Time for a walk

As it was Rob’s day off yesterday we managed to get out for a few walks. We always come home on the road which runs along the side of the marsh. In recent years there have been marsh cattle and horses during the summer months, but not this year. They’ve let the marsh stay flooded and all sorts of new birds have made their nests. A week or so ago I saw a crane seeing off a magpie! I love the cranes, they get upset very easily and circle round with their long pink legs trailing behind them making a lot of noise, quite comical. The frogs have been very noisy, there must be thousands of them out there every evening calling to each other.

There is one bird which seems to have disappeared though. The road was used as a diversion earlier in the year because of road works, so some of the drivers raced round to make up for the two minutes they lost not going in a straight line. I saw at least two squashed moorhens which I think must have been the moorhen population. The moorhens were very good at dashing across the road like headless chickens (sorry, but it’s the only way I can think of to describe them). They used to be so proud of their chicks in past years.

We passed some scientists with binoculars , they were observing the birds and making notes. It was nice to see that they were enjoying the wildlife as much as we do

Last summer the farmer planted linseed. This year the wheat fields are lined by red poppies and blue linseed flowers. It really is a lovely site.

Still very few butterflies.

Breaking news

Time for a general news report. For the second time in a year Rob and I have found a car in the stream which runs alongside the marsh. This one was right on its side. *I looked around a bit, no sign of breaks being jammed on, looks almost as if they did it on purpose. Perhaps a romantic couple who thought they’d park on the side of the road – and fell into the ditch?

*We’ve got Numb3rs back on French TV so I’m being extra observant at the moment.

The big news in our region is that one of the inmates of the revived Big Brother on French TV is a very pretty ex police woman from Bordeaux who doesn’t mind pole dancing and stripping on the side. The worse part is she quit the police to go into the gold fish bowl and has broken a 5 year contract. I'm not the only one to blog about it, one of the young men she arrested recently was first.

April
“An April flood carries away the frog and his brood.”

Another quote from ‘The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady’. It’s difficult to believe that we are in April already. Suddenly, yesterday afternoon the sun felt warm – yes we had sunshine! In the evening Rob and I walked down to the beach and the moon was rising, it was big, golden and misty. The marsh sounded even more noisy that during the day time with different birds calling and the frogs croaking.

The 1st April marked the official start of my vintage postcard business.