I had heard there was a possibility of the Red Arrows paying Old Warden’s Edwardian Pageant a Flying Visit, so I picked a spot at the end of a long cul-de-sac at Warden Street in the hope that I might just be fortunate, but I was unlucky on that count, though I still got shots of biplane aerobatics, large flocks of birds, mainly taking advantage of farmers ploughing their fields. The road I was in was very narrow and where I was parked was local residents turning circle I soon learned, although everyone was very friendly.
I met a charming couple who lived in the last cottage before the gate to a large farm, who were the first to use this spot to turn their car round, and I learned he was a Nikon Man, who forgave me for my own choice of Canon equipment! The lady asked whether I knew when the Red Arrows might arrive, but I was unable to help, I learned from the man that he would be looking out for them whilst mowing the lawn, but a short while later it was his wife whom I spotted with a mower, so I joshed with her that he had meant he would watching his wife mow! A few moments later he came out with another mower, so I asked whether he had been rumbled and had felt guilty so followed suit! It turned out he was mowing the tougher stuff, whilst his wife mowed the more level areas.
Since there was not much human flying machine activity, I brought out my macro and photographed some of the wild flowers, I also spotted a seed being snagged by a spider’s web, and the owner felt his luck was in and retraced his footsteps shortly after when he found it was a false alarm – possibly a bit miffed by being disturbed unnecessarily!
Whilst waiting for a possible arrival of any aircraft, I took opportunities to photograph some of the wildflowers nearby and one horserider returned to her parked car that was present upon my arrival, and visited the stabling beyond the gate I was parked across. When she was ready to leave, I helped and was duly thanked, for guiding her reversing by my car. A little later still another lady rider arrived, entered the stabling and came out leading her young male, brown spotted cream horse, and I opened the heavy gate for her, and grabbed a few shots of him. I later found her on a phone leading him back and hearing comments saying she was “OK…” suggesting she might well have taken a fall, I enquired, and learned the horse had been bitten by a horsefly and ended up kicking her in the stomach and grazing her arm; she was definitely still in considerable pain, so I opened the gate entirely on my own to save her from more strain. She said it was not the horse’s fault, and certainly from the brief shots I took of their return, his equine body language suggested he was concerned.
I did get a few shots of some biplane aerobatics, and a Lysander, a plane type I believe my father flew over to Holland from RAF Tempsford in WWII, though the gallery is more about flora and fauna and an afternoon in the English countryside – fairly relaxing.
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