Pensthorpe

Day out at Pensthorpe today, which had gardens and a nature reserve.  They also had a good sculpture trail.

We got there around 11am, and turned down the offer of buying some food to feed the ducks.  As soon as we got outside of the entrance building there were ducks and geese looking at us with a "feed me" kind of look.  We're sure one of the geese decided that food came from behind the door and was trying to get in!

We spent most of the morning photographing the various sculptures and we spent some time with the cranes and flamingoes before patronising the cafe for some lunch.  We ate in the shade of some trees.

After lunch we took a longer walk around the site, finding other sculptures alongside birds and insects.  I don't think I've ever seen quite so many damselflies and dragonflies in one place!

After finding many crabs yesterday in the pools on the marshes we took care to look down into the water, which was exceptionally clear.  We saw some crayfish off one of the bridges, which Sharon identified as Signal Crayfish.  There were five or six wandering around at the bottom.  I'm sure one of them saw my shadow and decided to go bury itself at the bottom.

We then stopped for tea and cake (Lemon Drizzle, recommended) and visited the aviary and shop before returning to the cottage.