Feeding missing friends on my New Year's Day walk in Scotland

Hello Hello Hivians and Happy New Year.

Yes 2023 is now finally here, and today is the first Wednesday of this new year. Which means that it is time to share my first walk of the year.

Hopefully what they see will put a smile on the faces of @coquicoin @lhes and @ayane-chan as those wonderful ladies do ask about we are about to see!

New Year's Day Walk

Yes this was around noon on Sunday the first that we went out for a walk up to our local park.

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As you can the weather was absolutely gorgeous, yes we do get blue skies in Scotland from time to time even in the winter!

This is our rose garden, apart from the lack of roses can you see anything in particular?

Let's go have a closer look...

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We had been having plenty of rain! You can see the pruned roses were having their very own bedbath!

I knew the ground would be wet, so there was method in my madness.

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No zipping over the grass, no siree, it was a case of sticking to the paths!

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Blue skies and the winter sun does make for some cracking shadows, and I did take some shadow shots for a future shadow hunters post. This rose garden structure did provide some awesome shadows especially on the beech hedge.

Now where we heading to?

Ah yes of course, to feed some pies!

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The only problem is that I did not see either of them, so back the food went into my bag.

Fluffed if I was just going to feed the bloody seagulls!

The pies are the cutiepies and baby swans from a family I have been following and feeding since early 2021.

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This was them in June 2021!

Mr and Mrs Swan Susie and Stevie for some reason last year decided to leave the Park and move to the nearby Raith lake.

I think it was the return of people, they pretty much had the run of the park and pond during Covid. Since lockdown was lifted they and four of the children have made Raith Lake their home, which is about 2 or 3 miles away.

However two of the pies stayed here, one of the boys and one of the girls. Blueberry and MudPie are the ones who remained.

First up though were some other children.

These might appear as Mallard ducks at first sight.

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However, they are noisier and bigger than Mallards.
Last year, some of you might remember Dafty the Pomeranian Duck who wrote the book on womanizing!

Well I think these ducks are the product of his canoodling with Milly and Molly the female Mallard ducks on Love Island.

They are not as white as your ducks @ayane-chan maybe that is because with Dafty as their father, they are doomed to be womanizers too, and not as pure as yours🤣

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There we go, finally I spotted Mudpie way round on the other side of the pond at the boating hut. Turned out that someone had thrown some food for him on the ground.

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He is really turning into a handsome big swan now. He is getting a thick strong neck which is good. He is also not the timid cygnet anymore, you can see his wings are in don't fluffing mess with me mode.

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Now this was a male Mallard, and the cheeky chappy was coming to see what I was up to!

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Just want to flex my toy now! Can you see something in the picture above.... Look closely whilst I zoom in...

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Can you see it now?

The moon. I mean how cool was that to see it in the middle of the afternoon.

I feel it in my bones, 2023 will be better year!

Some of you will know this and some of you won't...

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To aid digestion, when swans eat their food, they doit whilst taking a drink of water.

Do you see how he takes the pellets and drops them into the water to eat from the water so as to get some water at the same time.

I did have a wee chat with him, and asked about his sister. They had not fallen out, but were having some space he told me!

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Meanwhile the clouds were giving us a warning!

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We left him to deal with the pesky gulls and went to look for his sister BlueberryPie..

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Past the outdoor adult fitness exercise equipment we went, I swear I will use it properly one day!

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It looked like Mudpie had sorted the gulls out! From the looks of it he was shaking this one! A little moorhen was giving him moral encouragement🤣

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And then we saw blueberry pie right at the far end of the pond.

Truth be told, I was quite worried that I had not seen her. So was extremely chuffed when she was spotted.

They might be wild swans, but they do tug at your heart if something happens to them.

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This is my contribution to #wednesdaywalk from the terrific @tattoodjay

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day!

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All images and ramblings are from me, the mad Scotsman TengoLoTodo and pictures taken with my Smartphone or Canon Powershot camera.
@tengolotodo January 4th 2023

DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND DO IT OFTEN

Haste Ye Back!



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(Edited)

I do love a daytime moon Ed (favorite time in summer though). Looks like a good walk there.

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Ah a daytime summer moon now that is a good one, me imaging some warmth now!
!CTP

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I'm glad to see your winged friends are doing well !! Nice update !
!ALIVE
!CTP

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Hahaha! I love their names. Did you happen to name them or they did tell you their names? And the moon at mid day thats amazing. Never had I seen one at such time.

