It rained!

Well, the weather forecast wasn’t far wrong! This weekend it has rained, then it has rained and after that, well, we had thunder, lightening, and some heavy rain.

The RSPB trip on Saturday wasn’t hit by the weather quite as much as it could have been, we were caught in a couple of showers at the first reserve we visited, Lackford Lakes, but managed to get into one of the bird hides before getting too wet. Unfortunately, the second reserve, Lakenheath Fen, doesn’t have hides! When the rain came there, we had to rough it out and take shelter behind a large Hawthorn bush.

The only new bird I saw for my year list was a Common Crane that drifted over Lackford. Of all the birds I had in mind for the day this certainly wasn’t one of them.

A moments brightness at Lackford Lakes.

The weather again looked as though it was about to turn to rain during the second part of the afternoon, so Lynda and I made the decision to head back to the coach around half an hour before we were due to leave for home. Once back on the coach it was out with the MP3 player and I was ready for the journey back to Derby. Why didn’t I get one of these things ages ago? It makes long coach trips so much shorter!

The clouds start to build at Lakenheath.

Late on Saturday evening, I checked the internet for information about the Autograss meeting on Sunday. The news was that the meeting was ON, but check in the morning before travelling! Still, that was promising as most meetings are cancelled at least 24 hours before start time.

This morning I awoke around 8:00AM and lay in bed trying to hear if it was raining. Nothing, not a sound. Things were looking promising. Out of bed and a quick look out of the window, no rain! The road did look a little damp though so we may have had some rain in the night. Still feeling positive, I checked the Autograss forum again…

“due to very heavy rain overnight, today's race meeting at M&L has had to be cancelled. The track is still in great condition but the access roads and spectator areas are not vehicle friendly”

...another rain off! This has to be one of the worst starts to the season I can remember. A quick look around the forum suggests at least six or seven other meetings have also been rained off today. Hard to believe that parts of the country are in the middle of a drought.

The only things I have planned for the coming week are trips to the gym, maybe an evening or two birding if the rain stops and getting the rest of the summer bedding plants sorted. After that little lot, it’s another Bank Holiday weekend!