Mother and Chick.

It was very different this week when I went for a walk down at Velator while Romas had his drum lesson at Knowle. The tide was out leaving the Caen looking like a large drainage ditch. The forecast rain hasn't quite arrived , just a little on our way down to Braunton.

As I walked along the sea wall I passed a spaced out lass, spliff in one hand and bottle of strong cider in the other. (Braunton is part of the surf scene.) We exchanged greetings but when I looked back after stopping to take pictures of the marsh, I saw that the girl was heading back along the path again. Not wanting to get involved in any conversation possibly with requests for money, I decided to walk balk along the marsh road. As I walked along by an overgrown channel I heard the chuck, chuck of a waterbird. As I made my way to the water's edge I caught a glimpse of this moorhen.

I eventually got a clear picture of the hen who was followed by ....

........ one fluffy black chick.

This must have been her nesting site because she tucked the chick up under her feathers.

I enjoyed my walk despite the threatening rain. I even managed to hear a skylark singing away above the field. At school it was another quiet day with 7 children away, 2 on holiday and 5 ill. It makes such a difference only having 24 children instead of 31. We made cress sandwiches with the cress they had grown themselves, one child who I later found out had been sick in the night, coughed and spluttered all afternoon so I expect the bug will continue to rampage through the class. Two children in the class next door had to be sent home because they were throwing up ! Hopefully I've developed immunity over the years.