Beautiful Sunday

It was just too nice to be indoors. After the exciting trip to Hartshill Hayes Country Park yesterday, we decided a placer closer to home. Where else but our favourite playground.

Along the route, Babe had to stop Benzy and told off 2 young cyclists to cycle on the right side of the road. They were criss-crossing the road where car drivers can speed up to 50kmph. There are sharp bends along the way too. And what did we get? As soon as we moved on, we can hear them jeering at us. Ungrateful t--ts.

Luckily they didn’t spoil our day. We went straight to the Riverside Hide to check on the Canada Geese. She’s still nesting.  But what caught our attention are this lovely family. A pair of coots feeding 6 ugliest looking chicks. Aaah…

We walked through the muddiest path in the reserve. We spotted a few Peacock butterflies feeding on the marsh marigolds and Orange tips on the cuckooflowers, flies basking on tree stumps, a cardinal beetle and a bee happily buzzing away. We were serenaded by warblers along the way.

We checked out several hides. More humans than natives. The water level is quite high so I guess the waders have to feed somewhere else.  I was hoping this lovely pair of Great Crested Grebe will entertain us with their mating dance but I guess they aren’t in the mood.:-)

As we were about to leave, we spotted this pair of swallows. What on earth they are up to? Oops, we caught them making up. There was another pair further down the the line. They looked a bit tatty but after a very long journey who can blame them.

Yesterday we checked out Hartshill Hayes Country Park near Nuneaton. The Park covers 137 acres of woodland and open hilltop with magnificent views across the Anker Valley. It was said that you can see panoramic views over four counties on a clear day. Opened in 1978, the Park is rich in traditionally managed woodlands.

We were greeted with a huge variety of insects basking on the nettles. Then there were miles and miles of bluebells,  although not all in full bloom. We followed an easy path and were serenaded by beautiful bird songs. We couldn’t get any photographs as they were high up in the tree tops.

 

But we managed to photograph and observe very closely tree creepers. The forest were teeming with them. They were just running up and down the tree trunks. Lovely little creatures.

We’d a lovely time checking out this beautiful place and we will definitely come again.

Now I’m going to chill down watching the World Championship Snooker.