A wonderful day

It’s been a wonderful day today, and not only because the weather improved enormously after yesterday’s rain and we were blessed with plenty of sunshine.

It all started just after breakfast, when I was standing on the balcony outside our bedroom and saw a small bird fly across the beck and perch in the ivy growing up the slate covered wall of our lodge. As I peered to see what it might be, it flew back across the beck and landed on the other side of the bank on a mossy rock. And suddenly I realised not only that it was a wren, but that there was also a nuthatch within a couple of feet of it! 

They soon flew off before I could get my camera but, by way of compensation, I managed to get some great shots of a dipper who had come on the scene shortly afterwards and was posing for me in the beck quite close to me.

The day continued to be really enjoyable because Smithers dropped me off in Ambleside on his way to do a grocery shop in Booth’s at Windermere, leaving me to have a meet up for a coffee with  fellow blipper “litl”, otherwise known as Sandra, who happens to live in Ambleside. We have been following each other’s journals for some time and it was lovely to meet her and chat over coffee in Zefferelli’s – an hour and a half passed very quickly!

When Smithers returned we drove back to Langdale to unload the shopping and have lunch. We then did a few domestic chores before setting out late this afternoon for a walk in Low Wood, part of the High Close estate which is owned by the National Trust. It’s only a ten minute walk away and I was keen to see the bluebells now that they’ve had another week to come out a bit more and the sun was shining. We spent the most magical couple of hours wandering around the ancient woodland, drinking in the beauty of our surroundings and feeling at one with the natural world at our feet. I took lots of photos of the bluebells, greater stitchwort, bracken, trees, moss and butterflies but in the end I decided just to post this photo of the bluebells as my main picture, with a few more in extras.