Here and there

In the morning I was in Oxford...

Iffley Meadow Nature Reserve, south of Donnington Bridge, felt a bit grey at 7.30am. Or maybe that was the innards of my head! It is a vital green breathing space amidst roads and housing. I've driven over the bridge many times, but never noticed Weirs Mill Stream, roughly parallel to the Thames, or the nature reserve. Such is the nature of travelling in cars, and life lived at speed. Walking down the towpath, I was overtaken by several fours and eights, and their coaches wobbling on their bicycle while watching their crew and wielding a megaphone for the purpose of providing instruction. Birds were scant, but Iffley Lock is the downstream limit for rowing, and a more reflective space. A pair of Canada geese took off, deeply wailing the while, and I was greeted by a robin on the Iffley side.

...And was back to Mucknell for lunch...

Anthony was excited to have seen a raven circling over the Hermitage in the morning. And then after lunch, he called me to say there was a merlin resting on a fence post nearby. The merlin is the UK's smallest bird of prey, and it was difficult to make out much more than a brown shape, even with binoculars. I wondered whether something was going on at the Hermitage; the raven eats carrion, and merlin small birds. Or more fancifully, maybe the raven was Morgana Le Fay.