Blue-tailed damselfly among the reeds

A long, long day which started off back at Portholme with Chris and I doing another set of fourteen quadrats. At least it wasn't raining, but there was still a fresh wind, and despite wearing a shirt, fleece, waterproof jacket, field trousers and waterproof overtrousers, I still felt cold. Indeed, towards the end of our session my toes had almost gone numb. Of course the sun started to come through just as we'd finished for the morning.

Then it was back home in time to throw together a pot of soup for lunch, before the whole family set off for King's Dyke Nature Reserve, where Pete led the annual bug-hunt. We were lucky with the weather, as the sun stayed out most of the time, though the insects were a bit sparse, not having recovered from Friday's battering. There was a good turn-out including Lizzy, her Dad, brother, sister-in-law and two young nephews, who all seemed to have a fun time. Unfortunately I felt fairly unwell, so didn't enjoy it as much as usual...one of those annoying viruses that manifests itself with a perpetual headache, fatigue and a nasty cold sore! I managed a few photographs, though it seemed a considerable effort holding the 300mm lens steady!

The afternoon wound up about five and we headed back to feed the dogs before returning to King's Dyke for an evening of country music and a hog roast. One of the volunteers at the nature reserve is a singer and song-writer, and has even written songs for Dolly Parton. He put on an excellent performance, and got everyone singing along. I have to admit I wasn't really looking forward to it, as my bed seemed much more appealing, but in the end I really enjoyed it, as did the boys, who were also initially a bit sceptical!