Please Keep Out

The busiest place we have been to since March,

We had bought timed tickets to NT Dunham Massey.

Generally OK, although notable that we were always having to move out of peoples’ way and not the other way around. It felt like a game of socially distanced chess, requiring us to react all the time - you’re going there, OK we’re going that way then.

We avoided the gardens. Judging by the movement we could see in and out, far too busy to feel comfortable.

A good trip. I always find July an odd month. Grey and damp not unusual for St Swithun’s Day. Everywhere very green (wonder why). And the month of bird silence and moult, especially noticeable in the mallards which have moved into eclipse plumage as they lose their flight feathers and grow new ones. They were keeping low too.