Florida

If you're like me, you'll buy all your clothes from Asda.  You'll be 6ft 4 inches tall and you'll own a brown Citroen C4 Picasso with a large dent just above the nearside left rear wheel-arch.  But that probably doesn't apply to you, so I'll start again.

If you're like me, you'll hate theme parks.  However, our family holiday to Florida this summer taught me that theme parks needn't be hell on earth.  Keep an eye out for wildlife and, eventually, you'll stop tearing your hair out...   

Universal Studios Florida. Great for the kids, rubbish for you (unless you look for wildlife).

Aha! Wildlife! Whilst you sit around in the sweltering heat waiting for your offspring to reappear from a stomach-churning rollercoaster ride, you might as well take advantage: Brown Anole, 10/08/17, soaking up the heat from a red-hot metal fence.

Gulf Fritillary, 10/08/17, Universal Studios, Florida. Common and easy to photograph here.

Spiny Orb-web Spider, 10/08/17, Universal Studios Florida. Hanging around doing very little (like yourself).

Stupidly, we visited Kennedy space Centre on a rocket launch day.  No chance of any wildlife here...   

Kennedy Space Centre, Florida. Normally quite good for wildlife, but events like this tend to scare critters away.

After a week in Orlando, Lynne and I were ready for a holiday.  Sarasota was only a 2 hour drive away...

Sandcastle Hotel, South Lido Beach, Sarasota, Florida. Excellent for birds, I think you'll agree.

Royal Tern, 15/08/17, Sandcastle Hotel, South Lido Beach, Sarasota, Florida.

Ruddy Turnstone, 15/08/17, Sandcastle Hotel, South Lido Beach, Sarasota, Florida. Birds here are very approachable.

Sanderling, 15/08/17, South Lido Beach, Sarasota, Florida. I didn't mind experiencing this familiar British species at such close quarters. Can you see teeth in that bill?

This is what I wanted to capture: Black Skimmer, doing exactly what it does best. Loads here, all catching the surface fish.

Brown Pelicans. Common in Sarasota.

Willet. A very common wader around Sarasota.

Opposite The Sandcastle Hotel on Lido Beach, Sarasota, there is a nature reserve with a mangrove swamp and a shoreline teaming with life....   

Mangrove Snapper, 13/08/17, Ted Sperling Park, Lido Beach, Sarasota. Caught this beast on a prawn.

Pinfish, 13/08/17, Ted Sperling Park, Lido Beach, Sarasota. A different species, but just as spiky, also caught on prawn.

While I fished, this little guy appeared from the shadows.  Probably sniffed out my prawns (or my butty).

Raccoon, 13/08/17, Ted Sperling Park, Sarasota. The kids and I hand-fed it my Walmart super sub sandwhich.

Needless to say, the water-birds here are numerous and spectacular.  Easy pickings, even with a small lens...

Green Heron, 13/08/17, Ted Sperling Park, Lido Beach, Sarasota. Fishing along side me, within 10ft.

Great Blue Heron, 13/08/17, Ted Sperling Park, Lido Beach, Sarasota. Hiding in the shadows, this bird was going nowhere, even with me stood within spitting distance.

Snowy Egret, 13/08/17, Ted Sperling Park, Lido Beach, Sarasota. Probably the commonest egret here.

Reddish Egret, 13/08/17, Ted Sperling Park, Lido Beach, Sarasota. Not so common, in fact my second ever sighting.

White Ibis, 13/08/17, Ted Sperling Park, Lido Beach, Sarasota.

Osprey, 13/08/17, Ted Sperling Park, Lido Beach, Sarasota. No Florida nature reserve is complete without these common raptors.

Same Osprey in flight.

Having recharged our batteries for a few days, we headed back to the theme park madness of Orlando.  But could it really offer any more natural wonders?

Solar eclipse, 21/08/17, Universal Studios, Orlando. Cloud cover + a pair of eclipse-viewing glasses made this shot possible.

The strangest thing about this shot, is not the eerie twilight effect of the eclipse at 14.30 in the afternoon, but the oblivious / disinterested American public.

Photographing the eclipse? Nope. Every single one of these tourists are taking photos of a large fibreglass dragon breathing fire atop Gringotts Bank, Harry Potter Land. (The eclipse was at 50% totality when this shot was taken). Even more stupidly, I'm taking photos of tourists taking photos!

At last, a winner to save my sanity! Curly-tailed Lizard, 21/08/17, Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida. Someone must have spent ages thinking of that name.

It was time to head back to Miami to catch our flight home.  On the way, we stopped at Fort Lauderdale Beach which had an interesting nature reserve directly behind it, not a place for aracnaphobes though... 

Banana Spider, 22/08/17, Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Huge things with massive webs: EVERYWHERE. You have been warned!

Four-spotted Pennant, 22/08/17, Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Brown Anol, 22/08/17, Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, Fort Lauderdale. Displaying its flag, and out for the creepy crawlies no doubt.

Green Iguana (female) 22/08/17, Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, Fort Lauderdale.

Green Iguana (male), 22/08/17, Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, Fort Lauderdale. These are really quite big.

Buckeye Butterfly (Junonia coenia)22/08/17, Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, Fort Lauderdale. The meadow inside this park is alive with insects and this one was a winner for me.

All in all, a great holiday was had by the whole family.  Thrills for the kids, beaches for Lynne and the odd wildlife winner for me.  Not bad really.  Oh, and because our outward flight was delayed due to a technical fault, our flights to Miami and back worked out totally free in the end.  But don't tell that to the guy who spent £8K today on a one-way ticket from Miami to the UK.  Hurricane Irma should hit Florida tomorrow, so I guess we got lucky with the weather!