I had a great journey home from Dad's. All the 'improvements' on the A120 have finished for the time being and not having all those holdups really makes a difference. I now look forward to when they finish the Little Hadham by-pass. That will also make an enormous difference to my journey.
My friend, Alison, arrived on Sunday evening and let herself in with the key I left for her, so when I got home, there she was, which was nice.
After unpacking and a bit of food shopping, we decided to pre-empt the heat and take our trip to Hanningfield Reservoir (which is a bird sanctuary) straight away. We threw together a speedy picnic, set the sat nav and off we went.
Basically, it was a stroll from hide to hide through woodlands and it was lovely. The dappled shade from the leaves kept it quite cool most of the way round - well, maybe 'cool' is a bit of an exaggeration, but it was very comfortable.
As well as the birds, they had a 'Wind in the Willows' trail for children so I took some photos of the wooden sculptures of the characters which, I thought, were delightful.
Here's some of the photos I took. Al did tell me the names of the birds but I forget now. I remember that some that we saw were an oyster catcher, lots of mallards, some geese of various kinds, swans and cormorants and, I think, a heron.
Anyway - photos!
Birds . . . (good old zoom)
And characters . . .
And a general view from one of the hides . . .
And lastly, with apologies for all the photos, finally I have ripening tomatoes, more cucumbers for next week and - and - baby runner beans! . Evidence . . .
Today starts with a spot of tuition before it gets too hot and, right now, I don't know what we will do after that when I get home. I'll see what Al fancies doing and what the heat is like.
Take care in the rather unusual heat and don't stint on the old water. xx
What a lovely day out you enjoyed. I love those wooden characters, and the feathered ones too!
ReplyDeleteI hope you manage to keep cool today. X
It was a very pleasant outing and I will be making another visit at some point, definitely.
DeleteFingers crossed for staying cool for us all.
xx
I think you will be pleased you went while it was still cool the heat is already building here.
ReplyDeleteIt's not too bad here - hot but it is dry heat. It's the humidity I can't cope with. xx
DeleteOh, I love the Wind in the Willows carvings. That's one of my favourite books!
ReplyDeleteIt all looks very promising on the veggie front. Do you give any excess away or do you freeze it all?
Both, really. I do freeze tomatoes and runners but there's also plenty to give away as well. I am looking forward to taking produce into SW for the Slimmer of the Week basket and the neighbours get their share - and Beth/Alex, of course. It's a lovely thing to be able to do.
DeleteI reckon in about three weeks I will be inundated . . . lovely!
xx
You remembered correctly, that is a grey heron behind the six cormorants on that narrow spit of shingles. Also, I'm not too sure but I think the bird behind the swan could have been a great crested grebe! ;-)
ReplyDeleteOooh, thank you. I will look that up . . .
Deletexx
Just love all the photos, especially the birds!!!
ReplyDeleteMargaret P
Thanks, Margaret. I was please how well the zoom worked on the camera.
Deletexx