Whoooooooooooooosh!

The weather forecast for today was rain, clearing later in the afternoon. We decided against a trip to Bath, staying at the lodge doing some crafting until another trip down to Ham Wall.  After yesterdays incredible experience we had to make another visit.
First breakfast. In the 3 days stay we had'nt once seen a shop where we could buy milk or bread, but we'd managed without. This morning we had Paul Hollywood baked rolls & boiled eggs, the lodge is for 6 .. there were two egg cups. Another black mark. The central heating had come on some time in the night, the radiators red hot, so this morning we'd had to open the windows. It was stifling. There was no thermostat for us to control the temperature.
The twigs that we'd collected at the Willow & Wetlands Centre were needed in the construction of a mobile. We were attempting  origami figures with some brightly coloured papers that came in the book pack from The Range. A great idea for someone into crafting. Sandy & Josie completed theirs, I did'nt quite complete mine, it's flat packed for easy transportation. Next lino cutting .. Jos & I had already been having a go, but it was the first time for Sandy. Between us we had enough tools etc. for us all to make a lino cut. Both Josie & I had taken photos yesterday of the hog weed seed heads down on the marshes, our subject. Sandy had a practice using the different cutting heads, creating a really good dragonfly from a template in a Lino Cutting For Beginners book that Jos had bought.  We messed about with this until 3pm. By this time the skies had cleared, fingers crossed it would be perfect for a starling murmuration.
We got down to Ham Wall in plenty of time, we had a few questions after yesterdays experience, there was an opportunity to buy a hot chocolate from the cabin, keep warm in front of the wood burner, & have a chat with a very nice RSPB volunteer. The starlings come from a 20mile radius to this roosting site. At the present time there are between 20,000 & 30,000 starlings. In the new year that number will increase to approx. one million. There were a few more people around today. We walked down to the roosting site, & moved down onto the edge of the reed beds for todays experience. The clear skies meant the birds were coming in a little later .. the first flock spotted at 1610hrs. Being down on the reed bed was incredible. The noise as they whizzed past overhead, then dropping into the reed bed, then lifting again to find the perfect roost site .. Incredible!
We found our way back to our lodge easily as well ... Incredible!!
We ate all the orts for supper. Too chilly to venture out into the hot tub.

Thanks to Ingeborg for hosting Abstract Thursday