The end of the working day...

Another full on day at Chatsworth, which involved scrambling up steep banks of loose soil, negotiating bracken-hidden boulders and fighting through tall bracken and nettles. While measuring a tree, Alex slipped down a sheer bank about 10 metres in height and just stopped himself from sliding into the stream, twisting his ankle in the process. He then repeated the whole incident while trying to get back up!

He gamely carried on, but worse was to befall him. He was hammering a tag onto a hollow tree, when he was suddenly attacked by a nest of wasps, who also stung Pete and me. Alex had about a dozen stings on his head, and damaged his ankle even more while trying to escape over boulder-ridden ground.

The wasps at Chatsworth seem to have particularly vicious stings - I had about four stings and it felt like my head was being hammered with red hot needles. Alex turned pink all over and had an itchy rash on all parts of his body. We offered to take him down and seek medical assistance, but he wanted to carry on. It's just as well that none of us are severely allergic to stings!

The sunset was a quick snap taken on our way down the hill. It would have been nice to linger in the twilight, but by this time we were all keen to get home. We finally set off back to Peterborough at about eight. The last straw was finding that the southbound A1 was closed, which meant we were diverted via Melton Mowbray and didn't get home till eleven - a very long day's fieldwork indeed!