Transitory; brief; momentary; passing; cursory; short-lived; fleeting; temporary. All meanings behind the word ‘Ephemeral’.
I think of all those times when I’ve attempted to photograph creatures great and small, specifically during a visit, a couple of years ago, to magnificent Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire:
A lioness stretching before settling back down with her pride for a lazy nap ~
A meerkat standing to order on the lookout, before scrambling
back down the earth mound to join his mates ~
Who’s there?
(c) Sherri Matthews 2015
This gorgeous tiger might look calm and peaceful, but seconds after I took this photo, he was off, sauntering into the woods until I couldn’t see him at all ~
All is calm…?
(c) Sherri Matthews 2015
Just as well cute little chipmunk kept well away; she allowed me this close-up before darting off at light-speed to scratch about for food ~
Hurry up and take your photo, I haven’t got all day… (c) Sherri Matthews 2015
And then not forgetting this brief moment when a few birds of the feathered kind took to admiring Hubby. Once they got what they came for – food, of course – they took off, leaving hubby’s heart all in a flutter ~
Birds of a feather flock together…beautiful parakeets
(c) Sherri Matthews 2015
Moments in time, captured in a snap. Aren’t cameras wonderful?
This post is in response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge of “Ephemeral.”
A View From My Summerhouse 
Love the chipmunk picture. A lovely photo and the one of hubby is so cute too. Well done, as ever
love mumblypeg xxx
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I love the chipmunk, I wanted to bring it home, haha 😀 Thanks MP…love and hugs xxx
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Wow Sherri! Fantastic photos as usual!! I’d love to go there one day. Thanks for taking me around with you great writings and images! 🙂
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You would love it there Steve, and just think of all the fab photos you would take, so I hope you get to go one day and soon! Always a pleasure, thanks so much for coming along 🙂
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What fun Sherri! It looks like you were right up close and personal with the animals. The meerkat looks so regal and so cute 🙂
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Thanks Heather, it’s great fun at Longleat, I remember going there as a kid and then got to go again a few more time over the years with my ‘big kids’ – including Hubby, ha 🙂 The lions and tiger were taken from our car as we drove around and the meerkats literally run past you as walk through their ‘village’. They look like soldiers standing guard don’t they? Very mischievous 😉
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Aw…so cute…the chipmunk, not your husband. 🙂 Okay, he looks cute too! What a great smile he has. Wonderful pictures, Sherri! xoxo
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Haha 😀 I love it, I’l be sure to tell hubby that Jill, he will be very flattered I can assure you 😉 The chipmunk is adorable isn’t he? I wish I could have taken him home with me! Thank you!!! xoxox
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Some lovely photos here, Sherri. Love the one of your hubby, the Lorikeet man. 🙂 Super capture of the Meerkat. They’re just the cutest when they stand like that. 🙂 Love the sleek big cats too, and the precious little face of that chipmunk. Beautiful post altogether. xx
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Haha…I’ll be calling hubby that from now on! Thanks Sylvia, it’s always nice to get these kind of shots as so often they shoot off just as I’m about to snap away! Thanks too for letting me know the correct name, not parakeets but lorikeets…I’m not too good with tropical bird names so I stand corrected 🙂 xx
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😆 I only know the name because one landed on my hubby’s shoulder when we were in Cairns.
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Ahh…I should have remembered! Thanks again for letting me know Sylvia 🙂
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Wonderful photos and I especially love the one with Hubby and his feathered friends!!! What a great place. Once again starting my day with a smile because of you my friend! ❤
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You would love Longleat Diane…put it on the list!!! The bat cave is there 😀 I knew you would enjoy these pics, must post some more 🙂 ❤ xo
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Lovely lovely rainbow lorikeets – how I envy your hubby 🙂
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They are beautiful aren’t they? And as I said to Sylvia, I stand corrected, I thought they were called parakeets 😮 You walk in the aviary and suddenly they swarm…hubby loved it as you can see 🙂 Have you ever been to Longleat Jude?
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Well they are from the parrot family. I think parakeets are greener though. No I haven’t been to Longleat. I once got tickets but never used them! There is a wildlife park in the Midlands too, not so far from us and I have never been there either!
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The meerkat photo is great – I just see him assessing the situation before scurrying down to his friends 🙂
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Thanks Christy! Yes, he is definitey doing sentry duty 🙂
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Beautiful Photo’s Sherri we see those Lorikeets everywhere out here….where I live, they are so cheeky and beautiful but very noisy.
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Thank you Kath…and you who know your birds have given me the correct name 🙂 How lovely to see them in the wild like that 🙂
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Why does Hub’s smile say to me an unspoken ‘Hurry up, darling, this one on my shoulder has just crapped down my back’. This looks splendid though. Great photos and I want a meerkat for Christmas…
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Haha…that’s why I was the one taking the pics 😀 Okay, I’ll arrange it…providing I can have the chipmunk…and the tiger…in separate rooms of course…
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Can we share the chipmunk? 🙂 Happy Easter, Sherri! A quiet one at home?
