White wings

After several days of rain, the vegetation was sodden, so we decided to postpone our planned survey, particularly as more showers were forecast later in the afternoon. I finally sent off an overdue report, and Pete spent much of the morning registering Molly's death by phone, and then discussing funeral arrangements with the undertaker. The registrar was a really lovely lady, who mad the death registration feel quite special.

In the afternoon we went over to Spalding to see Molly's partner, who was doing well considering the circumstances. He's appreciated several night of unbroken sleep, after so many months of regular disturbance. We discussed who should be invited to the funeral, now that we know that twenty-eight people are allowed to attend.

On our way home we stopped for a brief visit to the River Welland, where we recorded a couple of species of pondweed that  hadn't been seen at the site since the late 1970's. It was Fenland at it's best, with vast skies filled with a variety of clouds, including bruised purplish shower clouds that contrasted vividly with the sunlit fields of barley. Just as we were about to leave, a barn owl rose from a rough grass field and flew over very close to our heads - this was taken with a totally inappropriate macro lens! It's unusual to see them so early in the day but I suspect it had a second or even third brood of chicks, who were getting  hungry after the run of miserable, wet days.