Beneath The Blue

Exceedingly blue skies and glaring sunshine are not problems photographers have to grapple with very often in these misty isles, but yesterday proved a welcome exception. Not a cloud blemished the dome of blue and the sun shone throughout the day. You'll just have to believe me that these skies are for real.

And where shall we go on this heaven-sent day?
Dersingham Bog Nature Reserve between Kings Lynn and Hunstanton (or 'tween Lynn and Hunston as they say around there). I've been before and wrote about it here:
https://bystargooseandhanglands.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/beauty-from-bog.html

Dersingham Bog isn't as boggy as it sounds; much of it is heathland that can become tinder-dry in summer, access is mostly along gravelly tracks and you can only view the boggy bit from the well constructed boardwalk.

It wasn't the ideal season to be visiting the site, later there'll be interesting plants in the bog and later still the heather will be blooming - but, hey, after so many weeks of cold and murky weather it was great to be outside in the sunshine.

It's hard to believe that only two-and-a-half weeks ago we were crunching across snowy fields and cupping our hands around a mug of hot chocolate. So sitting in the sun peeling an orange was a welcome novelty.

It was also an unexpected pleasure to see a group of fourteen Shelducks in the middle distance. You often see smaller groups or, more likely at this time of year a pair of breeding birds, but I've certainly never seen fourteen sitting out in the middle of a bog before.

I hoped there might be some birds on this little pond but I was just being greedy! Nothing was there to disturb the mirrored surface.

A higher path leads back through the trees, rich with the scent of pine and the sound of squawking jays. Buzzards circled high overhead.

Someone had been busy sawing up fallen trees and in a couple of places the path had been diverted around trees which were considered unsafe.

The path back passes between trees of varying sizes. I hope you've enjoyed this short tour around Dersingham Bog Nature Reserve and the spectacle of cloudless blue skies. Today I'm back in more familiar surroundings and beneath the usual blanket of cumulo-stratus.

Take care.