Topiary Shelter

It had been suggested to us that we visit Levens Hall, near Kendal as the weather forecast was again unfavourable.  We headed out with plenty of standing water on the roads.  What we hadn't expected was the obstruction we found as we passed Rydal Water.  The car in front had slowed then pulled around an object in the road.  I was about to do the same but it looked like an animal and it wasn't going to last long in the middle of the carriageway.  

Despite the traffic behind I put on the hazard lights and investigated.  The 'object' was in fact a fledgling tawny owl.  There was no fight in him when I picked him up and put him beyond the wall and out of the way.  Hopefully he could survive.  The temptation to grab the phone and take a photo to remember this incident by was strong, but the traffic was queuing back and I didn't want to keep them waiting any longer, so I was happy just to have it as a memory.

After that we got to the hall and spent a couple of hours there looking inside and also in the extensive topiary gardens.  The nearest we've come to something on the same scale was at Packwood House, in Warwickshire but this easily eclipsed those gardens.  The image is from the gardens looking back to the hall.

On the way back we checked out the owl and he was nowhere to be seen.  Thankfully there were no tell tale signs of him on the road.