Thomas

Pensthorpe 2025 1: Setting the Scene

The opening post in what wiull be a series about the annual West Norfolk Autism Group outing to Pensthorpe Nature Reserve.

Yesterday saw the annual West Norfolk Autism Group outing to Pensthorpe, a nature reserve near the town of Fakenham in Norfolk. This post lays out the day and introduces areas of the reserve that I will be covering in more detail, before ending with some general Pensthorpe pictures that don’t belong in any particular post. Please note for both this and subsequent posts in the series: a gallery can be opened by clicking on the first picture there in, and viewing pictures as a gallery enables them to be seen at larger size.

THE DAY IN BRIEF

Some of those coming on this trip had chosen to make their own way to Pensthorpe and meet us there, but for those who either did not wish to do this or had no option of doing so a coach had been hired. Departure from the parking area near Gaywood Library (King’s Lynn and its environs are not massively equipped with places where a coach can park up) was scheduled for 9:30AM, meaning that to ensure a prompt departure we had to get there a bit before that to take our places. As it happens other than the driver and his young son who was also along for the day I was the first to arrive and board the coach. We set off exactly at the appointed hour, and pulled into the coach parking area at Pensthorpe at approximately 10:15 (Pensthorpe when approached from King’s Lynn is a little further than Fakenham, and a road diversion forced us closer to the centre of Fakenham than would have been normal for a journey to Pensthorpe). After a group photograph using the coach as a backdrop we were ready to start the day in earnest. Equipped with brightly coloured paper wristbands by way of indicating that our admission was paid we set off. The only absolutely fixed points of the day were the trailer rides (I was booked on the second of the two we had organized, due to depart at noon) and the return journey, scheduled for 3:15PM (and we departed exactly on time, arriving back at Gaywood just after 4PM). The rest was up to us. There is a huge amount to see and to do at Pensthorpe, and the next section briefly introduces some of things I did, with photographic highlights.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS

One of my favoured areas at Pensthorpe is the Waders Aviary, to which I made several visits (it is centrally located, so on the way to or from almost anywhere on the site).

Not all of the birds in the Waders Aviary are actually Waders.

Also ideally located for dipping in and out of as and when is the Discovery Centre.

The Trailer Ride is as far as I am concerned an essential part of the Pensthorpe experience:

My other great favourite, which I visited twice in the course of the day, is the Crane and Flamingo area.

These are neither crane nor flamingo, but were to be seen in between the Flamingo pool and the Crane hide.

GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHS

I end with photos from non-specific parts of Pensthorpe:

A nesting coot (moorhens also build floating nests).

James and Sons April Auction

A look back at James and Sons’ April Auction, a brief mention of County Championship action and a photo gallery.

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week James and Sons had its April auction, 1,000 stamp and postal history lots across the two days. On day one I was at work, one floor above where the auction was taking place, but had left bids on two lots, the fate of which would decide my approach to day two where I would be following from home.

A MODESTLY SUCCESSFUL AUCTION

The opening day of the auction went well overall for the company, and well for me personally – I got both lots I had left bids on, and both sufficiently cheaply that I was still in a position to bid on more items on day two. Lot 193 was the first of my lots:

Lot 398 was five pages of Russian steam locomotive stamps:

DAY TWO

This could have been a very quiet day, but fortunately it wasn’t completely so. The biggest success of the day was lot 762, which went for £140. My first bid of the day was on lot 701, and I was successful:

Lot 728 was my next success…

Lots 785 and 840 also went to me…

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

Another round of County Championship fixtures got underway today. Due to a meeting this morning I missed the first session of play, and I will be missing most of tomorrow as it is the West Norfolk Autism Group’s annual outing to Pensthorpe. However I have got to enjoy Somerset having superb afternoon and evening against Essex at Taunton. Essex were 115-2 at the high water mark of their innings, but since then it has been one-way traffic – they are now 180-9 with Noah Thain having just gone for 41, caught Rew bowled Pretorius. I am not entirely sure about Kasun Rajitha;s batting credentials, though the fact that he is below Sam Cook, sometimes adhesive (as indeed he was today) but unquestionably a tail ender, tells one something, but Jamie Porter is an absolutely blown in the glass genuine number 11.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

These coasters (seven images in total) are an early birthday present from my boss.

Lancashire v Hampshire

A look back at today’s Women’s One Day cup match between Lancashire and Hampshire and a photo gallery.

