Thunderbolt and Lightning

  Hurst again!! Having pretty much sat on my arse again all weekend, though I did make some cherry scones, cooked Tea yesterday cleaned the tiles in the bathroom a bit, made some coconut fat feeders for the birds and am currently running 5th in a Wordscapes tournament, due to the inclement weather turning up as forecast, we decided that a clear spell was too good an opportunity to miss and headed out ( at this point Margie would like me to say that she has done 412 loads of washing ,changed the bed ,cleaned the whole house from top to bottom twice and is about to cook a roast dinner fit for a king, basically showing off!) 

Cherry Scones ignore the two at the back I ain't got a proper cutter is my excuse, blaming the tools again

Cherry Scones and Strawberry Jam bravely not having cream!😃Also when reading this please pronounce them Scon as in Gone it winds Margie up no end 😆😈😀

Homemade feeders let's hope they like em!!

So to the walk, basically did a loop round Bullfinch lane across the fields and back up the Brighton Road with a couple of diversions. Was very quiet, maybe the time of day ,maybe the weather conditions or maybe just there isn't anything out there !! Although considering we are supposed to be in Lockdown the A23 was anything but quiet loads of traffic!! 

At the end of Bullfinch lane there were four deer in a field and we found a nice pair of Stonechat. The hedges here have once again been flailed down to the bone, in the approx 10 years I have been coming to and living in Hurst these hedges have been seriously reduced in size ,not even sure why, they border a path so not even shading the crop, presume it's just the obsession with tidiness that is ruining our wildlife, interesting a dog walker said how lucky we were to live in such a beautiful area and yet it is pretty much devoid of life ,the new normal, should and could be hundreds of farmland birds here , yet all we found was three Yellowhammers ,a few Skylarks, a Meadow Pipit  and the pair of Stonechats. Anyway rant over😡!! Quite a bit of water about with several streams overflowing but nothing our wellies couldn't handle!

Couple of Roe Deer

Hurst Church from Bullfinch Lane

Stonechat on Flailed Hedge

Flyover Yellowhammer

Flooded Stream

By this time we were noticing the dark clouds looming over the Devils Dyke, I spent about 5 minutes trying to put the waterproof covering over the camera and we quickened our pace, Margie had decided not to bring her Camera so I had to attempt the arty-farty stuff under her direction, my attempts at the fast flowing water, swirls and eddies were laughable so not posting them, though I had ago at the "interesting" tree and moody sky without much success.

Interesting (apparently) Tree with nice colours behind

Moody Sky

By now as we crossed the fields up to Policemens lane there was a blinding flash of Lightning⛈ followed seconds later by one of the loudest and longest Thunderclaps⛈☂ I've heard in along while, at this point I considered running for home, now me and running don't get on, I don't like it and it don't like me, it's not pretty to look at and doesn't usually end well,😓 the last serious attempt I made at it was at the Titchwell Snowy Owl and luckily that was only a couple of hundred yards before views were obtained. So after some consideration I decided that Electrocution without running was better than a heart attack with running so settled back into a walk as the heavens opened, luckily by now we were just 5 minutes from home, which Margie took great delight in pointing out was exactly, to the second, the amount of time I spent phaffing about with the waterproof camera cover!! Anyway we made it home safely and fairly dry with all the waterproof gear serving us well!!

So 7000 steps and a soaking for 3 Yellowhammers, a pair of Stonechat and a Sparrowhawk I missed the shot of!!Scant reward for the effort!! But a nice walk with good company and at least we made it out despite the forecast!!!