Coate Water Park (Thursday 7th July 2022)

Thursday was a day without any commitments and I was determined to use it to get out and about. Some post arrived that needed some time to be spent on it but I decided to save that for the weekend, and then I got ensnared by all the goings on in Westminster. I was hoping that Boris Johnson would not resign so that he could suffer the humiliation of being dragged kicking and screaming out of Number 10. As we know now he fudged it by resigning as leader of the Party - but not as Prime Minister, intending to cling on until October, against the strong wishes of the "herd" that he blamed for his situation, who were keen to see him gone that day.

Get out I did, though and set off for Coate with a Tesco Meal Deal (for National Picnic Week). I reached Coate Water Park in just over half-an-hour and circled the lake in a counter-clockwise direction, taking about two hours including stops for photo opportunities and refreshment.

Most of the young Canada geese looked much like their parents but I did see one younger gosling, and the cygnets were also quite large, but I did see one swan sitting on a nest. I saw one great crested grebe and three herons, one looking quite young, and several squirrels, rabbits and damselflies. The Garden Of Reflection, under construction on my last visit, was now open and looking colourful. My blip is of this cormorant drying its wings in the sun as its offspring lazed on the branch below, often with its bill tucked onto its neck. As you can see, juveniles have a pale chest, something I have only seen once before, at Slimbridge.

In Extras I have put one heron that was almost under a bridge and a nut-eating squirrel high up in a tree. Had I known how hot it was going to get I may have deferred the trip, but managed to keep in the shade most of the time. I'll add more links from this text to some of the other shots later, and add to the album (below).

I took very many pictures using my red and yellow Pentax K-50 cameras with Pentax telephoto and Sigma macro 17-70mm lenses, and I am currently working my way through them.

L.
Friday 8.7.2022 (2003 hr)

Blip #3698 (#3448 + 250 archived blips taken 27.8.1960-18.3.2010)
Consecutive Blip #007
Blips/Extras In 2022 #135/265 + #056/100 Extras
Day #4487 (1045 gaps from 26.3.2010)
LOTD #2841 (#2681 + 160 in archived blips

Birds series
Swindon series
Wildlife series

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

Coate Water Park, 7 July 2022 (Flickr album of 71 photos)


Lozarhythm Of The Day:
Virginia Astley -  Summer of their dreams (recorded April-June 1982)
This album struck a chord with me when Rough Trade released it in 1983, and I bought a CD copy when that was released in 2003. The whole album is an ambient tone poem, piano improvisations with superimposed summer sounds. Virginia Astley is the daughter of TV theme composer Edwin Astley and her brothers and sisters all have musical careers. In 2017, she became writer-in-residence at Thomas Hardy’s Cottage. She continues to perform, with her daughter Florence on harp, at Max Gate – Thomas Hardy’s house in Dorchester.

One year ago:
Woody Wednesday