Wise Owl

On Wednesday we were rather taken by surprise by the weather as the forecast was for all-day rain, so we did not get out until the afternoon. Stourhead filled the bill as it is only 45 minutes drive away, always looks different and is free (if you're a member of the National Trust). On the way we stopped for a quick look at King Alfred's Tower and noticed some orchids in the field there.

We got to Stourhead at about half-past three so had a good couple of hours to walk around the garden and make an anti-clockwise tour of the lake, stopping to eat our excellent baguettes from Sam Widges in Calne. It was my fourth trip there in the last year or so and I tried to refrain from retaking the same views I'd shot before, although the Palladian bridge and the landscape behind it proved once again impossible to resist.

This time we detoured briefly along a footpath that ran along a valley that marks the source of the River Stour. We'd seen the other end of the Stour a fortnight earlier at Christchurch. I spotted this beady-eyed owl there and took a very quick snap of it. I posted it on Flickr yesterday without thinking much about it, but already it has become my fourth most "interesting" image on that site, so I thought it had better be my blip.

A female mute swan with her four cygnets was on the bank close by where we had our baguettes and took them for a glide along the lake when we left, rejoining us further along as we approached the bridge. The male was on the far bank near the bridge with a large group of Canada geese, enjoying the rare burst of sunshine.

L.
12.7.2012

Blip #753
Consecutive Blip #000
Day #840

Alternatives:
Cygnet Ring
A Grooming Lesson
A Blipper Blipped
Stourhead Lake

A Trip To Stourhead NT, 11 July 2012 (Flickr set)

Lenses: Pentax 17-70mm, Sigma 70-300mm

Stourhead series

One year ago: Sheep At Derry Hill