Today Lancashire have been playing Hampshire in the Women’s One Day Cup. I missed the Lancashire innings due to the James and Sons April auction, but I did catch the whole of the chase.

MAGNIFICENT MCCAUGHAN

The match took place at Southport, a small ground (in 1982 Geoff Humpage hit 13 sixes in an innings there, in a match that his side ended up losing by 10 wickets – Warwickshire 523-4 declared (Humpage 254, Kallicharran 230*) and 111 (McFarlane 6-59), Lancashire 414-6 declared (Fowler 128) and 226-0 (Fowler 126 not out, D Lloyd 88 not out). Lancashire scored 292-6 in this 50 overs a side match, Eve Jones scoring 107 and Emma Lamb 86. They fell away a little after a very strong start, something noted by the radio commentators, and were probably a little short in the end. Hampshire’s openers, Bouchier and McCaughan started strongly. It was Bouchier who initially forced the pace, scoring 77 off 69 balls before being stumped by Threlkeld off Morris to make it 138-1. McCaughan then moved up a gear as senior partner, and found good support from Charli Knott. Knott had reached 47 without ever looking in any trouble, but then Emma Lamb pinned her LBW and it was 259-2, McCaughan having by then passed three figures. The target was now only 34 runs away, and 8.3 overs remained to be bowled. Neither McCaughan, who finished with 133 nor out, nor new batter and Hampshire skipper Georgia Adams (20 not out off 18 including a four and six) had any difficulty with a task that had by then become very straightforward. The winning hit came off the last ball of the 47th over, with eight wickets standing. A scorecard can be viewed here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Derbyshire v Middlesex

A look at the final day of Derbyshire v Middlesex in the county championship, a harsh but justified assessment of Derbyshire’s overseas seamer and a photo gallery,

The only live cricket today was the final day of Derbyshire versus Middlesex, and this post looks briefly at the final day’s action.

ALMOST A QUIET MORNING

From the start of play at 11 o’clock until 12:56PM, four minutes before the scheduled lunch break the overnight batters for Middlesex, Stevie Eskinazi and Max Holden batted largely serenely through on a so called ‘hybrid’ pitch. A couple of hard chances went down, but few would have said that a wicketless morning was other than a fair reflection on the balance of play. Then Holden, on 94 and anxious to reach three figures before the interval had a total brain fade, essayed a huge drive at left arm orthodox spinner Jack Morley, missed and was bowled. That brought the injured Leus du Plooy, recently moved south from Derbyshire (Martin Andersson, who went the other way, will have much fonder memories of this match than him) in to bat, with Nathan Fernandes who had been out to the first ball of the innings acting as runner. Immediately there was a calamitous mix up which cost the other set batter, Eskinazi, his wicket for 61, and suddenly the door which had seemed firmly shut and all but bolted was ajar.

THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING

Derbyshire had an excellent afternoon, and had Middlesex six down at tea, but the lead by then was just over 100, and though they had work still to do, Middlesex really were within sight of victory. The two batters resuming for them, Ryan Higgins and Zafar Gohar played sensibly until, with the game virtually safe a couple of moments of silliness occurred. First Gohar, on 44, tried to get to 50 in one blow, did not quite get all of it, but got lucky when the chance was dropped, and then in the very next over Higgins, on 56, offered a chance that was accepted. However, by this stage the main question appeared to be at what point hands would be shaken on the draw, with the smart money being on with 15 overs still scheduled. Gohar got his 50, and new batter Blake Cullen played sensibly, and with the score 307-7, a lead for Middlesex of exactly 150, and 15 overs remaining to be bowled Derbyshire skipper Madsen did indeed accept that Middlesex had done enough, on a pitch that did not offer enough to the bowlers for a result ever to be likely. Middlesex had missed avoiding the follow-on by just eight runs, and had they scored those eight it is wildly unlikely that Derbyshire would have been able to create even the hope of a winning position – Madsen would probably had had to tell his side to go hell for leather until lunch, declare at that interval and then hope they bowled and fielded superbly, but he would probably not have been bold enough to take this approach. One final point: I looked up Derbyshire’s overseas seamer, New Zealander Blair Tickner and discovered that in 83 first class matches before this one he had taken 251 wickets at 34.22. The average would be on the high side for a home bowler, and for an overseas one, with the extra pay they get, it is simply unacceptable. The wicket taking rate of three scalps per match (almost exactly) is on the low side as well, a whole wicket per match below what I would consider acceptable. My own view is that if Tickner, a workaday seamer, was the best Derbyshire could do in this regard, they would have been better not to bother with an overseas signing.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

My first cranefly sighting of 2025, in the grassland near the Gaywood River path in North Lynn.

