtons House in Hornchurch, Essex. An English public garden should swans and ducks and here Langtons does not disappoint


However they have something very different too....




Red eared terrapins are not native the the UK but are a common sight in lakes thansk to teh Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle craze of the 90s. Parents bought cute little turtles for their kids and then discovered they grow... hundreds were dumped in lakes . They don't breed here but they will be around for a long time

68 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great take on the theme along with beautiful photos.

Have a great weekend.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

I am proud of you, Jams. In fact, I am proud of myself two - we both managed not to stick out cats into it this time ;-)

Fine choices as usual. Have a great weekend!

SnoopyTheGoon said...

I meant "too" of course :-(

Carver said...

That's a lot of turtles. Great shots of the swan as well as the turtles. That's bizarre that parents would buy them for their children and not realize how big they get. Good take on the theme. Hope you have a great weekend.

Anonymous said...

Now that is truly different! lol

Great pics and loved the information.

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen any turtle with a red mark before. Our two pets here don't have that.

SabineM said...

Lovely take And Stretch on the theme! I love the photos! The reflection in the first photo is amazing!

Anonymous said...

Those are great photos jams! Fun take on the theme for sure..
happy weekend...

Barbara said...

Very different! I like the photo of the terrapins all in a row.

Anonymous said...

I like the last photo. All the terrapins looks like they are playing near the pond. Really nice photos. Happy photohunting!

Anonymous said...

Ouh I think we have plenty of terrapins in our country. In fact I think my brother used to keep 2 of them... and yeah then put them into the turtle/tortoise pond nearby in a temple when they grew up. @.@

Susan Demeter said...

Great photos, but what a sad story for the turtles :(

jmb said...

Luckily one can make a different case for almost anything.
Do they cause much harm? I guess any upset of the natural ecology is a bad thing.
Have a good weekend Jams

Sarge Charlie said...

excellent post for the theme

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love the photo of the swan being reflected on the water. The turtles look big :)

Have a great weekend :)

Napaboaniya.Elaine Ling said...

Those terrapins do grow into that size pretty fast. I had baby terrapins and before I knew it, it was outgrowing the tank and I had to set it free at the local pond. I'm dun think my terrapin swam all the way there to the States right?!?! :P

Rach said...

I wouldn't expect to see them in my local pond!

Heather said...

That is very funny--we have similar issues around here with rabbits and ducks.

eastcoastlife said...

I thought you were going to show the different sides of your cats. hehe....

We have several temples in Singapore and each has a pond to rear turtles. Some of the turtles are unwanted pets, many of them were bought by worshippers to release them to the pond for good luck. Weird huh.

Leslie: said...

I really like that first photo of the swans! Interesting history of the turtles!

marcia@joyismygoal said...

i love red eared sliders i learned about them at our nature center here

Katney said...

Not the only place in the world with turtle troubles, either. Good different.

Colin Campbell said...

I went to the University of Maryland at College Park and their sports teams were called The Terrapins. Rather an odd name for a sports team

Natalie said...

I had to stretch the theme also. LOL! I like the terrapins. :)

MaR said...

The swan picture is great!! The turtles are very different and yet the Ninja Turtles were part of my life in the 90's as my son was a true fan of them... Thanks for that piece of information!
Happy PH and happy weekend!
Mar

Corey~living and loving said...

What an educational post. I hate when people are irresponsible pet purchasers. argh...
hope you have a good weekend though.

Heart of Rachel said...

Thank you for sharing these lovely photos.

About the turtles, it's sad when people just abandon their pets because they cannot care for them anymore.

Unknown said...

Very cute take on the theme - totally different from every post I´ve visited before =)

Happy Hunting and Happy 1,501st post, Jams!

jams o donnell said...

Thanks everyone!

Anonymous said...

I love your shot of the swan. Beautiful. (And also thanks for linking your post to mine on the 'fish heads'. Haha)

Anonymous said...

That swan pic is decidedly different - normally swans are depicted on the water, not examining their make-up.
Do you remember the scare that terrapins carried salmonella ?
Good start to the weekend - enjoy.
A.

Jen said...

You take such awesome photographs!!! I browsed down below at your previous post and it made me LOL! The picture goes perfectly with your description FUNNY!

LibertyBelle said...

I love your photos and love learning so many new things too!
Great job!
Have a great weekend
L

Dragonstar said...

This is my third attempt at commenting - Blogger keep sending me an error message.

I love the swan shot, beautiful reflection. And those terrapins are certainly "different" - who'd have thought it. They look like giant woodlice in that last pic!

ipanema said...

i love the turtles! and yes, this garden have something different to offer!

happy weekend!:)

Daisy said...