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Haha…yes, we’ll share, isn’t he just the cutest? And a very Happy Easter to you too Jo 🙂 Yes, a quiet one, maybe even get some decorating done at long last and some gardening. All well overdue. Let’s see. How about you?
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A mad mix of partying and boring stuff, Sherri, starting tomorrow. I’ll be scrambling to fit posts in. Nothing new there then 🙂
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Partying? Sounds great! Hopefully not too much boring stuff. Have fun Jo and yes, I’ll be scrambling too…as ever 😉
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Looks like a nice park. It’s nice to see plenty of space for animals to roam.
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The animals are so well looked after at Longleat Rachel, you and your family would love it there 🙂
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All your photos are excellent. I especially like the parakeets, as I have a soft spot for cat and birds. Go figure. Hubby looks happy. The birds must have shared some king of whispering in his ear. That’s my guess. ❤ ❤ ❤
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Haha…that’s funny 😀 The mind boggles as to what those cheeky birds were whispering in hubby’s ear, he never did tell me … 😉 Thank you Tess!! ❤ ❤ ❤
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You are welcome. Another fun post. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
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Thank YOU 🙂 ~ (* – * ) ~
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;- ;-
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🐻
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How lovely that they all posed just for you. Quite a great collection of cheeky characters. 🙂 Squirrels and Meerkats are hard to catch photographically.
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Thanks Marlene! I think I just got lucky that day, normally those critters scurry away as soon as I’m about to snap them…much like children and cats 😉
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Your hubby looks so happy with those colorful exotic parrots around him! Lovely photos…that squirrel steals the show..
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Thanks Susan, and yes, Hubby loved having all those beautiful birds land on him 🙂
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Sherri, some men are “chick magnets” but your husband is a bird magnet, which is beautiful and creates such a total, sweet, colorful and happy picture with all his feathered friends .
I thought the first picture would certainly have to be my favorite, but you have a wonderful talent of upping the ante and offering surprises. I enjoyed every picture even more than the previous!
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Haha…love it 😀 Birds/chicks…well, Hubby was certainly happy that’s for sure! Glad you enjoyed these pics, thank you Marylin!
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Beautiful photos! I didn’t know you had chipunks in the UK. I live in the desert in the southwest US. I have loads of them in my yard. They eat everything I plant in the garden and aren’t afraid of me at all.
Sunni
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Hi Sunni! So glad you enjoyed these pics, thank you so much! Yes, you are right, we don’t have chipmunks here, but they are imported from the US. We can buy them here at certain pet stores, in fact my daughter really wants one, but with two cats, you can imagine how impossible that would be. We obviously don’t understand just how mischievous they really are. I should send her to your garden to see what those cheeky little fellows are really like…very naughty indeed eating all your plants…
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Great! The meerkat is fun, the chipmunk über-cute! And as for the happy chap with the birds…what a great smile 😀
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Haha 😀 So glad you enjoyed these, thanks Sue, and yes, I adore the chipmunk too! My daughter wants one for a pet (they sell them at a pet store near us) but can you just imagine, with two cats? Utter mayhem!
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Oh my….and someone told me they can even eat through metal, never mind wood….
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Yikes…we definitely won’t be getting one, no matter how cute! Happy Easter Sue 🙂
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Ah nature! I want to go here now, never had this sort of experience of being up close with the beasts, although I have been to a few football matches. The Meerkat is awesome, did you ever watch meerkat Manor, I liked that show.
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Haha…I have to wonder what’s the difference 😉 I’ve never been to a football match. Well, an American Football match, yes (or game they call it don’t they? Yikes, I don’t remember what’s what anymore) and had no idea what was going on. Certainly heard more than a few roars though. I think I’ve seen clips of Meerkat Manor, they are cute little creatures aren’t they? I hope you get to go to Longleat one of these days…there is bat cave and a gorilla island. Very cool.
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Oh my gosh, I love all of these. From the majestic to the mini of nature’s beauties. Gorgeous (and cute)! Love how you interpreted the theme. I’ll have to check out this prompt.
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Ahh, thank you Sarah, so glad you enjoyed them 🙂
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Lovely photos dear Sherri, I especially like the smiling face of your hubby, he looked so happy! I bet he’s counting how lucky he is to be with his lovely Sherri. I’ve only seen a lion up close once, and that was about twenty years ago in Africa. It must be a magical experience seeing them strutting their stuff around!
Have a fantastic Easter my friend!
Much love to you and all that is yours! 🙂
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Thank you so much dear Seyi! Yes, hubby was very happy to be surrounded by all those birds, and so relaxed! Notice I was the one offering to take the photos 😉 I would love to see a lion in Africa and a herd of elephants. At Longleat you drive past the lions and tigers and then walk with the meerkats, a surreal experience most definitely! I was thrilled to share this special place that I visited as a child with my own children. Magical indeed.
