Chatsworth Unwrapped
23rd March 2018
Maggie, Jo, the Helens and Betty babe were able to park, for
free (yes, really) at the Calton Lees car park (yes, you heard it correctly,
free parking at Chatsworth), at an average time of 1015 precisely. Unfortunately Lynn was tied up with her
immobile phone and Charlotte had sad family matters to attend to. Alison and
Pam both on slippery slopes elsewhere ….but only one of them was skiing.
Skilled at multi-tasking,
the babes managed hugs, greeting a wildly enthusiastic Betty, booting up,
downing our thermos flask hotties, allowing Maggie her early birthday pressies
and all whilst listening to Jo’s very exciting news. But we all agreed that announcements, via any
form of social media, is in bad taste, so those not present, will have to wait.
Hmm, a very tasty finger, Maggie!
With a near spring in our step, and Jo ever ready with
her notebook, we set off up the hill. A somewhat serious discussion about Derby
City Council’s spending patterns was fortunately interrupted by the natural
beauty of our surroundings.
Come on, get a ‘spurge’ on!
Lacy moss
Older, alder, elderly or just ancient
Blurry splash of yellow = grey
But clearly, not all things were bright and beautiful and
there was a clear message for any errant sheep.
Ewe have been warned.
Part way up the hill, with no reference to the monster
(see previous blog), and now wishing we hadn’t worn quite so much clothing, we
stopped to admire the view and noted that winter was still lingering; the
garden daffodils very much cloaked in
their greenery.
Daffodils in camouflage.
However, once through the gate and into the field, distinctive
sounds of spring greeted us with bleats, a few aahhhs and some well contained
woofing.
I
fear a nursery rhyme coming on
But our newly found spring didn’t last long, and winter re-greeted
us on the other side of the hill.
Ice, ice, baby…
And our biggest challenge yet, was to cross the muddy
trenches without falling over. Maggie
would have been alright, she had come prepared with a spare pair of trews… as
one gets older….
One giant step for womankind…
We had some rather good views of deer, but sadly despite
showing a lot of light cloud this photo didn’t make the grade for BBC weather
watchers photo (beaten by a row of poplars from Belper!)
Oh, deer
Oh, deary me
Having thoroughly cleaned our boots, we headed to Edensor
café and had a marvellous lunch of butternut squash soup or omelette. Despite
the occasional whiff of the countryside coming from under the table, Betty did
behave herself, allowing us to chat about some of our usual things without fear
of finger pointing.
A babe between two …..
With a nesting mistle thrush and jay greeting us on the
way out, we saw this as a good omen and headed off towards the river to see if we could catch a few more
birdies. Whilst Betty occupied herself with sticks, the binoculars were out for
some testing birding. Birds identified
by sound, can be counted; but even better when seen: greater spotted
woodpecker, what a beauty. But the 98%
certainty of a flock of linnet, leaves listing in doubt.
A
disappointing flowercount ‘in the field’
The one and only celandine
Birds, babes and flowers… a purrfick day
We rounded off the day with a cuppa, chatting quietly amongst
ourselves when the queues suddenly lengthened.
We’d missed a trick! Free refill
tea and coffee from 1530 onwards! But as
we didn’t fit the age profile (honest) we will leave that to another time… in
the future!
blackbird
black headed gull
blue tit
canada goose
chaffinch*
coal tit*
crow
dunnock
great tit
greater spotted woodpecker*
grey heron
grey wagtail* (bird of the day)
jackdaw
jay
long tailed tit
magpie
mallard
mandarin*
mistle thrush* (on nest!)
moorhen
nuthatch*
pheasant*
pied wagtail*
redwing*
robin
sparrowhawk* (possibly seen in woods, definitely seen by
HM & JK on exit)
woodpigeon
27 for the day; 10* new for the year brings our annual
total to 49 and our running total at 96…. Only four more to go!
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