Saturday, April 15, 2023

waterlogged, swans swimming or paddling, egret, waterfall, patchy



Waterlogged fields in the Thames valley, what with the heavy rains.

The swans on the oil seed rape crop were seen when I was cycling down a side road from Aston towards Yelford. Something of a lake - with 20 or more of the big birds swimming or paddling.

The egret I snapped yesterday, when taking our dog for a long walk - at that point we were three-quarters the way down Hayway Lane.

A few minutes earlier we were alongside one of the few fields of winter oilseed rape (it's a popular crop this year) that had remained fairly dry. The sound of gentle rain on the tall, in-flower and fleshy-leaved plants was like a distant waterfall.

On the way back we came across the farm manager beside the same field and he said, 'The crops should be looking like that one.' Then he pointed at the other fields which were patchy, with huge saturated-earth gaps and few of the stunted plants flowering.

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