take a walk on the wild side

 

 

Last night was a perfect early summer evening, warm and still.

 

We walked a mile or so up the road from our house to one of our favourite places.

 

 

Along the way, mr digandweed, who has a splendid singing voice, was humming the famous Lou Reed song quietly to himself, but the best musical accompaniment came from the orchestra of birds we encountered on the washes.
 

The plaintive melody of our evening symphony was provided by the Lapwings, to a background of  twittering from the Meadow Pipits and interspersed with percussion from the drumming of the Snipe  as they rose high in the sky before diving quickly like miniature WW1 fighter planes.
 

 

Sadly, my photographic skills were not up to capturing the teeming bird life, apart from this slightly blurred shot which I think might be a black tailed godwit in its breeding plumage -(any bird experts please correct me if I'm wrong!)

 

 

But I did manage photos of more ordinary ( and stationary!) but no less beautiful animals.

 

 

 

and the backdrop to our evening of magical musical theatre were the fen washlands themselves, tranquil, watery with wide open vistas.

Odd to think that only a few months ago, this landscape was flooded for up to 4 months, providing
food and refuge to thousands of other birds, who have now returned north.