Have an amazing day @tengolotodo and a !PIZZA too. 😊

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hehe their names are cool ChiChi, ah they all tell me their names. I have a great time with the animals in the park, there are so many that do talk🤣

If you talk to them, it brightens you day, try it one time ChiChi hehe
The moon was supercool I !LUV it😁

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I do with dogs mostly and some cats. 😁

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ah yes cat talk tends to be much quiter, dogs though are great and they use simpler words than the cats!

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Hah, looks like you started the walk with nice blue skies, then finished it when it threatened to open up and dump on you. Good timing!

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hehe timed it to perfection, although it didn't actually rain, just threatened to!

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Hello Super Ed!! This post made me smile more than once :) I'm chuffed to see Mudpie and Blueberrypie. They have turned into beautiful and striking swans.

I love the moon during the day, these days it is usually seen around here because the sky is usually very clear.

You know what? I miss Dafty and his adventures which, according to your theory, seem to have been very productive 🤣 The pond needs some soap opera lately 😂

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Woohoo well I thought it would put a smile on your face seeing them Super Eli!
They really have turned into beautiful and striking swans as you say :)

hehe yes the pond is as quiet as hive, need some adventures I think to spice things up.

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Haha! I agree. This needs a shake up 😂 put the adventure in, Super Ed. You sure are a master at spicing things up ;)

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hehe got to try Super Eli!
Will think about threads and SB next ...

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So cool to see the moon during the day and a beautiful walk, glad you found the swans and there doing well

as for the weather there i must say all four times I visited Scotland I was lucky with beautiful weather

Thanks for joining the Wednesday, its always fun for me to visit the walks from all around the world, getting a feel for communities where people live and what they see on their daily walks

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Yeah it is cool seeing the moon like that:)
Yes always good to see the swans alive and healthy!
Ah as for the weather, we do have more good weather than we let on I think!
Happy New Year Jay😁

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Beautiful place. Looks so green and sunny. It doesn't look wintertime.

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Yes we usually keep the green look on the bushes and grass even in winter!

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Nice. I think it snows often.

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No snow here, on the mountains yes, but not down here on the coast!

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What a beautiful walk. Loved your connection with the birdies around the park. Them cutie pies are such a sight.

The moonshot was perfect! Who wouldn't love to see the moon showing herself up at daytime...

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I was chuffed with how well the moon shot came out, I did take a little series with different zooms, so might post that one day!
Yea the cutie pies are cute ;)

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2023 would be a great year indeed. Tell me, is the winter passed? I mean that was pretty quick or are the books I read exaggerated? I have missed these walks and posts. Look at that gorgeous moon! And that field... I would find me something like that here if i could.

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Oh hell no, winter can be all the way until April. I mean often February is the meanest month, soI do hope we will get some snow.
The moon yeah you nailed it Deraa, seriously gorgeous!
Ah yes we need to find you something like that
!LUV

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What a bonnie walk this was Ed, how I'd love to visit Scotland!
As for the womanizers, aren't all men the same when they spot a pretty woman;)
Those waterbirds are gorgeous!

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hehe yes that is my goto walk, only five minutes from the house and does make you feel good feeding the birds. What I use some hive rewards for, to buy food from amazon for them.
Gorgeous they are, and hehe I am sure all men are the same🤣

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Yep, you are all the same, no matter how old you are😆
You're lucky having such a nice place to escape to so close to home!

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hehe no comment but yes that is one reason we chose to be here, is that park five minutes walk away :)

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I can see you had a nice walk with the swans family. Their names are cute 🥰.

I've never seen the moon in the daytime but thanks to you, I've seen it through your phone screen 😂😂.
Mudpie is quite handsome so I don't think he will be a womanizer cause the female swans will be mad over him 😂😂😂.

I read your post through #dreemport.

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The moon was just gorgeous and I am glad the pictures came out so well.
Mudpie really has turned into a very handsome swan and now he is the only male on that body of water, so we shall see what happens!

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I love that you love our feathered friends so much and know their families so well!

It's nice to sit and have a chat to your old friends on a park bench isn't it..!

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That park is a five minute walk from the house, so I have been there many many times, and the animals get to know you. There are some squirrels in the other part of the park, not to mention the non aquatic birds and they are they same.
It really is great to sit on a park bench and chat with old friends😁

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"DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND DO IT OFTEN" - I love that, it's as close to the secret to life as you can get I think, unless you love heroin or the likes, ha ha...

Great shots, I especially love the close up of the moon, I always try to capture the moon, but it's a tricky beast to get a good shot of, so well done on that.

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Yeah I tried many years ago to remove negativity from my life, so I focus on the positive and that saying sums it up :)

The moon, was one reason I got a decent camera, I was so peeved wanting to capture it and just getting a lighted blob from a smartphone camera🤣

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I was so peeved wanting to capture it and just getting a lighted blob from a smartphone camera🤣

Ha ha ha, that it exactly, i get the odd decent one, but usually one in a hundred!

