Window at Beaulieu

I took quite a few photos today at the Test Marshes, in the New Forest at Beaulieu and Hatchet Pond, and finally at the Pennington Marshes as the sun went down. I wasn't really happy with any of them. I've opted for this picture of an old window in one of the buildings next to the church on the Beaulieau Palace Estate. The old wood, the lichens on the stone and the reflections in the glass make this more interesting than all the other efforts of the day.

In the morning I had a walk round the Test Marshes Nature Reserve, it was quieter than usual, but there were cetti's warblers calling loudly and abruptly from the reedbeds. Then we took Dad to Southampton to get white shirts and trousers for the more formal dinners on the cruise ship. We lost the car in the multi-storey, and after a lot of discussion with Dad who was adamant we were on the right level, we found it one level up.

Caroline and I spent a few hours touring the Forest and eventually arrived in Lymington for a walk in the Pennington Marshes. I had been here years before when I had met the Reserve warden. He had a cat (who's name I don't remember alas) that had become infamous for catching the first Baillon's crake to be recorded in Hampshire in many years. The bird was still alive and well, and he released it back into the reeds. The sighting was discreetly written up in the Hampshire Bird Report, but in those pre-internet days, word of the cat's catch had somehow got out and one of the national tabloids picked up the story. Some years later, the warden had a knock on his door, there was a New Zealander asking if he could meet the cat - the story had gone global and the cat was internationally famous.