Staggering!

The first day of August was pleasantly warm, with sunny periods. Mrs Scharwenka thought that it would be nice to go for a walk before lunch (which we finally got round to at 17:00).

There are some good walks in the fields behind our house, and we set out on one where the intention was to see if the recent near-drought conditions had lowered the level of the River Cherwell at an official Fording Place but we (and the couple on the other side) thought discretion to be the better part... However, one couple we met en route told us they had come across, and claimed that the water reached only to knee height. We thought these people to be remarkably dry and un-muddy.

The walk turned up a surprising amount of wildlife. The magnificent creatures in this photograph are, I suspect, part of a farmed herd. We were decidedly surprised to find the animals so close to home. But we also encountered a wild (or possibly escaped) deer walking in the fields and then sitting in the wheat, and a breeding area for pheasants with a great gaggle (if that is what the collective should be) of the birds and some strange chimney-like objects.