River Marden

Today I got my act together sufficiently to have my constitutional walk before lunch, and for once was not fighting with the daylight curfew. I tend to walk down to the common land beside the River Marden which is only a short walk away, whereupon there are a number of variations I can take.

The bad news is that the bullocks that were grazing the fields until a couple of days ago have disappeared. I suppose it was inevitable but one can't help but feel sad at their probable fate. I'm not a vegetarian, though, so I must not be hypocritical, and if we all gave up eating meat then the cows, sheep and pigs would all but disappear from the fields and that would be even more tragic.

The good news is that after fears that the red kites had left Calne after the tree which contained their former nest was felled, I saw two of them today. They were too far away for my 50-200 lens to capture in detail but here is one Red Kite Above Berhills Farm.

Today, my walk was determined by this heron which was playing tag with me. Just like the one at Reybridge it would wait until I was almost near enough to get a picture, then fly a short distance further away and wait motionless for me to get nearer, keeping its beady eye on me the whole time. This uncropped picture was as close as it let me get.

Still, it's great there are herons, kingfishers (yet to be seen) and red kites all to be found within short walking distance of home.