First of February – Country Sunshine

I had decided to get up reasonably early as sunshine was forecast from the start of Sunday, but the initial destination I chose proved futile, as did the second, but undaunted I pursued my first general idea of sticking close to the river.

The first two locations did still provide images, the determined and speedy duck, a bushes remaining trunk's sawcuts to ensure its ultimate demise, and the fascination of fast moving water at a weir by Batford Springs.

There was a good deal of walking across fields to see whether I might get closer to a herd of deer, and a pond on the outskirts of Ley Green was very typically rural English fare, but my reason for stopping there was originally because a red kite was low overhead, but once I had found a place to park it and its occasional partner had soared into the far distance, so apart from the rural idyll here and at Gosmore, I captured the farmer's wife collecting bales of straw from one location to the main farm with a yellow JCB – a formidable vehicle to meet head-on in the narrow lanes when without a bale onboard!

But it was good to be out and to see that despite the numerous lakes on the roads, many of the crops in the fields were looking far better than last year in the same area.