Manx Loghtan

The relaxation of yesterday seems to have evaporated all too quickly...

Today's been a somewhat trying day. I had to go down to a meadow in Bedfordhsire to record fixed quadrats for the Open University. I'd been told that the canes marking the plots would be put out in the morning, and so I decided not to leave too early, to make sure they would be done.

When I arrived on site at about 11am there was no-one else there, but there were 20 unmarked canes, although I'd been expecting 30. I decided I'd better make a start and had already recorded fourteen quadrats when a couple of young ladies came onto the site with a bundle of canes. Apparently the cane setter's car had broken down on the M1 and nobody had managed to contact me - a complete balls up on the communication front.

So just when I thought I was nearing the end of my day's work,I had to start all over again. Fortunately the weather was good, and the meadow was quite beautiful, so it could have been a lot worse. But then, when I'd finished, I decided to get some low-angled shots of buttercups, and my phone must have fallen out of my pocket. So it's lying somewhere in a meadow in Bedfordshire - I just hope I can find it when I go back to finish the work on Thursday.

My blip today was chosen by Pete and Alex. The northern meadow was being grazed by a herd of Manx Loghtan sheep who came running over to me as if I was a long lost friend. This was the boldest of the flock, and actually came close enough to sniff my fingers. They have rather lovely soft brown wool, but I decided to process this as a monochrome to bring out the texture of the wool and horns.

Anyway, off to bed soon as I have another early start - I'm off to pick Chris up from Sheffield. I may not get around to commenting much tonight - one day I'll hopefully catch up!