An October Break - Part 1

In October, partner-who-loves-tea and I had a week’s break in Southern and Midland England.  The first few days were spent visiting family in Exeter and we stayed at the Fisherman’s Cot on the River Exe.  The morning we left the river was swollen from the heavy rains that had fallen overnight. 

P-w-l-t drove us up to the Cotswolds and we stopped at Bourton-on-the-Water.  

We had a walk and then visited Birdland.

At times it was hard to know whether we were more interested in the birds or they were more interested in us!   This Northern Helmeted Curassow was happy to say hello.

This Occipital Blue Pie was a bit more shy.

I especially enjoyed seeing the birds that are on the British list but which I rarely get the chance to photograph at such close quarters like the Redshank, Stone Curlew and a pair of Snowy Owls.

By contrast the Masked Plover comes from the other side of the world being an Australian species.

Isn’t this wonderful plumage on the Queen of Bavaria Conure?

I’ll show some more birds another day.  

We spent that night at Shipton-under-Wychwood in the Cotswolds.  We had hoped to stay at the Shaven Crown which my Great, great grandfather and grandmother once ran but there was no room at the inn when we tried to book.  

So we ended up at the nearby Wychwood Inn and an excellent choice it proved to be.  Comfortable, friendly and first class food! 

This is the former post office in Shipton. 

And this is what it looked like around 1900 when it was run by my grandmother’s godmother, Nel Dee and her sister Adeline. 

There will be more about our October break another day....