Staglands

I had a fun day at Staglands nature reserve in the Akatarawa Valley this past weekend. My sister lives out in the valley and on a sunny day it's just magical. I just thought I'd share a few photos that I took on the day. There are some pretty colourful birds and even some friendly ones that love a bit of attention.

At Staglands they have some breeding programs to help boost the population of our endangered birds, such as the Whio (blue duck) it's pretty special to see these ducks as they are a bird that most people probably won't get to see in their natural environment.

Another highlight is the cute little (and not so little) animals, they have baby bunnies, lambs, goats and some gorgeous deer.

Something that I'm pretty excited about is the 100 day project. This is my first year taking part and my mission is to create a different pattern everyday. I chose to do it basically just so I have an excuse to create patterns, I've been designing here and there with no real purpose (except that I love making them) and this gives me a daily goal and hopefully by the end of the project I'll have some interesting patterns that I can use in my stationery and maybe even some textiles. Because I am embarking on this project I have started to look for inspiration already and really noticed that nature is filled with patterns like on these beautiful birds. The link to my project is here.

Oh and here's the friendly bird I mentioned earlier.