Sticking close to mum

When I opened the curtains this morning there was a juvenile crow sitting on the fence at the end of the garden.  It stayed there for ages but eventually flew off into the trees having been ignored by its parents.

I walked four and a half miles today, setting off at just after ten and getting home at a quarter to two.

I spent a lot of time down at the river trying to photograph the black headed gulls as they were swooping across the water picking up mayflies.  I photographed several, along with damselflies and demoiselles but didn't see a single butterfly.

A family of mallards came out of the reeds and headed across the river with a swan in tow but I only got a decent shot of these two.  I always seemed to have the wrong lens on, unsurprisingly.

I could hear a cuckoo but it was further downstream, a couple of kites were making a racket across the river and have apparently built a nest in the trees, and the reed buntings were singing but out of sight.  I did snap a yellowhammer when I was nearly home.

We had a good meal out last night but for a very popular Indian restaurant there were only five tables occupied.  The bill was almost £150 and I'm not surprised that people can't afford to eat out regularly.  There are going to be a lot more businesses going under before long, adding more statistics to the unemployment bill.  Sad.