Scaly Male-fern

A hot and summery day - Pete and Chris were working at the Great Fen again, so, after dropping Pete off,  I had another walk round Holme Fen NNR. It wasn't quite as relaxing as last time, because a lot of families were out enjoying the fine weather. Luckily there was plenty of space for social distancing!

On my last visit the birch and bracken were still a vibrant fresh spring-green, but today this had been replaced by a more subdued summer-green. Scaly Male-fern is abundant in the woodland, and I'm always enraptured by the sinuous shapes of the emerging fronds, richly clothed with golden fur-like scales. I'd been hoping to do some bird photography, but the only species I managed to capture was a Garden Warbler (see extra), one of three who were all trying to out-sing each other near the reserve entrance. I heard three Cuckoos, and at one point I was standing underneath a birch that clearly had a Cuckoo somewhere near the top, but it was completely invisible to me! 

In the afternoon a socially-distanced street-party was held in our cul-de-sac, with each of us providing our own food and drink, and staying in our family groups in the area immediately adjacent to our houses. It was lovely to see all the neighbours, even though we did have to keep our distance! Hopefully, one day we'll be able to have a proper street-party again.