I had an odd day today; I couldn’t tell you when last I got to wander. I had to spend time in Burnham (look it up) and with a bit of time to spare I wandered here:
St Mary's churchyard, Burnham on Crouch
This isn’t the sort of photograph I normally take but there was something spell binding about the way the light was falling. Amazingly, I’ve almost captured it in this picture.
I’m a bit of a sucker for old grave yards. This one has been closed for a long time. The most recent dated stone I found was 1912. The oldest readable stones carried dates in the late 1700s. As the church dates back to the 14th century and succeeded an earlier church there presumably are far older but now unmarked graves in these grounds.
I can’t say I saw any ghosts, but the grounds were thick with a swarm of Garden Grass-veneer moths. Other life on show:
A charming and lovely coloured bug that vanished before I could get a better shot.
The longer I look at this the more sure I am the larger upper colour mark on the left is a map of Australia (complete with lopsided Tasmania) with a mirror image on the right.
This looked more like a shrimp than an insect.
So after leaving here (above) I headed towards the river and passed here (below) which is the nature reserve on the outskirts of the town. The view is across the wide shallow river valley roughly in the direction of Southend-on-Sea.
Crouch valley, Essex
I would imagine any week now the Adder Warning signs will go up here; notwithstanding the warmth there was no evidence today.
There were a few white butterflies, what might have been examples of the Ringlet but mostly Essex Skippers:
Essex Skipper (thymelicus lineola)
It got hot and I was concerned for the chocolate in my bag so I headed down towards the river. Before the many river I passed a stagnant pool remnant of a tributary.
Sadly the many many dragonflies and damselflies enjoying themselves would not pose, but this guy did (thought the pic is not as good as I’d hoped).
And with that, I really am caught up.
It would be a good Australia, if north Queensland were not missing. (The wonky Tasmania doesn’t really matter: they’ve got so many issues down there, one more won’t make a difference
)
One of my Great Great Grandfathers was born in Tassie too (Hobart).