Yeah I tried many years ago to remove negativity from my life, so I focus on the positive

I like that outlook Ed, more power to you 👌

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Ha ha ha, that it exactly, i get the odd decent one, but usually one in a hundred!

Hehe I know that feeling!
Yeah and here is to a positive New Year!

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Oh, haha, I thought that water was supposed to be there. I thought those were little ponds. I wasn't even realizing it was flooded because of the rain! This looks like a really beautiful park to walk in. We have one near where I live that we take the dog to quite frequently when the weather is nice.

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Yeah the rain I guess is what we got from the bomb cyclone. The park we are lucky as it is only a five minute walk from the house :)
They do look like ponds, they blend in quite well to the rose garden!

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Ah, it finally hit you huh? It sounds like we are already having some crazy weather in the US this year. Hopefully for you most of it stays over here. Kind of makes you wonder what Hurricane season is going to be like this year!

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Yeah and raining again today, although to be fair January is our wettest month and we probably do get a third of rainfall in January. Yeah when we lived in Florida we always were wondering what the hurricane season would bring, let's hope this year will be a mild one!

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I think we are going to end up with a mild winter too. I am kind of bummed about that. It will make three in a row or so. The temps have been crazy high lately. I guess Minnesota just got hit, but none of it came our way or it was all rain by the time it got here.

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So that snow you had is probably all you will get?

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I hope not. I actually doubt it, but lately things have been pretty sparse. When I was younger we used to get feet of snow. It's early so we might still get a couple of storms.

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Now I'm starting to love Mudpie. He's so masculine that he looks so good as a swan HAHA. Anyways, your sky is so blue out there. Thanks for sharing your walk. I did enjoy it.

Got your post in @dreemport. ❤

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Mudpie really has grown upto be a striking and handsome male. He now is the only male on the pond, so will be interesting if he finds a mate!
Salamat for visiting @mayt

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No doubt, he'll find a mate soon. Thinking that he's the only male in the pond, he would probably attract a lot of the female swans. HAHA
My eyes got big at the word "salamat". That's cute to know you're learning Tagalog. 😅

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Ah I like that way of thinking.. being the only male so would attract a lot of the female swans hehe!
Ah oo salamat, well I have so many Filipino friends that I try to talk to some of them in a few taglish phrases, but actually it was bisaya words that I learnt first!
Have a wonderful weekend and so glad to see that you are a part of Dreemport😁

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Ohh I see, that's why you're learning Tagalog words. Hahaha, Bisaya is different, but fun to learn from their words too.

Yes, I just discovered Dreemport last month. And enjoying its features till now. Nice to meet you. 🤗

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hehe oo there are some similar words but yes many differences!
Very nice to meet you too and welcome to Hive😁

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You had an amazing walk, Teng. I love the seagulls shown! You did real good with your camera my fluffy Teng😊.

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Thank you Balikis it is always fun capturing the birds

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Hehe.. I can feel that fun part of it. Happy 2023 walk!

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there is something strangely alluring about swans. As a child I'd go feed the ones in Faggate Park, Edinburgh, with my nanny - careful to not get too close should one of them break my arm and drag me under the water 🙄.
And in our last house we were a short step away from a small lake where a family nest yearly.

glad you got to commune with your two

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It was Inverleith Park where I goto know my first swans on the way to and from school! Figgate Park is that out Portobello way I think...
Yea the park is handy and the old fishing reservoir where the main family has moved to is only about 30 minutes away, so no excuse not to go see them all!
They are though I agree, very alluring!

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Lovely pictures, i'll need to get out and see the local swans soon! Plenty of geese there too! Just need to wait for this rain to stop, typical Scottish weather!

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Ah geese, the noisy beggars, I do like seeing them being given the brush off by swans, by I rarely see geese unfortunately!
The weather ha, yes sometimes it is a case of fluff it, just go!

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I loved your story, as much as those beautiful photos with the moon peeking out or not wanting to hide, I don't quite know. Those swans with a tender appearance and not so noble behavior.... Wonderful your story. I loved it!!! 😍 Happy 2023 to you too.

