A breath of fresh air

First job of the day was to take a car load of recycling to Emmaus Charity shop. We decided to go in the Land Rover to give it a run. A quick walk around the different departments of the shop to see if there was anything I could not live without, and actually managed to walk out empty handed and purse closed.  The idea is to try and get rid of "stuff" not add to it.

This should help with the de-cluttering

Emmaus is quite close to Carlton Country Park so I packed a sandwich and banana for lunch and we headed that way. The park has an overflow car park so we headed that way to walk along side the lake from a different starting point. The tracks are well kept and make for easy walking unless you want to ramble through the nature reserve which looked very boggy and wet. There are plenty of things to see, and lots of wood carvings.

Love love love this Kingfisher.
I have a soft spot for Kingfishers having been in the Kingfisher group at Guides many years ago.

A viewing platform over a dark pond in the Nature reserve

Benches made using tree stumps and planks, beautifully carved.

Many of the seats and carvings have been given to the park in memory of someone who loved the area.

An almost tame blackbird

We visited the bird hide to see these birds on the other side of the lake.
I think they are Cormorants but my cameras zoom is not powerful enough to really know.

It was a cold murky day, but Spring is around the corner.
We were glad to get back to the Land Rover to eat our lunch, must remember a hot flask next time!