It Was Diana's Day Off Today,

and as Diana had a double driving lesson late this afternoon,

 we decided on a walk out,

so cold gear on,

 passing the church,

and the mile marker, 

 we arrived at Kelsey Park,

 where the bedding flowers were putting on a good show,

 as was the magnolia,

 we passed the parks lodge,

 and crossed the bridge over the River Beck,

 looking towards the waterfall,

 which seemed to have more water flowing over it than usual, 

 as soon as we entered the dog free area of the park, 

 we were greeted by this fine fellow. a Mandarin duck, (Aix galericulata),

 and his slightly less colorful mate,

 this coot, (Fulica atra), seems to have his own mini pool for himself,

 what big feet he has,

 passing the bamboo,

 we were at the flower beds next to the information center,

 looking back towards the waterfall,

 a quick pose,

 and look at heron island, 

 difficult to see, but some birds already nesting,

 then a bit of drama,

 as a swan took exception to some of the geese,

 we had brought some peanuts for the ducks and the squirrels, but there were surprisingly few ducks,

 and even less squirrels, 

 on this side of the lake we saw just two,

 a strange duck, this one I think called a tufted duck, (Aythya fuligula),

 2 very proud Egyptian geese, (Alopochen aegyptiaca),

 and here is what they are proud of,

 their new family,

 6 chicks,

 learning to forage,

 just like their parents, 

 onto the bridge, and looking down we spotted these,

 I think they are Garganeys, (Anas querquedula), 

 on the other side of the bridge, the lake,

 with a moorhen nesting,

 there might not have been many ducks or squirrels,  

 but there was a murder of crows,

a quick stop by the daffodils, 

 to our left the nesting herons,

 with a nice few clumps of daffodils on our right,

just in front of me,

 the bed of the giant rhubarb, (Gunnera manicata),

 was coming back to life out of its winter sleep,

 we started heading back to the High Street for our breakfast//lunch,

 we decided on The George although it was midday they advertised an all day breakfast, we had both decided on a full English one,

 so in we went, and out again, the kitchen was not ready to open,

so we decided on the Rendez-Vous, 

 whose kitchen was in full swing,

meal ordered, 

 drinks were served,

 hot chocolate with marshmallows for Diana,

   a latte for myself, and here is the breakfast, delicious,

after our meal Diana went shopping for a few bits and pieces in Lidl and Sainsbury's, meanwhile I popped along to the bank, in a couple of hours Diana had her driving lesson, after she arrived home we had our evening meal, then feet up for tonight's films,

the first, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, directed by Guy Ritchie, what could possibly go wrong? absolutely nothing! a real treat to watch,

we rounded the evening off with Total Recall, the 2012 version, a lot more serious than the original with more special effects than you could shake a stick at, but entertaining neither the less, and with the end of that we were off to bed.