Light and shadow...

Firstly many thanks for all the hearts and stars showered on yesterday's swallow. I was delighted that it made the top of the Spotlight page, particularly as I nearly didn't post it. But Alex told me that it had impact, and that I should ignore the technical deficiencies - so thanks Alex!

Today's been a topsy-turvy kind of day. As the sun was shining (wonders will never cease!) I deposited Alex in Huntingdon and went off to Wistow Wood to do some quadrat recording. The vegetation was soaking and the paths a quagmire, but it was nice to actually be out in decent weather. I had originally hoped to get all my woodland recording done by the end of April, but the weather's definitely been against me, and this is the first day it's been good enough! Behind already....

Half way through the morning I received a text from Chris to say that he was coming home for a few days to support his girlfriend through a difficult time. I rang Pete to let him know that Chris would be turning up in the early afternoon, only to be told that we'd been successful in tendering for a large project, which means that my summer's now pretty full, with no chance of any holiday before September! The news was good for our bank balance, but I suspect photography, the house and garden will suffer. Still that's life...

When I got back the sun was still shining, so I dragged Chris and Ben out to Ferry Meadows, hoping to show them the swallows and martins. Amazingly they'd all disappeared, having rested and refuelled, leaving only a small flock of swifts wheeling round over the lakes. The water level in the river is very high, and many of the grass fields were partially flooded. Apparently the flooding is much worse downstream which doesn't bode well for nesting waders on the Nene Washes.

The highlight of our walk was watching a pipistrelle bat fluttering around the trees in broad daylight. It's not that uncommon to see this, particularly when bats have just come out of hibernation. I suspect that cold, damp April meant that this one has had limited feeding opportunities and was desperately hungry. I tried to get a photograph, but the jerky flight, full of twists and turns, proved impossible to follow!

I dithered about today's photograph, but felt this shot was most appropriate - a day of sunshine and shadows (real and metaphorical) and an awful lot of water!