Autumn Weekend

Saturday morning saw us up at 5.45, it was a struggle but we managed it. We went to the National Trust Estate Ashridge to see the deer rut.
As we drove along the road through the estate there was, looming out of the gloom standing on a high bank in all its majestic splendor a huge Fallow deer Stag.
The promise of a bright, frosty, Sunny morning we had hoped for did not materialise, but we did get to see some of the Stags fighting and displaying for their lady friends. We were there for 2 hours or so and had a good walk and saw quite a few deer but it was not as good as in previous years. I think that the main rut had happened earlier in the month or maybe it had not started at Ashridge quite yet.

Sunday morning saw us out of our bed early again 7am. Well its early for a non school day! We went down to the South coast near Portsmouth for an RSPB walk at Tichfield Haven. Today was the bright, sunny, frosty morning we had hoped for yesterday. No frost in Marlow but out towards Reading the fields were white. There were 14 of us on the walk and we were all wrapped up in many layers of clothing as it was very nippy. An enjoyable morning started with the promise of Bearded Tits (No luck) and we saw some huge Grey Mullet in the river, about 70 Turnstones on the beach and some one saw 3 eider ducks fly over and we were not into the reserve yet.
It was a really lovely location for a nice day out, at 7am we had been sorely tempted to stay at home but we so glad that we made the effort to go. A few birds got added to our life list the best one being the Water Rail which was in good view for a long time. We also had a good view of 2 kingfishers sitting on a fence. Sitting in the sun to eat our lunch overlooking the estuary was just lovely it was very warm and a few of the layers of clothing got shed. We all then went around the other side of the reserve where we saw the Water Rail and the Kingfishers by this time all the "outdoor clothing had been shed" it was very sunny and great to be on the coast. To wind things up we found a pub (not the best in the world) but we sat outside in the sun watching the sea and yachts in the Estuary. Perfick!