All quiet ...down in the Meadows

Windrush, good water flows plus kingfisher perch!

Although Mike's up in Scotland this week still popped into Sherborne to check on 'my' Swan & Red Kite families plus a quick wander around the Water Meadows. Pretty quiet down in the Water Meadows, down by the Windrush where the recent water management work has been done. Already mother nature has started to cover up the areas subjected to heavy duty traffic and digging. Surprisingly still some butterflies and dragonflies out and about plus a couple of buzzards. That said it wasn't until I had finished my meander down by the Windrush that wildlife activity increased. I managed to disturb a young deer near the Commons and then was treated to a fly by of a green woodpecker up by Century wood. Spotted a few jobs {tree fallen over fence line, walkers gate and bridge repair} to be added to Mike's list for the coming weeks but that's par for the course.

Egrets visiting Sherborne 

Finished off my visit with a trip down to the Sherborne brook close to the village. Still no sign of the Red Kites but the swan family were enjoying their lunch downstream from the weir. The Swans had some new guests they seemed to accept alongside them {unlike the Canada geese} and this gave me my first sight this year of a pair of Egrets. The Egrets decided to fly off as I approached and settled in one of the dead trees closer to the weir. Interestingly one of the local herons was already perched in the tree but seemed relaxed about its white 'cousins'.

Been a while since I have had a whinge about this government's attitude to the environment so here it is.  Was a little boosted by Martin Harpers excellent blog on INNS but still irritated by this Government's latest 'attack' / apathy regarding nature with the lobbying bill. If it were only possible to trust someone like Osbourne when he says  the Conservatives have shown they really pay attention to what the people say {the Syrian crisis}. This parties actions {and *inactions  Patterson/DEFRA} don't exactly demonstrate too much heed to NGO's/ peoples views on our fragile environment: money {Fracking, HS2} & shooting/hunting still rule!

*to be fair to DEFRA this latest blog by Martin Harper shows they are quite capable of doing good stuff, helped by RSPB.