Bench Day (Thursday 15th June 2017)

Once a year my brother and I drive up to the Kingsbury Water Park to check the oak bench that is dedicated to our parents, who used to regularly visit there. We meet for lunch at the nearby canalside pub, the Dog and Doublet, where we can count on some Fawlty Towers-style abuse from the management, and were not disappointed.

There is much bird life to be seen in the Water Park and the bench overlooks a lake with something we call Gull Island at its heart, wherein lie lots of nesting black-headed and other gulls and waterfowl. We looked at another of the lakes from a hide just off the main path. On this occasion there were less geese and swans present at Kingsbury than normal, but on the walk back along the canal towpath, where narrowboats were going through the locks (see the Spotlight Kid's Blip), we saw some mallards and ducklings and a few Canada goose families with goslings in a field beyond the canal.

I dawdled home via the A3400 so I was able to stop off at Wootton Wawen for a stroll around the marina beside the Navigation Inn, up to the bridge and along the other side to the Stratford Road aqueduct. Some horses were in a field below and a young foal that had been frantically gambolling earlier came up to the path with its mother to be petted.

My other stop was in Stratford-upon-Avon where I walked from the Swan's Nest pub alongside the Avon past the Thai Boathouse and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and up to the ferry crossing and back, and there I saw the greylag geese and Canada geese that had been missing from the Kingsbury Water park walk, as well as rowing crews on the river and very many swans and cygnets. This blip with the tramway bridge in the background was taken in front of the Thai Boathouse at the end of the walk. After that I called in at the Stratford Waitrose for some supplies and a take-out coffee before the rest of the drive home.

Having blipped on the day last Wednesday I am now several days behind again, having returned home late with over 100 photographs, followed by a busy few days whilst struggling with a debilitating heatwave. I do hope to be catching up by posting in both the morning and evening for awhile until I am up to date again.

L.
20.6.2017 (1745 hr)

Blip #2137 (#2387 including 250 archived blips)
Consecutive Blip #021
Blips/Extras In 2017 #195
Day #2639 (517 gaps from 26 March 2010)
LOTD #1372 (#1498 including 126 on archived blips)


Stratford-upon-Avon series
River series
Swan series
Family Business series
Landscape series

Taken with Pentax K-1 and Pentax HD P-D FA 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6ED DC WR lens

A Day In Warwickshire, 15 June 2017 (Flickr album of 86 images)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
This Is The Kit - Moonshine Freeze (Rough Trade Session) (recorded May 2017)
A tune favoured by 6 Music, heard on this day, by this Winchester band, led by Bristolian Kate Stables.

One year ago:
Driveway Rose