Afternoon of Day 7 of our family holiday to Pas de Calais, France.

Well after our photo session around the church and castle in Arques I posted about yesterday we decided that we would spend the afternoon on a river cruise.

We joined a river excursion around the Saint-Omer marshes in the Audomarois  region. The region boasts 160 kilometres of rivers covering 3400 hectares.

The boat left from the wharf  joining Au Bon Accueil a restaurant near the village of Salperwick  near Saint-Omer in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

The boat we had was a long open-topped river cruiser, with big picture windows through which to view the scenery.

I managed to get a seat at the very front of the boat thus enabling me to take some photos straight forward without any glass in the way.

The views as we journeyed around the waterways were quite stunning.

The banks were lined with birds�

fishermen�.

and immaculately presented homes and gardens.

Some of the homes were obviously only holiday homes, though from the looks of this garden they must spend a lot of time here.

Other property along the banks were more like garden summer houses a place to stay whilst fishing the river, from the looks of the keep net on the right of the photograph.

Other homes along the banks were much more substantial. A commonality between them all though was that they all had a waterside letterbox.

Obviously the postman for these home-owners delivers their post by boat.

It had been a great cruise, the weather was great the view superb and the company brilliant. A perfect way to spend an afternoon. Oh and I got to take lots of pictures too gets even better.

Although the commentary for the cruise had only been in French, and my French is terrible at best, that didn�t detract from the enjoyment of the excursion around the waterways of Pas de Calais.

Technorati Tags: Calais,France,photo,church,castle,Arques,river,Audomarois,boat,restaurant,Salperwick,scenery,birds,garden,waterside,pictures,marshes,rivers,photos,waterways

Camera Critters � Hedwig and friends

Today is my 100th post. When I started this back in March 2009, I wasn't sure what I wanted from blogging. Whether I wanted just a platform to display my photography, somewhere to tell others what I have learnt over the years and might be helpful for them or just something to pass the time because lots of others were doing it.

What I've found is a thriving community of individuals all bringing a little bit of themselves through their posts for others to share. I have recently been indoctrinated into the headbangers group, you can link to them on the side panel, and visit my post here for more information on this, thanks again for the invite. Thank you for all of you who regularly visit and comment it is very much appreciated and valued. If there is something you want to see more of or even something new or even something changed please feel free to let me know. I've learnt that I am not doing this just for me but for you too. Remember if you like what you see spread the word and we can enjoy blogging together.

One of the groups I've joined is Camera Critters a great opportunity to display images of the wonderful critters we see everyday. Today's blog is therefore a camera Critters post I hope you enjoy it.

I don�t very often get the opportunity to photograph owls and birds of prey but when I do I love it. I know many of my readers enjoy owls too so for your pleasure (and mine) I bring you another selection for Camera Critters.

The Snowy Owl, used by J.K. Rowling as Hedwig in the Harry Potter series is a large bird. It can measure 53-65 cm (20-26 inches) long with a 125-150 cm (50-60 in) wingspan.

The Tawny Owl on the other hand is a much smaller owl being classed as a mid range in size.  It measures 37�43 cm (14.5�17 in) in length, with an 81�96 cm (32�38 in) wingspan.

The Kestrel is a beautiful bird of prey of the falcon family. It  measures 32�39 cm (13�15 in) from head to tail, with a wingspan of 65�82 cm (26�32 in).

Finally for today the�.

I�m sorry to say I�m not sure what this bird is. I am sure there are knowledgeable people out there who may know the name of this bird. If you do may you please let me know via the comment section. If perhaps you don�t know personally but may know someone who does can you please point them in the direction of this blog as I would really love to put a name to this wonderful creature.

Owls of the Raptor, birds of prey sanctuary Lincolnshire.

Whilst at one of the summer shows I came across this wonderful display of Owls.

The Raptor Foundation that was displaying the birds is a rescue and rehabilitation centre for raptors that are unable to be returned to the wild for various reasons.

The British Barn Owl (Tyto alba). The scientific name derives from the Greek word tuto meaning 'night-owl' and the Latin for 'white', so it literally translates as the 'White night Owl'.

The Indian Eagle Owl (Bubo bengalensis). It is found naturally across the Indian sub-Continent and as far north as the Himalayas.

Eurasion Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo). The largest of all owls it can be found  found throughout Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, the Middle East & Asia, with some being found breeding as far south as the Sahara in Africa.

These are magnificent creatures I am sure you will agree.

I hope I have named these birds correctly but I am sure if I haven't an 'eagle eyed' reader will correct me.

Check out more fabulous critters by clicking on the above image link.