Burnt-tip Orchids

A little piece of heaven right on our doorstep. It looks spectacular this year after all the rain. The landowner deserves a big thank you for not farming this field. Was very disappointed on our first visit earlier when we saw that many early purple orchids had been dug up and photographers had flattened huge patches of ground by laying down. Why do people have to ruin it for others?
This burnt-tip display is spectacular this year.

Badger

Finished the day off watching our local badgers. We only saw this female tonight. There was plenty of activity going on in the sett with chattering, yapping and yowling noises but if they came out, they didn't come our side. These photos were taken in near darkness. Just adore badgers, could sit out every night and watch them. The supporting cast included tawny and barn owl, and pipistrelle and noctule bats. Not bad for a Saturday night!

Frampton Marsh, Lincs

 Black Headed Gull

 Canada Geese

 Little Ringed Plover

 Pied Wagtail

Redshank

Well, it's the weekend so all the birds that were around mid-week have gone and the weather has deteriorated, typical ! Our son, Tom, promised he would dig out the footings for a new drive so with a skip delivered we beat a retreat and left him to it! We thought it best to be out of the way......too many supervisors make a bad job ! He made a brilliant job and it was all dug out, skip filled and even pegged out ready for concrete next weekend. So we headed to Frampton where there had been some not bad birds mid-week. Today there was nowt! Oh well, there were a few hides to give us shelter from the storms that kept sweeping over. The pics above are the highlights, plus a pair of turtle doves that refused to turn around.

Lincoln Cathedral's Peregrine Falcons

So glad we went to see the peregrines at Lincoln today. Four chicks hatched this year and one had already flown in the morning. One of the remaining three will definitely be taking to the sky tomorrow as it did nothing but flap it's wings and teeter on the edge of the ledge. An adult bird flew in with a pigeon for lunch which was noisily devoured. Fingers crossed for these four chicks in the big world !

Lincoln Cathedral

 King John placed his seal on the Magna Carta in 1215.

This is one of the four remaining copies.

Lincoln Cathedral was commissioned by William the Conqueror and was consecrated in 1072. It was once the tallest building in the world. It is the best architecture we have ever seen and I cannot put into words the beauty, wonder and serenity of the cathedral. We really should visit more often as we are only 20 miles away. A fantastic day.