A Day of Results

An account of Hampshire v Surrey in the Women’s One Day Cup and a look around in the grounds in the men’s county championship, plus a photo gallery.

Today is day three of the current round of county championship matches, and there is now only one match remaining to be decided. For the most of the day my attention was devoted to Hampshire Women v Surrey Women in the Women’s One Day Cup, and I will write about that match in detail before providing very brief descriptions of happenings elsewhere.

HAMPSHIRE OUTDO SURREY

Hampshire’s opening pair, McCaughan and Bouchier, gave their side a very strong start. Bouchier was particularly impressive for her 61. At 116-0 in the 22nd over Hampshire looked headed for a big total, but Surrey came back well after that, and in the end the total was 259-8, which looked it should be chaseable. Kalea Moore and Alice Capsey each took two wickets, but the best bowler for Surrey was Danielle Gregory, whose leg spin yielded a return of 10-0-32-1. Rebecca Tyson, making her first appearance in a game at this level, made her first interventions early in the Surrey reply, taking catches to account for both openers, Bryony Smith for 6 and Danni Wyatt-Hodge for 2. The bowlers off whom these catches were taken were Lauren Bell and Freya Davies, both tall, and both with long blonde hair. Capsey, the Surrey number three, dug in, but wickets continued to fall regularly at the other end. Dunkley was bowled by Bell for 4, Alice Davidson-Richards fell LBW to Linsey Smith for 19, the left arm spinner’s first victim, and Paige Scholfield was run out for 15, at which point it was 98-5. Alice Monaghan was the first Surrey player other than Capsey to play an innings of substance, playing the more aggressive role while Capsey was anchoring things. A sharp return catch by Smith ended Monaghan’s innings at 40, and in her very next over Smith took another fine return catch to get Surrey keeper Kira Chathli for 6. Then came the moment that virtually settled things, with 173 runs on the board, when Capsey, on 57, was caught by Georgia Adams off Freya Davies. That made it eight down and only numbers 9,10 and 11 to attempt to score 87 between them. 19 of these had been amassed when Tyson secured her first wicket, trapping Franklin LBW. Gregory did her best to support Moore, and the final wicket was something of a freak dismissal: Moore hit one back hard at Tyson, who was not able to cling on to what would have been a sensational caught and bowled, but the ball hit the bowler’s end stumps with Gregory out of her ground at that end, so it was a run out.

ELSEWHERE

In the County Championship match I followed for its first two days I had expected today not to be terribly eventful. Surrey extended their first innings lead to 84, Lawrence ending undefeated on 55. Somerset then suffered an epic batting collapse, being 38-7 at one stage (and this was effectively 38-8 with Dickson confirmed as unable to bat due to injury). Migael Pretorius and Lewis Gregory prevented the innings defeat, with the former scoring a half century. Pretorius’ innings was ended by the sort of catch that sets Ben Foakes apart from other wicket keepers, giving James Taylor his first wicket of the season. A few moments later Taylor ended the innings by having Leach caught by Sibley at first slip. That left Surrey needing 36 to win, which they achieved for the loss of two wickets.

Durham had already beaten Worcestershire before the end of yesterday, Worcestershire managing 162 and 81, and Durham 136 and 108-4.

Sussex mounted a bit of a fightback against Nottinghamshire in their match, but were still only able to set Nottinghamshire 148, and they made that target look trifling, winning by nine wickets.

Gloucestershire managed to set Leicestershire 143 in the final innings at Bristol, and there were times when that looked like being enough, but in the end Leicestershire got home two wickets. Dominic Goodman collected nine wickets in the match for Gloucestershire.

With only five matches scheduled for this round that leaves only Derbyshire v Middlesex in action. Middlesex put Derbyshire in, when Derbyshire would have batted first in any case. It was the home team who had judged things better – they racked up 472 batting first. Middlesex were all out for 315 in reply, which meant that 157 (150 is the Rubicon point in this context) that Derbyshire were able to enforce the follow-on, which it being late on day three meaning that there was insufficient time to build a big lead and then put Middlesex back in, they duly did. They have taken one early wicket, but Holden (16*) and Eskinazi (19*) are looking reasonably comfortable at present, with the score 35-1.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Surrey v Somerset

A look at developments in the match currently taking place between Surrey and Somerset at The Oval, a composite Surrey/ Somerset XI and two photo galleries,

This post will feature a look at goings on in the match between Surrey and Somerset at The Oval, two photo galleries (reminder, click on the first photo in a gallery to view that gallery as a gallery and see the pictures at a larger size) and a composite XI (see feature image) for these two counties.