My Mommie remembers those turtles from when she was little. They start out small and cute! They do not sell them here any more, I think because they can transmit salmonella. But I am not sure.

Anonymous said...

Good idea for the different theme. The story behind the turtles being in that lake is a little sad though. I do hope they are leading a good life there. (How do they cope with the cold in winter??)

Oh, and congratulations on your 1,500th drivel post!! :D

James Higham said...

Hey, this takes me back - it really does.

Hootin Anni said...

LOVE!!! the last photo. [and when you typed 'stretch' the meaning I was looking at the bird's stretched neck!!]

My Photo Hunt Different is shared, I hope, if you haven't already, you can drop by and pay a visit. Happy weekend.

Carin said...

These turtles are so big.
Remember seeing them in Malta when I lived there. I am not mistaken they were caught to eat! But I can't imagine anyone would. So perhaps I am mistaken. Or was it to prepare them to keep them!

I like your entry, it set me off thinking.

 gmirage said...

Oh, what a beautiful fauna display! Never got the chance to make a turtle grow that big...they always die about when they get 3 inches...=(

Anonymous said...

Good choice its really different animals in the water and on the water. Happy hunting.

mine is here http://mommyko.com/2008/03/photo-hunters-different.html

JesieBlogJourney said...

wow! Great shots of nature. The first picture is different with the mirror image. I thought only girls like to look at the mirror.

My husband will call the terrapins "turtles" and I would call them "tortoises." Different people call the same thing by a different name too. Whatever the name is, they're great shots.

Harajuku PearL said...

I love the swan picture! Interesting!!!

Pearl - have a good weekend hunting ;)

Gattina said...

I love the turtles, maybe they will change their mind and make babies, you never know !

Cindy said...

That swan picture is great!
Pot Bellied Pigs are another "pet" that people think is cute, and have n idea just how big that cute "little" pig will get. Fortunately they don't dump them off at lakes...
My take on "Different is
Here

Anonymous said...

I LOVE that first photo with the reflection. I would love to go to this place. :)

Very cool shots for this week's theme. Happy Hunting.

Unknown said...

how beautiful! I love the reflection and the turtle colors!

jenny said...

I think I had a pet duck we released at the park after on Easter back in the 70s. Irresponsible, isn't it? But maybe the tutrtles enjoy living there.

Have a great weekend!

Liz said...

good take on different. thanks for dropping by ;)

amazingmusings.com said...

im not so fond of turtles but i found your pictures nice and "less-scary". good take!

Unknown said...

Very interesting post!! And to think it's mostly because of a movie! Poor things! Surely the weather there is too cold for them?

Anonymous said...

Finally getting round to commenting after doing battle with Blogger most of the day!

I didn't realise those terrapins could survive in the wild. We didn't ever have them in our house but several of our sons' friends did.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

The swan is beautiful and so are the terrapins. I never saw anything like that before!

Barb said...

Well, I don't know the name of ours here at The Swamp, but as luck would have it, I also have a line of turtles this week! Obviously, I tyhink you're an absolute genious! ;-)

jams o donnell said...

Thanks everyone!

Janine said...

hehe like the pictures you pick. hope you will take time to take a loot at mine..you can read it here

http://pinay-wife.com/2008/03/different.html

Tokenhippygirl said...

Those are some great photos!

Gemini and Ichiro said...

Turtles are fascinating. How do they get in there and how can I get in there to get them? Hmmm....

1500 posts is a lot! You've posted way more than I have--though I think I'm in the 700 post range!

YTSL said...

Interesting post. A bit sad to read about the abandoned turtles. Hopefully they're managing to enjoy their life/thrive in "the wild".

sammawow said...

My sister had a little turtle named Tommy when we were kids. Your post brought back some nice Tommy memories! He was with us a couple of years and then when he passed, we had his funeral in the backyard. He was a terrific little guy!

Anonymous said...

Lovely shots of the turtles.

PowersTwinB said...

AMAZING! Isnt that something that people buy pets and then conviently drop them off in Lakes, Rivers, woods, wherever, just to make them feel better about a situation they should never had been in, bringing home an unwanted pet? yikes...great take on theme this week! My hunt is up, please come and visit

Queen of My Domain said...

What a great different choice. I like your turtle photos and the story of how they got there.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely awesome photo!... Mine is up here...
http://wilstop.info/2008/03/09/ph-different/

Have a great day!...c",)

Anonymous said...

Cooo Shot you go here...... Mine is up here...
http://boggos.blogspot.com/2008/03/ph-different.html

Have a great day!...c",)

Anonymous said...

What great photos,..... love the ones with all the turtles in a row. Have a good week.

Melanie said...

Amazing pictures! I like the first one the best.