Autumn floods

After a morning spent report writing, I felt we could all do with a bit of fresh air. I couldn't persuade Alex to leave his coursework, but Ben accompanied Pete, me and the dogs in a search for sloes. We decided to walk along the cycle path between the Nene Washes and King's Dyke nature reserve as Pete knew there were plenty of blackthorns and it would be relatively dry underfoot.

Unfortunately, when we arrived we found that the Environment Agency had closed the path for the whole of October and November, while they carried out essential repairs and maintanace to the Barrier Bank. This structure prevents flooding of a huge area of the fens, so it's very important that it remains intact. Unfortunately their maintenance meant that they had cut down all the blackthorns!

We headed a fair way along an alternative path, but there wasn't a sloe in sight! Eventually we decided to give up and started heading back. As we were walking along I received a phone call from Chris - he told me that he was going to be receiving a significant bursary from the University based on his high achievement in the first three years - what a welcome surprise for his last year and a wonderful reward for his hard work.

While I was on the phone Pete managed to find a blackthorn bush loaded with sloes and picked enough to make our year's supply of sloe gin! By this time dusk was approaching and the flooded washes were reflecting the first hints of the sunset. There were masses of birds about - mostly gulls, lapwings, mallards and starlings. If you look closely at the pylon you will see starlings neatly lined up on every horizontal surface - I estimate well over 300! Unfortunately I missed the best part of the sunset because I was at home finishing off the evening meal - the peril of family commitments!