Gelly Babes July Jubilation

Trent Lock

July 15th 2014

Numbers for this month's gathering were seriously depleted as Pam, Maggie and new recruit Lynn were otherwise engaged. Nevertheless three stalwart members soldiered on and had a lovely, leisurely afternoon and evening.

Pam had suggested Trent Lock as a venue and an excellent suggestion it was. Helen J had ordered good weather and that too turned out to be perfect after a rather unpromising start to the day.

Two Helens started with a very leisurely (and expertly made!)coffee at Helen J's, sitting in the garden  and having a good old chat.

We then drove to Trent Lock and started a leisurely stroll along the canal.

Very elegant dancing swans - would have been better as a video!

Just as we arrived at this bridge Jo phoned to say she had arrived early and was having a cup of tea in the pub garden so we retraced our steps and joined her.
After our cuppa the three stalwarts set off in the glorious sunshine along the canal towards Attenborough

'Mmmmm - that's an interesting fact'

The beautiful blue waters of the river Trent!

We managed to spot quite a few birds along the way with the help of our resident expert and despite the fact that Jo had forgotten her binoculars.

There's definitely a bird in there somewhere!

Here is the list:

Black headed gull

 Bullfinch (female)

Buzzard (attacking heron)

Canada geese

Chaffinch

Cormorant

Common tern

Coot with chicks

Crow

Goldfinch

Heron with chicks

House martin chicks

Jackdaw

Magpie

Mallard

Moorhen with chicks

Sparrows bathing in dust

Swallows on the wire

Swans with cygnets

Whitethroat with young

Wood pigeon

Wren (heard)

 22 birds and we weren't even trying. Both buzzard and whitethroat are first recorded sightings.  The whitethroat was identified with the help of the special bird on Helen M's phone! Not sure the traditionalists would approve but it is an RSPB app. This brings our total for the year to 60.

At one point there was talk of a bittern - but it turned out it was just Helen J being bitten by an insect! 

There were also lots of beautiful dragonflies but no one had an app to identify what sort they were. 

Swans with six cygnets - they were very entertaining!

We walked back along the canal to the pub where we sat outside in the last of the sunshine for our meal which included a free mini pudding thanks to the voucher which Helen J had found on the interweb. The heron even flew over several times to entertain us a we ate. Another lovely Gelly Babes get together, hopefully we can all make it next time and we may even fit in the art activity!

This was the beautiful sunset as we drove home (taken by passenger not driver!)