THE CURRENT MATCH

The latest round of county championship fixtures got underway yesterday morning, and the obvious fixture to follow was Surrey v Somerset. Surrey won the toss and decided to bowl first. At lunch, when Somerset were 87-0 (albeit with Sean Dickson having been injured and at least temporarily removed from the action) Somerset would have been the happier side. In the afternoon session the Surrey bowlers made things happen with a vengeance, and at 187-7 it was looking like their day. A fightback, to which the injured Dickson contributed by coming in to support Gregory at the end of the innings saw the Somerset innings end too late in the day for the Surrey reply to begin, with a total of 283 on the board. Jordan Clark had five wickets in the innings, and Atkinson, one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the year after his sensational start in test cricket last season, had also fared well with the ball. Somerset’s bowling was not at full strength – they had lost Matt Henry, the NZ ace, before the match started, and between the toss and the start of play Craig Overton suffered a back spasm, with Surrey (who would have been entitled to refuse to allow a change to be made after the toss) graciously acceding to Somerset’s request to replace him with Josh Davey. Burns and Sibley made it to lunch still together and with no serious alarms, the score then being 99-0. Barring a brief passage of play in which Burns went for 76 and Pope for 3 things have continued to look pretty comfortable for Surrey. They are currently 173-2, with Sibley 47 not out and Jamie Smith 26 not out. Sibley has just been bowled by Leach for 53 and it is 188-3. Surrey have passed 200 while I have been prepping this post for publication – the score is now 205-3, Smith 39 and Foakes 12.

GALLERY ONE

A SOMERSET/SURREY COMBINED XI

I refer readers to my all time XIs for each county (here and here) which will cover a lot of the players not mentioned in this post and give more details about the members of the XI. As the feature image shows I have made two changes to the Somerset XI since that post was created – golden age amateur Lionel Palairet gives way at number three to James Rew (although I have acknowledged it I consider his wicket keeping something of a red herring in terms of where his actual value lies), and Dom Bess, who I should never have named in the first place, has been replaced by Somerset’s actual great off spinner, Brian Langford. There is also one change to the Surrey XI, Foakes replacing Alec Stewart as keeper and middle order batter.

Jack Hobbs (Surrey, right handed opening bat, occasional right arm medium pacer).
John Edrich (Surrey, left handed opening bat)
Ken Barrington (Surrey, right handed batter, occasional leg spinner)
Graham Thorpe (Surrey, left handed batter, occasional right arm medium pacer)
Peter May (Surrey, right handed batter).
+Ben Foakes (Surrey, right handed batter, wicket keeper)
*Sammy Woods (Somerset, right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, captain)
‘Farmer’ White (Somerset, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed batter)
Joel Garner (Somerset, West Indies, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter)
Jim Laker (Surrey, off spinner, right handed batter)
Tom Richardson (Surrey, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter)

I designate Leonard Braund as ‘twelfth’: he has connections to both counties involved, having started at Surrey before moving west, as an all rounder (and he did open for Somerset quite often by the way) he could replace at least ten of the players in this XI without absolutely hamstringing it, and he was noted as an expert slip fielder which at least offers hope that he could perform competently behind the stumps as well.

Aside from Rew, now in the Somerset XI, but not capable of dislodging any of that Surrey 3,4 and 5 from the composite side as yet there are two other players who have emerged since I created the original XIs on which this post draws who have to be mentioned: Jamie Smith, currently England’s chosen test match wicket keeper (though somewhat miscast in that role in my view), who is a quality player, but I who will not name as keeper ahead of Foakes, and who has not yet done enough to claim a front line batting place, and Gus Atkinson, who for all his great start at the highest level has a way to go to be a serious threat to any of Garner, Richardson or Bedser (in the Surrey all time XI). It has been my policy when creating these XIs for counties or composites of two counties to only allow myself one overseas player, which is why Waqar Younis cannot be accommodated (Garner’s great height lends extra variety to the pace attack, which is why I plumped for him).

