Love a duck in the mist...

One of the few advantages of having to get up so early to take Alex to Huntingdon is the morning light. I drop him off close to Portholme Meadow and as I turned in to the minor road to park, I spotted veils of low mist hanging over the meadow.

After giving him a perfunctory hug I dashed off to the bridge leading to Portholme. The view was was so beautiful, though hard to capture as the meadow is fairly flat and featureless, with just a few distant sheep visible amongst the mist. This particular image was taken along a backwater of the River Ouse and you can just see one of a series of luxury homes on the left. It must be a very special place to live...

I couldn't spend long taking photographs as I was then taking Pete and Chris to Irthlingborough. The dogs and I had an interesting exploratory ramble through Stanwick Lakes Country Park and down to the River Nene. I saw one of the largest charms of goldfinches I've ever seen, at least fifty individulas with many young birds, feeding on teasel and thistle heads.

When I arrived home at half past ten I felt as though I'd already had a full day out. Most of the rest of the day was spent report writing, though I managed to sneak an hour or so in the garden to mow the lawn. The garden's looking quite pretty again now - the Michaelmas daisies, Japanese anemones and Sedum 'Autumn Joy' are in full bloom, as is the honeysuckle - again!

Tonight there was a pretty spectacular sunset but I was sitting in the car at the station without a camera - paah!