Pensthorpe

Today was the first day that Pensthorpe opened after lockdown, so I went for a visit. It was lovely to wander round and catch up on the various birds, such a treat. I've included a collage in Extras of some oystercatchers, ferns about to unfurl, what looked like very tall snowdrops (any ideas?), and some geese. I've also added a photo of a gull so you can see how careful it was having to be with its feet and the wires on top of the bridge handrail. They reissued my membership card with a complementary extra 4 months on it, and when I got home I couldn't find it. I rang and someone had handed it in, but it must have taken me all of 5 mins to lose it!!! 

Day 394 /  Day 3 of Step 2 of Roadmap Easing (for my record only)
UK deaths up 38 to 127,161 (revised basis), with 2,491 new cases, 2,481 patients in hospital, 370 on ventilation and 181 new admissions. 32.3m have now received their first dose of the vaccine and 8.2m have had their second dose. The EU has given 100m vaccinations and will now get another 50m Pfizer doses in Q2. Denmark has stopped using the AZ vaccine completely over the risk of rare blood clots. Further surge testing is being undertaken in London, this time in Finchley, North London following the identification of cases of the South African variant. The Govt is undertaking a consultation into making it compulsory for care home workers to be vaccinated (surely this should be the case). I'm still gobsmacked that 50m people are going to attend the Hindu festival of Maha Kumbh Mela in Haridwar. It was astonishing when it was announced it was going ahead, but even more now that a record high daily figure of new cases in India was reported today of 199,531.