GALLERY TWO

Sunrisers Hyderabad v Mumbai Indians (So Far)

A little look at the Sunrisers Hyderabad innings which has started today’s IPL match (Sunrisers Hyderabad v Mumbai Indians) and two photo galleries.

Today’s IPL match is between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians. It is just approaching the halfway stage as I begin this blog post.

AN ATROCIOUS START

By the time I got back from my post lunch walk the match was underway. Sunrisers Hyderabad were 9-1 when I joined the coverage. That very soon become 9-2, and then two more wickets fell before the Power Play was done. The low water mark saw SRH 13-4 after 4.1 overs. When Aniket Verma was out after 8.3 overs the score was 35-5, and SRH felt impelled to use their ‘impact sub’ to bolster the batting, which meant that Mohammad Shami, presumably their intended ‘impact sub’ would be confined to the bench.

PHOTO GALLERY ONE

An important reminder: if you click on the first image in a photo gallery you can view the entire gallery as a slide show AND see the images at a larger size than they appear in the post. I have two galleries in this post. The first features largely pictures from Monday evening and from yesterday either side of work, with a couple from today, and the second is all today. This is the first…

THE REVIVAL

Abhinav Manohar, the chosen ‘impact sub’ teamed up with Heinrich Klaasen to get SRH back into it. Klaasen was out to the final ball of the 19th over by when the score had risen to 134. Manohar has just gone, his dismissal making it 142-7. A single accrued after that and then another wicket off the final ball of the innings. This means that SRH had a total of 143-8 to defend, modest by IPL standards, but a lot more than it looked like being at the halfway stage, and we have recently seen Punjab Kings successfully defend a mere 111, bowling their opponents that day, Kolkata Knight Riders, out for just 95. The sheer awfulness of the SRH start probably means that they are on a bit of a high due to their recovery, and mutatis mutandis MI.

GALLERY TWO

Here is my second gallery…

Day Four – Here, There and Everywhere

A look at the state of play as the current round of championship matches approaches a conclusion, and a large photo gallery.

The current round of county championship fixtures is drawing to a conclusion. Some games are already over, either through definite results being achieved or through weather induced abandonments. This post has a look round some of the grounds.

ESSEX v WORCESTERSHIRE

This match did not make it as far as the lunch interval, but did make it further than looked like being the case at one point. Worcestershire resumed on 185-6, still 110 short of victory. Jamie Porter bowled superbly, and at 202-9, with 93 required to win it looked done and dusted. Ethan Brookes batted superbly, with number 11 Jacob Duffy blocking every ball he was left to face, and the target started to come down. Brookes was in sight of a century and the deficit was down to 28 when Porter took a low return catch to claim the final wicket, his sixth scalp of the innings and eighth of the match. Brookes stood there, but eventually the umpires told him to go and the match was confirmed as over. The final margin was 28 runs, and Brookes, in a match where almost everyone had found batting a challenge had scored 88, almost half of them in sixes. While Porter was the best bowler on either side in this match the key contribution for Essex was Paul Walter’s second innings century, which helped Essex to top 300 in that innings and left Worcestershire a target that was just too tough for them. Brookes is definitely one to watch for the future, as is young Essex all rounder Noah Thain. Paul Walter has been a revelation this season after Essex moved him up to open – while his 104 in this match was his first century of the season he had mad big contributions in both Essex’s previous matches.

THREE WAY
BATTLE AT LORD’S

Middlesex have had by the far the better of things against Glamorgan, but the third participant there, the weather, may be having the final say – the players were taken off for bad light just before tea with Middlesex only 39 runs from victory with nine wickets standing, and since then the threatened rain has actually materialized which may well have saved Glamorgan.

THE WHITE FEATHER

This week’s cowards are Gloucestershire, who, in full control against Kent, batted on and on until their lead was 410 and there was almost zero possibility of them bowling Kent out a second time.

A DELAYED START

Nottinghamshire must have been worried that they would not get the chance to attempt to take the last four Warwickshire wickets to seal an innings victory but that game has just got underway. Five overs have been bowled since the resumption, 31 more are possible and Nottinghamshire still need four wickets. There is an even more delayed start scheduled – Lancashire v Leicestershire will get underway at 4:30PM with Leicestershire needing seven wickets to win it.

CONFIRMED DRAWS

Yorkshire v Durham and Derbyshire v Northamptonshire have been confirmed as draws, Sussex v Surrey and Somerset v Hampshire are surely destined to go the same way.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Today being damp has brought the snails out in force…

A ‘public libraries’ 50p in circulation, currently in my wallet.