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Thank you for that, yes the moon was a special moment to capture. The swans are cool, and I do know them. I do like to tell stories when I visit them.
Thank you for visiting and Happy New Year to you too😁

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These are amazing views haha. I love it 😻.
Thanks for sharing

With love ❤️
Pirate Q from dreemport

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No way Eddie! How on Earth did you manage to capture that moon so beautifully? My phone can never ever do this, no matter how much I try. Maybe I should take out that photo kit that I bought off Amazon last year. It has zoom and macro lenses and shit load of other things and it looked way too complicated to use, so I left it be 🤣🤣🤣😎

You clearly also had a lovely walk. The weather was glorious indeed! I might go for my first one of this year tomorrow if weather agrees with my plans 😁💙

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Aha well I did get a set of those lenses a couple of years ago for another smartphone and never really got the hang of it, I should try with this one!
However Monika the moon was all captured on my Canon Powershot camera.
The 1st and 2nd were gorgeous and then of course it has been meh since then!
I hope you got out and about today Monika😁

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Oh man, I opened the kit and out of 8 pieces, the macro lenses were missing 🙈 Apparently seller not very responsive on Amazon. Ehh… there was no macro today, just me and my phone camera and the forest. I did get out 😁

Moon is amazing!

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Oh Monika what did you do with those pieces!
Glad you got to the forest though :)

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Oh, I did nothing. I never used it, so it must have been missing from the kit. The clip also doesn’t really fit my phone well, so altogether not very well spent money. Oh well, I’ll try to get a refund 🥹

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You fed my eyes with amazing creatures. I love the pies, swan and duck..... I love the blue sky too. So beautiful 😎😎
That was a wonderful walk though and I enjoyed watching those creatures having fun.

I popped in through Dreemport 🤗

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The blue sky is just gorgeous Princess, and of course it has gone since that walk🤣
I am glad that you enjoyed it, and the birds always bring me fun too!
Thanks for popping in from Dreemport and enjoy your weekend:)

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What a lovely little walk to visit all your swan babies and other cheeky chumps hehe. Scotland can deliver some beautiful skies and beautiful days... with gorgeous highlands and islands... but it does rain 300 days a year too... it's a hard sell hehe... but whenever I leave after a short stay there, I already want to be back for another visit. She's just like that! Happy New Year, Ed - see you real soon !LUV !ALIVE

I dropped in from Dreemport this evening. #dreemer for life

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Yeah I love our local park, being a 5 minute walk away, it really is an awesome place!

but it does rain 300 days a year too

haha well in the west and in the islands maybe.
Here we don't get much rain, last year 137 days, however, January is the wettest month Sam.

Happy New Year Sam and so glad you dropped in from Dreemport.
!ALIVE
!BEER

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aha so we are coming to Scotland at the wettest possible time of the year - just perfect! 🤣!LOLZ

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hehe we get less rain than London, so bring good weather with you!

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Wow😍great photos sir especially tye moon😍.
Love that place ,looks so quite amd peaceful.

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Salamat Mitch, yes it is great and the moon made my day😁

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dreemport always loves to send me to your posts ;-) and its always an easy task because most of the time i already knew them

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hehe and it rains today, so not been able to get to the sea for you, maybe tomorrow hehe!

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I didn't know swam need water to aid their digestion, your post is informative. And you naned them after pie, hilarious. It's nice to see the moon during day and I believe that 2023 will definitely be a good year.

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Hehe yes there are six pies in total, although the other four and the parents have moved to another body of water. I still see them all and talk to them too, I think cutiepie is my favourite, but she is in the other lake!
The moon, yes that was gorgeous and woohoo let's be positive and make 2023 a good year for all of us😁

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Am sure she's a beauty, nice name cutie pie 😁😁

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Beautiful new years day walk in the park @tengolotodo I particularly like the pics of the various water birds :)

I also went for a walk on New Year's day with my girlfriend, to blow out the cobwebs from the Christmas gluttony and drinking lol

But it was raining cats and dogs down here in Liverpool and even the wildlife was sheltering under the hedgerows.

All the best for 2023 :)

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Ah thanks Raj, I do always try to get a walk and some fresh air on New Year's Day to blow those cobwebs away hehe!
Glad to know that you and your girlfriend did too!
Rain, I think you have sent it up this way as it has been raining again for the last couple of days!
Thanks and you have a cracking 2023 too😁

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What cute ducklings and swannies~

Mudpie is a funny name.

For some reason, as I was looking at these photos, I'm reminded of Duck, the protagonist of Princess Tutu. If you like anime you might want to check it out.~


Found On Dreemport

Have a !PIZZA with !LUV

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hehe they are cute.
Thanks for that, I shall check it out!

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It's been a while since I've walked with you Ed. 😊 A wonderful walk and birds that always make me smile and bring peace. Moon photo is worth a million dollars, it's amazing! 😊 Happy New Year Ed, I wish you lots of health, happiness and love in 2023. Cheers! 😊

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Hiya Jelena😁
Yeah it is always fun seeing the birds :)

Happy New Year too and may the year bring all you wish for 😁

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