Down by the river Severn

This afternoon we decided to go for a short picnic on the banks of the River Severn near Longney, a few miles south of Gloucester. We returned to the spot where I’d had a small birthday party with a bunch of friends five years ago on a significant birthday. There will be another one next Wednesday.

The weather wasn’t wonderful with clouds increasing in number until the sun was left behind by the time we were ready to return. There was a healthy breeze too which made fully relaxing a bit difficult. But we enjoyed being beside the river as the tide slowly receded leaving more and more of the mud and sandbanks. there are probably three hundred yards between the banks on either side of the river but the river is actually much narrower when the sea has gone.

I watched the birds as they fed and flew about over the sandbanks. I hoped some of the local cranes might fly over as they have done for me before. It was quite late when I spotted this little egret which walked in the shallow waters swilling about between the various sandbanks. I was surprised by its small size and wondered whether it is a juvenile.

When I took this picture there was no aggravation between the herring gull, also immature, and the little egret. They just passed like ships in the night.

Once we left to return to the car we’d parked on the small lane running through the hamlet of Longney, we had to walk througb a kissing gate and down an old track. Woodp[eckers had gone ahead as I’d stopped to take a picture. As she walked on I liked the scene of the track, and noticed I was right beside the perennial sweetpea plant whose pink flowers we’d admired on the way to the river. I thought I’d grab a picture of the view for the archive, and as an ‘Extra’ today.