Cattle Egret

After a day of almost continuous rain on Monday (which helped me focus on report writing) today was just mild and grey. I completed my latest report before breakfast, headed to Waitrose to buy some food for CJ's birthday meal and spent a little time in the garden with Pete, cutting back some of the dead vegetation so that we could fill our brown bins.

After lunch I headed out to deliver some of the remaining prints and cards that I'd sold at the recent exhibition. When I'd finished all my deliveries there was still an hour of daylight so I dropped in at Ferry Meadows for some exercise.

I'd intended to look for more fungi, so had only packed a wide angle and macro lens, but as I crossed the bridge I spotted a whitish bird with the cattle, so headed out along the river to check whether this was the Cattle Egret that's been around for some weeks. It was staying very close to the wonderful herd of South Devon cattle that are being used in a regenerative grazing project along the river. 

The river was very swollen from the recent rain and I was unable to complete my planned circular route because the spillover weir was flooded. So I trekked back along the muddy track, but at least this was enlivened by a brief burst of sunset colour, and the sight of a Barn Owl hunting over the rough meadows on the far side of the river, the first time I've seen one at Ferry Meadows.

CJ and Alex returned from Brighton at about half past five, and two hours later we sat down for an informal birthday meal incorporating some of her favourite foods - macaroni cheese with broccoli and cauliflower, barbecued  chicken wings and salad followed by a very nice Waitrose apple danish dessert with custard. There will be more celebrations on Friday!