May Day Bank Holiday

I was looking forward to this bank holiday to see a traditional English form of folk dancing (Kevin disputes this) called Morris Dancing.

It has been danced for hundreds of years, and passed down through the generations in the villages of rural England.

The Morris Dancers hold hankies in their hands, or sticks, and have bell-pads tied at their knees, which make a loud and cheerful rhythm as they dance.

I'm so excited that my colleagues warned me not to come to the office with bells tied to my knees. Hmmm, I might just surprise them :-).

The dance extravanga was held in Nuneaton, a town 14.5 km north of Coventry. Nuneaton is most famous for its associations with the 19th century author George Eliot (1819-1880). Her real name was Mary Ann (Marian) Evans, a novelist. She used a male pen name to ensure that her works were taken seriously.

On Sunday was International Dawn Chorus Day a celebration of birdsongs. We woke up at 5 am, blurry-eyed made our way to our favourite playground. We thought that we are the only early risers but there were already several cars in the parking lot. What time did they arrive???

The reserve was on full volume and I thought I saw the fastest rabbit whizzing past. It was a muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi). My first  sighting. We followed it through the forest and came across it 3 times. Near the lake, I suddenly turned and came face to face with another muntjac and I managed to take a photograph of the poor thing. It was too stunned to bolt.

We went to one of the hides and had coffee to keep warm. The highlights were the oyster catchers, red shank, great crested grebe and shelducks. Spring was definitely here because we heard a cuckoo, echoing from the woods.

COVENTRY City fans were yet again breathing a huge sigh of relief today after the Sky Blues survived a nerve-wracking relegation battle by the skin of their teeth.

They pulled off another great escape to stay in the Championship - despite losing 4-1 at Charlton in the final game of the season.This is due to their Midlands rivals Leicester City could only draw at Stoke and was relegated. The Sky Blues held on by a single point.

Today, we went to Brandon Marsh again. The parking lot was full. People are taking advantage of the lovely sunny day. The 3 great crested grebes are now the same size as their parents.  4 ugly but fuzzy cute cootlings (?) and 2  moorhen chicks are being (beak) fed by their parents. It must be nursery day.

Today's highlights are a sandpiper having a bath, 2 red shanks mating, a hobby hunting, a male Ruddy Duck, a heron slowly swallowing its dinner and a coot being chased by a lapwing. It was fantastic.

I spent the rest of the evening planting my vegetable. There were plugs of rocket, red frills, pak choi, beet spinach and mustard leaves. There's a few more plugs left. I've ran out of troughs. I couldn't wait to harvest my first crop ie the slugs/snails don't get them first.

Put a face mask on and chill out by watching the finals of the World Championship Snooker. As predicted, Ronnie O'Sullivan claimed his 3rd crown after completing 18-8 win over Ali Carter.

What a way to end the long weekend. Until the next bank hols...