Winding Down

And here we are at the end of May. For me, a time of winding down and relaxing a bit, and doing something about the accumulated sleep deprivation of way too many early alarms. Yesterday was the first time since Monday that I've bothered getting up before normal people, but I must admit it was worth the bother. Cattle Egret is no longer the novelty it was, but still very scarce along the coastal strip between Abbotsbury and Seaton. So I was delighted when the egret which flew over my shoulder and away along the beach between West Bex and Cogden, giving frustrating glimpses of a probably pale bill and what looked like dark feet, veered right and dropped in among some cattle. Sorted.

Cattle Egret. A new bird for me along the coastal strip locally.

The morning's other highlight was a sure sign of imminent June. A flower...

Greater Butterfly Orchid. At least, I hope so.

A lie-in this morning, then a lazy afternoon in the garden, soaking up the long-awaited sun and a bit of heat. And scanning the sky. Two or three Sparrowhawks, at least 4 Red Kites and a distant Peregrine made things interesting...

First garden Peregrine of the year.

Red Kite, heading for Cornwall no doubt.

Driving to work yesterday it was obvious that the bank holiday weekend was almost upon us. The A35 was heaving. This evening I was curious to see what the coast looked like, and popped over to West Bexington for a walk. Well, as usual it was quite easy to find a quiet route, but down on the beach...

The view looking east towards the Abbotsbury Beach encampment. Glorious.

Naturally I checked all the hedges for Woodchat Shrikes, and naturally there were none.

...and no cheeeeeeeeeese

This rather dense Roe buck took ages to work out how dangerous I was

Arriving back at home I wondered why my feet felt so uncomfortably hot. As my boots released their screaming captives, I thought I'd better take a look...

Ooh, my word, they're very red aren't they?

Yes. Yes, they are.

Ha ha! That's what happens when you sit bare-foot in the garden all afternoon. Idiot.