Bless you my friend, and much love to you too, wishing you and your family a very Happy Easter also 🙂
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Thanks my friend, I had a lovely Easter, hope yours was great too!
Love and blessings my friend! 🙂
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It was lovely, thank you dear friend…and love and blessings to you too 🙂
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What wonderful moments to capture – here one moment, gone the next, but caught in flash to treasure now forever. (well, none of them probably used the camera flash, just a fleeting flash!)
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Haha…clever that Norah, love it! Yes, caught in a literal flash most definitely! Normally these critters, big and small, disappear the moment I click. Same when the children were little, as you well know 😉 Glad you enjoyed the pics, thank you Norah 🙂
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Haven’t been to Longleat since my school days, Sherri, so thank you for bring back some memories of monkeys breaking the windscreen wipers off my father’s Morris Minor car. Such a laugh for me and my sister, but not for mum and dad.
Great photos of these wild animals. So good to see they all have huge amounts of space to run off and disappear into.
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Oh, thank you Hugh, I’m so glad to remind you of your childhood adventures at Longleat 🙂 O yes, they did the same with our car. When I returned years later with my own kids, they did it again, and the kids roared with laughter when a baby baboon leapt on the top of the car and destroyed the aerial! It is wonderful to know that all the animals there seem very happy and so well looked after 🙂
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I’ve heard of them even stealing number plates and, in one case, a ladies handbag. I get fits of giggles imagining a monkey walking around with a handbag over its arm. 🙂
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Haha…the mind boggles, love it 😀
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Wonderful wildlife photos Sherri. What a great place for the animals.
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It is a wonderful place to visit Donna, so glad you enjoyed the pics. Happy Easter to you my friend 🙂
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I can just feel that lioness’ stretch…oh it feels good! What fun photos! But my favorite is definitely your Hubby surrounded by birds. 🙂
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Oh yes…doesn’t it just! Haha…so like our cats, usually against the sofa 😉 Thanks Charli, glad you enjoyed them, and yes, Hubby definitely enjoyed all that adoration 🙂
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Love all these photos Sherri. I particularly like the lion and the birds with your husband. He looks so happy. 🙂
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Thanks Irene, glad you enjoyed the pics, and yes, hubby definitely enjoyed all the attention from his feathered friends 🙂
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Great photos Sherri, particularly love hubby and the birds – what a joyful photo! I do vaguely remember going to the Lampton Lion Park when I was small – I have some blurry photos but don’t really recall the experience!
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Longleat is a great place, I remember going as a child and it was wonderful to share it again with my own kids, and then with hubby not too long ago. The biggest kid of all, ha 😀 Thanks Andrea, glad you enjoyed the photos and maybe one of these days you might get a visit in to Lampton Lion Park, I bet it makes for a wonderful day out, providing it’s not too hot otherwise those lions like to do nothing but sleep all day 🙂
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the shot of the hubs with the birds – pure joy…
and what a creative and personal take on this wpc….
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Thank you greatly mon amie, love that ‘pure joy’… 🙂 ❤
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🙂 – 💐
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Those are fabulous pictures – great captures, Sherri. I love that shot of your hubby with all those birds! Did I ever mention that my brother used to work at a Safari Park, where he was in charge of the camels? Strange family I have.
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Haha…yes, had to include that one of hubby, I remember how delighted he was when those birds landed on him like that! And again, I just love your stories….you didn’t mention about that about your brother, but I bet he has some amazing stories to tell! Not strange at all…fascinating. And if your family is strange, then mine is right there with yours 😉
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Your hubby must be a lovely gentle person, if all those birds will come to perch on him, Sherri 🙂 My brother is extremely eccentric and does a wonderful impersonation of a camel spitting!
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He is Sarah…I don’t know how he puts up with me 😉 And your brother sounds hilarious, love it 😀
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I love these captures! Perfect for the challenge. 🙂
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Thanks so much Amy! 🙂
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Womderful pictures. Animals are not very cooperative for me which is why I usually stick to landscapes.
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Thanks Marie! Notice I was the one taking the photos while letting the birds land on hubby…not for me 😉
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I wouldn’t mind the birds. When I was a child I used to be sent into the aviary to feed them and Theyd land all over me.
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Ahh yes, of course!!
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Oooh, the chipmunk is adorable, and I love how the parrots just swarmed your husband. So friendly.
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I just adore that chipmunk, I wanted to take it home with me! My daughter wants to have one in the house (you can get them as pets here, believe it or not) but can you imagine with two cats? No way!! Those cute birds were amazing the way they did that. Thanks so much for reading Nadine 🙂
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You’re welcome!
You’re right. Chipmunks wouldn’t work out with the cats. That would be disastrous!
I love parrots, especially when they talk. 🙂
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