Ah what a beautiful day! So sunny again and some much needed relative warmth after the ongoing freeze of the past week. I definitely took too much on yesterday and so today decided to let myself breathe at bit to reset.
After sending off a pitch to Countryfile magazine for their Great Days Out feature for June (due at noon so thus getting Tom to do the school run, which I actually already needed a break from) I headed out on my bike to meet a friend and her little girl – my bestest small friend – in the park, which gave me a lovely cycle there and back across the flats.
On the way home – which actually felt like cycling across a country park due to all the geese honking and the swans a swimming and the birds flitting in and out of blooming and budding trees – I witnessed the new green fencing going up around the SSSI bit of The Flats where the skylarks live.
I’d read that the City of London were making moves to erect a fence to protect the breeding ground of these now threatened birds and so was pleased to see that it was being actioned. It’s not as attractive as a wide open space, granted, but it will serve its purpose hopefully. To let the birds have some space from humans and dogs and do their breeding and raising of chicks in peace. Fingers crossed the important populations of this beautiful bird will then be improved for years to come.
Last year I had the pleasure of filming the birds on the flats in late summer for a nature writing workshop I was commissioned to run by a friend. It was the most golden evening and we were lucky to see several of these quiffed beauties hopping around in the grass and then flying high in the sky doing their fluttering equivalent of treading water. The sound they make is so sweet. It was truly mesmerising with the sunset combined.
Last night when we spoke on our Women’s Day chat about where we’ve been during lockdown, I felt truly grateful again for Wanstead Flats. To have this wide open, wild space on our doorstep is a gift. It really is magical. And today it wore its sunshine best.
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Speaking to a friend down in Brixham in Devon, she was also out enjoying the sunshine, our conversation peppered with the dolphins that she was spotting out on the South West Coast. The Skylark and Dolphin. What a vision. Also a great name for a pub. Can’t wait to see one of those rarities one day soon too.