Gooooooooooooooood morning Woodley, it’s 0530 and the 0 stands for Oh my god it’s early!
Ok, we’re not in Vietnam and I’m nowhere near as charismatic as Robin Williams, but it was damn early when my 13 yr old boy woke me up after camping in the garden for the 30th night (why would he do that….).
What do you do with a boy who is about to go on his Amazon Fire at ridiculous O’Clock? We’re incredibly lucky to live right next to an entrance to Dinton Pastures, and having had a few very early walks in the park since the clocks changed I suggested it to him – and he surprisingly said yes.
I wouldn’t normally write about a trip to Dinton, but today isn’t just any day – as everyone knows, it’s International Dawn Chorus Day or at least when we got home I saw it on Dinton’s Facebook page.
The weather was a little chilly, so we dressed up, though it was warmer than when we had the clear nights a couple of weeks ago. We set off armed with thermos mugs of tea and hot chocolate (and Thomas learnt what happens when you put metal in a microwave, don’t try it kids!).
We took a route in to the park we haven’t taken in our 14 years of living in Woodley, we walked through Mortimers Meadow which was a bad idea as five minutes in we had wet feet! I think we must have still been a little sleepy , to make matters worse we left through the wrong gate and ended up just a few hundred metres from where we started.
We then took our traditional family walk over the River Loddon, past White Swan lake, Tufty’s Corner and then towards the water sports centre and Black Swan lake.
At the start there wasn’t a lot of wildlife on the lakes (we did see a fox on our road, probably the one that rips our bin bags open) though there was certainly a dawn chorus as we walked around chatting. We talked about how nice it would be to tell the birds apart from their sounds as all we can tell are Red Kites and stopped to watch them in their nests in the reeds a couple of times. As it passed 0630 the wildlife was up and about, there were lots of photo opportunities (Thomas is on a photography course) but unfortunately the wildlife weren’t interested in posing today.
People were either heeding social distancing, or still tucked up in beds where we should have been. We saw a handful of runners, mostly with headphones in and only enough time for a quick wave, and a lady out running with her dog who said hello. Maybe it’s because of the current state of the world, but people really do seem much friendlier right now.
I love this time of the morning despite not being an early riser, I feel like I’ve already won the day by the time I get home. By 0730 we were back home eating porridge, just in time to speak to the rest of the family and feeling ready for whatever the day brings.
We use Dinton Pastures a lot, in fact we’re in there most days – I like it being quiet, but can’t wait to see it back to normal. I miss having my first coffee of the day in the Dragonfly Café, seeing the kids play in the park, going on the lake (or in the lake when they used to do Open Water Swimming) in a dinghy or Kayak, taking part in a parkrun or a Barnes Fitness Summer Series 10k.
To finish with, I’d like to share some of the new facts I learnt from Thomas this morning, some I believe and others which give you an insight in to the mind of a 13 year old who hasn’t been on his Amazon Fire yet:
- There are 21 species of shark which swim around the UK
- There are Scorpions in the UK
- Pigeons are pretty much just ducks
- If you’re told not to face someone and stand back to back, you are in effect still facing them
Stay safe, we’ll all be back in Dinton Pasture’s soon.