26th June 2017 Blustering slugs!

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Monday 26th 61-64F, 16-18C, windy and rather cloudy, showers possible again. Short walk in a blustery wind. A Red kite was soaring along the edge of the road looking for breakfast.  It was almost overhead at only 50ft when it pulled away across the fields. The flocks of Starlings and Sparrows indicate another good nesting season in continuing mild weather.

Now all we need is a common bird which actually likes eating slugs. We collected half a builder's bucket full from our lawn one morning. Well, The Head Gardener did, while I supervised and acted as advanced spotter. The edges of the roads are always heavily splattered with millions of slugs after rain. Perhaps it is the mono-culture crops providing perfect conditions for them? Though that doesn't explain their taste for drag racing against cars on damp asphalt. A skill at which few seem to have become truly accomplished. At least, not so far. Perhaps we are never lucky enough to see the celebrity winners? They may go off to be cheered by adoring crowds of fans back in the fields. No ride today.

Tuesday 27th 50-65F, 10-18C, rather cloudy but almost calm in the garden. Took a longer walk today. Along the side of the marsh, the pond and looping back along the curving face of the woods. Hundreds of brown ducklings moved in separate convoys around the far edge of the pond. Far enough away to make a mockery of my camera's reach. Their haste to escape turning dark and shady water into streaks of brilliant light. No herons did their familiar, ceremonial laps at my intrusion today.

Three buzzards circled overhead, each higher than the other and calling plaintively. As I craned my neck and tried not to tip over backwards. I paused at the highest point of my walk to watch as the shadows of clouds and spots of sunlight moved, or faded in and out, across the gentle landscape.  Distant rolls of large hay bales awaited collection on a steep hillside. Leaving me wondering about the incredible stability of farm vehicles on such remarkable slopes. A breeze has picked up now but it shouldn't become a nuisance.

I have a parcel to return to the post office so should hopefully get a ride in today. And did. I saw a girl pull out of a rural junction up ahead and assumed I would soon catch her. For a sit-up-and-beg roadster she couldn't half move! I can only presume she was another TeslaGirl. She put half a mile into me in only a mile and I was doing 16-18mph. I commented to a chap in the long queue at one supermarket that we would soon be queuing next door.  To which he responded in English. "Your Danish is awful!" No, I hadn't just moved here. Ask any of my past colleagues from those 10 years of sharing my pidgin Dansk.  Only 7 miles, returning heavily laden and trying to keep my cadence high. It looks better on the climbs if one crawls at a <cough> "stylish" 100rpm. <sigh> 😉

Click on any image for an enlargement. 

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