White Peacock

Today was a perfect day, weather-wise and in all other aspects too. 

We strolled to the Eltermere Inn for a light lunch, which we ate in their garden in the sunshine. The white peacock in my photo was sitting on the hotel roof. It’s apparently a leucistic peacock, and not albino, as I had thought.

We returned to our lodge straight afterwards because the sun was beating down on my neck and I didn’t have my Tilley hat with me, although Smithers had been better prepared and was sensibly sporting his cream straw hat.

Around 4.00 pm when the sun was lower we took another stroll past the Eltermere Inn and on down the road to Colwith. We were so sad to see much evidence of the devastation caused by Storm Arwen in November 2021 – huge trees were lying on their side, exposing vast root systems at their base, and there were piles of sawn logs, together with massive broken off branches, scattered all over the woodland floor. 

Not only that, but we also saw National Trust and Forestry Commission signs warning about the tree felling programme which is under way, aiming to deal with the highly contagious Phytophthora ramorum virus which affects larch trees and rhododendrons. Despite the devastation it was encouraging to see lots of new growth, and plenty of wildflowers, birds and butterflies on our walk.