Blues on the Bike

Yesterday seemed like an averagely nice sort of early autumn day, but now, as I look out upon the window upon nauseous grey skies and glistening rooftops, it seems like paradise.

I took myself out on the bike in the afternoon, after a morning chasing insects around the marigolds at Sconce Park, and headed out to North Muskham lake to see what might be there. Sheep was the answer, the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust bring in sheep and cattle to graze the site, which is certainly very lush with grass at the moment.

Tufted duck are out on the water too, the drakes now coming out of eclipse and their tidy model painted looks soon to be restored. Damsel and crane flies flew in their different ways around the undergrowth as I flushed them out. But there were no big migrant hawkers on patrol. The flag of summer was being flown by house martins feeding out over the water, and the swallows beginning to gather on telegraph poles and power lines.

September is an odd sort of time for a town like Newark to hold outdoor events, but the town's 5th Blues Festival was ongoing in the castle grounds so I dropped in to have a look. The music isn't massively to my taste, and the female vocalists were a bit too American sounding and strident, but then, can anyone sing the blues in an English accent?

What was good about it was the large number of people all sat out in the grounds watching, listening, and enjoying themselves. More use of free public space.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 14.09.15

I love how these marigolds remind me of the surface of stars

Hoverfly solar sailing

Common carder bee, the dominant autumn bumble

I miss cricket already

At North Muskham lake, no idea

Curious fluffy plant

The waters

Looking the other way

Blues

Castle crowds

Next act up

I didn't have a chair