Marston Lake Visit

                 The first task of this day was to get the lawnmower out to cut the lawn within the walled back garden as well as the front patch. Although the grass was both rather wet and over long, my mower was fortunately set fairly high, so only occasionally did it snag or dig in a bit, due to a slightly raised muddy lump. I found that due to the length of the grass sometimes it was best to come back every so often as it then faced my direction of travel, so when I then went forward it cut cleaner.

I now had a conical plastic bin for grass cuttings, which created mulch, and by the time I had mown the back lawn was filling up well, and luckily the front lawn is smaller. Since my neighbour had kindly cut this lawn earlier in the year, I offered to return the favour, but he declined, perhaps due to his concern it was too wet, but I was grateful, as it meant I could catch more of the sunshine at Marston Lake.

On arrival at the gate, I found it unlocked, so before I entered I called the Water Bailliff, but he had already learned that the lock was broken; I had been concerned it had been left unlocked accidentally, but was assured, it was simply broken. Initially, my worry was having not visited for sometime, if I locked it behind me, and the combination had been renewed, I might find myself unable to leave later! Learning that the Bailliff was aware that the lock was broken, I was reassured that provided I made sure it simply looked locked, I was not going to find my exit barred when I came to leave!

Once I was at the water’s edge, I got out of the car to take a look at what activity there was both on the shore and out on the lake. Sadly, all I saw were two Cormorants and a lone gull — perched on different dead tree branches mid lake — not the most exciting prospect from a photographic standpoint! If I was to even halfway decent shots of this trio, it was worth moving further around the lake to be slightly closer.

It was when I went further around the lake, that I came across an angler at one of the swims and I thought I would say hello, and to my surprise this angler recognised me! I soon realised we knew each other from before the time I set up SOLUTIONS photographic. He was working at HK Productions, a company I used to frequent as I had developed a strong friendship with the owner, Hagop Keondjian, and many of those who worked for him. Coincidentally, only that morning I had been in touch with his wife who had emailed me about the ongoing problems occurring in their homeland. We chatted for a while before I headed further around the lake, ironically, just as we parted I caught sight of a heron taking off, beyond the intervening trees — away from the lake.

I moved further around the lake capturing  scenes of trees as they caught the warm rays of the sun as it moved ever lower.