The Topsham shelduck pair guarding their ducklings, while they slept huddled up in a heap at the end of the jetty. If they had been there all night, the ducklings were getting a good lie in: they were still resting after ten that morning, and the tide was just beginning to go down.
The Goat Walk in Topsham is a narrow footpath by the Exe, giving wide views over the last stretch of the estuary as far as the river mouth and the sea beyond. Growing by the side of the path was a patch of rock samphire.
Summer flowers from a wisteria growing over the walls of several houses in Topsham village, on plants which looked mature enough to perhaps date back to the Victorian popularity of the species, yet thriving still.
A second day’s visit to the RSPB reserve at Bowling Green Marsh. The two spoonbills were still in the same spot, with the lesser egret still nearby, and a heron joining as well. Still not a glimpse of the spoonbills’ bills though.
A tiny insect, perhaps a bee, searching for pollen as it wandered over a thistle flower.
Another unexpected species showing on the RSPB Bowling Green Marsh reserve in summer: some godwits. These were just sitting and standing by the shore, resting.