Coate Water Park (Monday 26th April 2021)

I returned to Swindon yesterday to receive my second jab, and after that I made the short hop to Coate Water Park as planned. I had been there just before my first jab on 5th February.. This time as well as swans I saw tufted ducks, mallards, jackdaws, seagulls and among the greylag geese was one great crested grebe . The black swan was still there and I fulfilled the wish, expressed on that last visit, to see a grey heron. What struck me most on this sunny day though were all the signs of renewal.

One swan sat on a nest of five eggs and another on a nest of two (sponsored by Snickers, it seems). I saw a mallard with a creche of ducklings (in Extras), a greylag family with two goslings and several Canada geese with their broods, including the three chicks in this Blip. I spent four hours there, including exploring some areas I hadn't been to before, while chatting to other visitors and later sitting on bench reading my book, during which time a swan came up from the lake to my bench to greet me.

I had a post-jab treat of a bacon roll, a mug full of chips and a very hot cappuccino. I noticed that many cars were displaying season tickets and obviously visit regularly, as I would if I didn't live twenty miles away.

I took 122 photos, all on my red K50, which I am currently working through, including some abstracted experiments (one in Extras) and plenty of black swan shots.

Got home exhausted but didn't suffer any side-effects.

L.
Tue 27.4.2021 (1205 hr)

Blip #3410 (#3160 + 250 archived blips taken 27.8.1960-18.3.2010)
Consecutive Blip #000
Blips/Extras In 2021 #066/266 + #038/100 Extras
Day #4051 (895 gaps from 26.3.2010)
LOTD #2554 (#2395 + 159 in archived blips)

Birds series
Spring series
Wildlife series
Swindon series
Outdoor Places I Have Sat In series

Coate Water Park, 26 April 2021 (Flickr album of 92 photos)

Taken with Pentax K-50 (Red) and Pentax HD P-DA 55-300 mm F4-5.8 ED WR lens

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Fairport Convention - Reno Nevada (recorded live, 27 April 1968, for Bouton Rouge)
I spent half an hour at the Water Park reading Judy Dyble's autobiography, accompanied by a swan. This Richard and Mimi Farina song was not included on the album she recorded with Fairport Convention but this live performance for French TV was added as a bonus track to later CD versions of the album, and the song remained in the repertoire when Sandy Denny replaced her. The band was known at the time as the British Jefferson Airplane, which nowhere near describes the range of the band but this track comes close to fitting the bill and features Ian Matthew and Judy Dyble's vocals and an extensive Richard Thompson guitar solo.

One year ago:
The Old Forge