Wife is not working for the next few days and we decided that today would be our "wildlife" day for Easter, with a trip to Chimney Meadows, the local nature reserve. Over the past few months, I have seen loads of interesting wildlife down there while fishing - my hope was that Wife would also get to see some today.
As it was, we were in luck. On the walk down there were loads of birds around which we were just about able to pick out in the trees. We saw a hare close up, which we startled as we rounded a corner and entered the field it was in, plus lots of ducks and swans as usual. By Shifford lock we spotted the three female roe deer which I have seen loads of times over the past few months. At the time, I thought this was a shame as I'd have liked us to have made it to the bird hide before they had appeared, but soon after we got to the hide, two other deer, probably males appeared and were happy to feed for the next twenty minutes in the open space. I had brought my video camera with me (but don't yet have the travel tripod) and did take about 10 minutes of film of them. Later a heron flew in and settled quite near us and I got some decent film of that too. Over the next couple of days, I will use this footage to learn how to edit film and how to post to youtube.
We then drove on to Burford and then back round to Faringdon by the scenic route that took us past the Swan Hotel at Radcot. We stopped here for a drink and I was delighted to find that it had a bar with loads of stuffed fish in it - a pike of 15lbs, two cases of bream (around 5lbs each fish), two trout of up to 7lbs, a perch of 2 1/2lbs, two cases of chub (5-07 and 4-10) and a barbel of 8-02. All caught locally as well and dating from about 1950 to 1962. I wonder how much a cased barbel costs.
One of the stuffed chub from the fishy bar.
As it was, we were in luck. On the walk down there were loads of birds around which we were just about able to pick out in the trees. We saw a hare close up, which we startled as we rounded a corner and entered the field it was in, plus lots of ducks and swans as usual. By Shifford lock we spotted the three female roe deer which I have seen loads of times over the past few months. At the time, I thought this was a shame as I'd have liked us to have made it to the bird hide before they had appeared, but soon after we got to the hide, two other deer, probably males appeared and were happy to feed for the next twenty minutes in the open space. I had brought my video camera with me (but don't yet have the travel tripod) and did take about 10 minutes of film of them. Later a heron flew in and settled quite near us and I got some decent film of that too. Over the next couple of days, I will use this footage to learn how to edit film and how to post to youtube.
We then drove on to Burford and then back round to Faringdon by the scenic route that took us past the Swan Hotel at Radcot. We stopped here for a drink and I was delighted to find that it had a bar with loads of stuffed fish in it - a pike of 15lbs, two cases of bream (around 5lbs each fish), two trout of up to 7lbs, a perch of 2 1/2lbs, two cases of chub (5-07 and 4-10) and a barbel of 8-02. All caught locally as well and dating from about 1950 to 1962. I wonder how much a cased barbel costs.
One of the stuffed chub from the fishy bar.
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