A Classic Contest at Chelmsford

A look at the match between Essex and Worcestershire that is now approaching a conclusion and a photo gallery.

Another round of County Championship matches got underway on Friday. I missed the first two sessions of Friday, the beginning of Saturday and the post tea session of Saturday due to various commitments, but have been following the action when able to. My focus this round has been on Essex v Worcestershire, and it has been a fine match.

A PITCH ON WHICH NO ONE IS REALLY ‘IN’

The pitch at Chelmsford has been offering something to the bowlers all the way through this match. There were no individual 50+ scores in the first two innings (Essex 179, Worcestershire 202). By the time I had to leave at tea yesterday Paul Walter had reached the first 50 of the match and was looking as near to settled as any batter had managed on that surface. I was to find out when I checked on what had happened on my return that he had completed a century and that youngster Noah Thain (a native of Cambridgeshire, which has produced some mighty cricketers over the years, most notably Jack Hobbs and Tom Hayward both of Surrey) was closing in on a 50 of his own. This morning Thain completed his half century, his first such score in first class cricket. He did not add many more, going for 54, but the Essex tail wagged more than a little, Harmer and especially Snater who got to within sight of a 50 of his own batting well for the home team. In the end Essex had amassed 317, at least 100 above par for this surface. It was expected that there would be time for two overs of the Worcestershire second innings before the lunch interval, but Porter dismissed Jake Libby with the second ball of the innings, and in the end that wicket extended the first over to a sufficient extent that Worcestershire did not have to face another before lunch. Through the afternoon session Essex kept picking up wickets. Kashif Ali did manage to become the first Worcestershire batter to reach an individual 50 but had not advanced his score from that point when Harmer, on for an exploratory over before the tea interval, got him. Brett D’Oliveira and Matthew Waite then defied the bowlers for a time, but just as I started this post D’Oliveira was caught by Walter off Porter. As things stand at the moment Worcestershire are 171-6, needing 124 more to win. Though Essex, thanks largely to Walter with that century, are heavy favourites this match has been an absorbing contest, helped to be so by the fact that batters have had to work hard for their runs and bowlers have got full rewards for doing the right things. Kasun Rajitha, the first Sri Lankan to play for Essex, took a five-for in the first Worcestershire innings. Sam Cook has been rested for this game on the advice of the ECB, which tells me that an England cap is coming for him, as it should be given his first class record (318 wickets in FC cricket at 19.77 a piece).

PHOTOGRAPHS

This gallery starts with two pictures from Friday, then a number from yesterday, and a few from today to round things out (I have several other galleries ready to go should I choose to use them)…

I spotted this red admiral on the walk home from Boal Quay Car Park after the seal trip on Friday.

Sun and Seals

A look back at a trip I took with my parents yesterday to see the seals at Blakeney Point. This post has a huge photo gallery.

My parents are in Norfolk at the moment, and yesterday we went out to see the seals. This involves catching a boat from Morston Quay, and at this time of year where the pups are still quite young no disembarkation is allowed at Blakeney Point where the seals congregate. Morston Quay is not accessible to a non-driver, so this is an activity that I could only participate in with the assistance of someone who drives. This post is largely to share the very large photo gallery that the trip yielded.

THE DAY IN DETAIL

First thing in the morning it was cloudy in King’s Lynn, but there never felt like being a threat of rain and in the course of the car journey to Morston Quay the clouds completely dissipated so we arrived at our destination. The breeze was sufficient to require a jumper to be worn, though there was enough heat in the sun that it was fairly clear that absent the breeze the jumper could have been discarded. The boat trip, in our case with Beans Boats, involved going out to the landward side of Blakeney Point (although a stout craft, and equipped with all the necessary safety devices the boat was not suitable for going into the open sea beyond Blakeney Point), making several passes alongside the area where the seals were congregating (there were also a few seals out in the water, as the gallery will show) and then returning. I think everyone got splashed with sea water during the journey. We had originally hoped to have lunch at a pub called The Hero, but that establishment was absolutely packed out, so we looked elsewhere. In Burnham Market, just inland, and therefore not as busy as those places right on the coast, we found a place called The Nelson and had an excellent meal there. We then returned to King’s Lynn.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Although the seals were the stars of the day, there were also some interesting sea birds on show. Enjoy the gallery…

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