This is not a Poppy!

I was in work this morning from 9am until 12.30pm, so Alan came with me and then walked into town as he wanted to go to the Vans shop to get some new shoes for our holiday.  He called at Patisserie Valerie for a croissant and a coffee and then carried on into town where he got his shoes and picked up a few things for me.

He walked back to our clinic for when I finished and we nipped to Pets at Home to pick up a big bag of bird food and some dog food, and then went home for lunch.   As we were driving along the coast road I saw a lot of poppies at Ovingdean and decided that I want to blip them, so suggested we take the boys for a walk and then Alan and I would walk along the undercliff walk to Ovingdean.  It's too far for the boys, particularly in the heat, and after their walk, they were very happy to get back and lie on the cold tiled floor in the utility room.  It's the ideal space for them as there are no windows, only the rear door which has frosted glass, so it never gets hot in there.

Alan and I set off on foot down to the beach and when we got to Rottingdean we saw our friends Sian and Chris sat outside their beach hut. Sian instantly pulled up two chairs for us and opened a bottle of prosecco, so we spent a nice hour just chatting and enjoying a glass in the sunshine.  The beach hut is really nice, she has lots of seaside decorations inside, and it certainly attracted a lot of attention from people passing - one lady even came over to ask whether Sian owns it or rents it and what they cost.  She actually rents it for about £900 per year, but said when she took it over 3 years ago it was only £590, so that's quite an increase.  I've added a couple of photos of it to my extras.

We carried on with our walk and once we got to Ovingdean we climbed the steps up to the to of the cliff to where the poppies were, I got my blips and then we decided to walk back over the top the cliffs.  Alan spotted this Kestral over the other side of the road and as luck would have it, it flew closer and I managed to get a few shots while it was hovering.  It was taken with my little Canon bridge camera, so it's not as sharp as it would have been with my Panasonic, but considering the distance and the fact that it was flapping, I'm really pleased with this - so much so, my poppies have got side lined.  My reasoning is that I can go back and take the poppies, but I'm not likely to see the Kestral this close again.

We finally got home about 7pm, I made a curry and then watched the sun go down from my hot tub.  It's been a lovely day, despite spending the morning at work, and I hope you've had a good one too!