We did this ride clockwise (I'd envisaged anti-clockwise) to enable Helen to bail out at Bures, whereas I headed back to Marks Tey station.
It was a ride of baby birds. The first was a tiny partridge chick, probably not out of the egg more than a couple of day, which was in the middle of the road. Very suddenly it seems to get the hang of what small birds are supposed to do when they are in the middle of the road: it ran, looking like a tiny supercharged clockwork toy.
The second was in the pub, where a song-thrush fledgeling found its way into the bar. I made an attempt to catch it (Essex has a particular problem with birds and underage drinking) but it fluttered down by the bar where AH caught it and put it outside, despite its pitiful protests. Whilst we were eating, its parents appeared on a nearby roof, making the sort of noises thrushes make when the are bringing food for their young. But the important fact remains: AUNTIE HELEN CATCHES THRUSH IN ESSEX PUB!
A little later, a first for me: a red kite in Essex. It was quite a youngster, one of last year's brood I would imagine, still with its rather dull mostly fawn plumage. We watched it for a fair time, during which I also tried to sort out why my mudguard was rubbing. It turned out to be the bolt holding the reflector on. The kite settled in an oak tree a couple of hundred yards away.
After we parted company at Bures, a fox cub strayed into the road in front of me and wasn't aware of my existence until I was almost alongside it, whereupon it skulked off into the hedge.
A very good afternoon out and the weather stayed dry and, occasionally, warm and sunny.
