Early mornings

I am still finding for the most part that early mornings are best for visits to Wanstead Flats - for many different reasons, although the birdy reasons are diminishing rapidly. A few Whitethroats and Chiffs are still gamely singing, but it is mostly the feeding season now and whilst I am sure there are lots of birds around, hearing them and finding them is another matter entirely. It feels quiet, and I expect that my visits there will peter out very shortly. 

As well as the lack of birdy activity and passage being more or less over, there is another obvious reason for abandoning early morning visits. Sleep. First light these days is at a pretty horrendous time of day. I need to get up before 4.30am in order to be sure of seeing the sunrise, and that is not easy. In fact it is very hard, and comes with the significant risk of waking up other residents of Chateau L. And when one of those residents breathes fire....

Another reason is that I've started putting the moth trap out again, and that needs to be looked at first thing before it warms up. Not at the crack of dawn, but the sun is quite high in the sky even by 7am so I mustn't leave it too long. By the time I have done that I find that I'm a bit peckish and require coffee and so on, and once I've dealt with those basic needs the best period has passed and I might as well get on with my day at home. Plants are best watered in the cool of the morning, vents and windows can be opened to let some fresh air in, and I find I can easily dispense with a couple of hours simply pottering around doing various jobs. So long Wanstead Flats...

But on the off chance that I do manage it, the following sort of scene may await me, and it can be absolutely breathtaking if the conditions are right. And looking at the forecast there are quite a few days coming up which could be like this. It would be a shame to pass these up don't you think?