A WEEKEND THAT WASN'T! WELL HALF WASN'T

Hiya

A weekend update! I say weekend, for me it was Saturday only as I woke up on Sunday with sore throat, aching limbs and progressively got worse until I finally succumbed and fell asleep at 3.30pm and didn't wake up until 10.30pm! From then on I was awake every hour or so drinking water and putting cold flannel on head as temp was up. Oh well at least I woke up this morning feeling a lot better even though still have a sore throat.

So, Saturday; I had booked a Family Discovery Walk for all of us down at Riverside in the morning, so off we went plus the dog and had a guided tour looking out for signs of Spring. We were all given lists of things to look out for including birds, tree buds and flowers and given an idial of birds for identification (all available to download from www.naturedetectives.org.uk). It was a beautiful day and a lovely little group of families, mostly little girls I may add which is slightly annoying as boys would have loved it too as we were searching for adders at one point and having a good look around in the mud and hedges.

Evidence of Spring were found in Ash, Beech, Hawthorn and Oak buds, daffodils, catkins, birds nests and Blackthorn blossom. These were on our lists, but there was a lot more to see. We learned that Blackthorn blossoms before putting out leaf buds and that Hawthorn puts out leaf buds before blossom - Callum's favourite piece of info of the day. And also that a mixture of salt water and fresh water, found in the estuary, is called brackish water. We also saw lots of birds including blackbirds, blue tits, chaffinches, collared doves, long tailed tits, magpies, robins, mallards and wood pigeons.

Riverside's wildlife pond is now back open and we had a wander down to there to see the ducks and spy the fish.

Fish having a feeding frenzy on the midges

Our total walk took us around the large 'dog walking' field, up around Sharp's Green and around Eastcourt Meadow where there were some beautiful trees in blossom.

The Blossom

Anyway, a good morning was had by all including the dog (well until birdscarers went off and he went a bit scaredy cat) and we came home after a good 2 hours of fresh air and exercise.

Sunday, as I've already said was myself being out for the count whilst Phil pottered around in the kitchen and Callum played on his beloved Roblox on the computer.

Today was pretty lazy. I was recovering although feeling a lot better and Callum felt a little poorly. Hoped he wasn't going down with what I had had and so far it appears that he has bounced back. So all set now for the rest of the week.

Cya