Today was a day for simply enjoying everything outside - the winter has been a long, cold, snowy, wet and flooded time and today was just beautiful with blue skies and warm sunshine. Today Harty looked superb and it didn't matter what, or wasn't seen, it just couldn't be bettered. The warmth was quite amazing and it created a kind of intenss stillness and haze across the marsh that made you feel quite reflective and it was only really punctuated by the odd bird calls.
The reserve itself had nothing new to offer, no migrants, and today as well, no Whitefronts. Perhaps yesterday was their last day, time will tell if they've gone north to breed now and that the reserve has finally thrown off the shackles of winter.
But there was one flip of the coin as I locked the reserve entry gate. Immediately prior to the reserve gate there is a tiny spinney belonging to the farmland that we drive through. Today the willow trees in it were alive with bees, buzzing happily amongst the yellow, pollen-laden catkins, and joined at last by both a Whitethroat and a Willow Warbler. It made a beautiful morning all the more beautiful and I stopped a while and listened to them sing.
After being home for a while I decided to cycle to my daughter's, some three miles away and close to Sheppey's largest cemetery. Cemetery's are amazing places for wildlife and this one is no exception, with a large number of mature trees scattered throughout it. I cycled through all manner of Sheppey's history and as I did so I was stunned by the sheer beauty of a near carpet throughout the older part of it, of both primroses and violets. Obviously over the years these have continually seeded and spread themselves around and today in the sun they looked amazing.
Today was a good day.
yep it was agood day - a Goldilocks day - not too hot, and not too cold! Just perfect. :-)
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