Common darter

Wild winds and bright sunshine have marked today - as well as a lot of time ferrying people hither and thither.

I managed to get Alex to Huntingdon in good time, and felt quite sad when he went off in the coach to college. But he had a great day, seems to have made lots of friends and hasn't actually felt too tired so far. I just hope his early enthusiasm continues.

I then dropped Pete and Chris off near Holme Fen, where they were meeting up with the Great Fen monitoring officer to do some ditch invertebrate sampling. I was back home by 9am and mooched around all morning, catching up with some chores and watching the wind rip chunks off our crack willow tree. It certainly made hanging the washing more exciting than usual - the slight frisson of fear as small branches whisked past.

I decided to take the dogs for a walk round Holme Fen before picking Pete and Chris up, but just as I was waiting at the nearby level crossing Pete rang to say that they wouldn't be finished for quite a while. I thought this might give me more time for photography, but it was soon apparent that the Fen wasn't safe (four fallen trees didn't bode well), Gemma's paw was still bothering her and Rosie also seemed to be having problems that suggested a urinary tract infection.

I just managed to get a quick shot of this common darter before returning back home to make an emergency vet's appointment. As I suspected the vet diagnosed cystitis. He injected Rosie with an anti-inflammatory painkiller, gave her a course of antibiotics and I went away £77 poorer! Still, she doesn't seem to be in too much distress now, so I just hope the drugs do the trick. I just hate seeing her suffer...

Then it was time to go back and pick up Pete and Chris, and collect Alex from Peterborough station. Finally we're all home and looking forward to our evening meal...