Titchwell RSPB!

Sunday 24th June

I took my mother out in her new wheelchair for the first time and we spent a couple of hours at Titchwell RSPB. The chair needed dismantling completely in order to get it in my car, but it was fairly quick to do. Mother seemed to enjoy herself, but felt guilty about me pushing her around, which was very silly as I enjoyed it just as much as she did. We walked around the Fen Trail, to Patsy's Pool and to the furthest end of the East Trail – my mother had never seen this part of the reserve and she loved looking at the rich array of wild flowers. We both remarked about the lack of bird song and also the massive lack of butterflies this year, although we did see our first Painted Lady just outside the garden at Holme this morning. We luckily heard a Cetti's Warbler bursting into song by the Fen Hide – Ray Kimber told us that all the resident Cetti's Warblers perished in the winter and this was the first bird they had heard sing since then. We then went a short way along the main path, but the sun was getting very hot, so we returned to the visitor centre for an early lunch.

The RSPB have a new lunch menu and I choose 'Coronation Quorn' (whole quorn pieces, lightly spiced with apricots, apple, mango chutney, in a light yogurt and mayonnaise dressing) with jacket potato and salad – this was the most exciting veggie meal I have ever had at any nature reserve, it really was scrumptious. I hope very much that they don't take it off the menu! I managed to position mother's wheelchair at the table without her having to get out and it was fairly cool sitting inside the 'Feeding Station'. We purchased some bird food from the shop, then returned home to chill in mother's house, which is always cool in hot weather – one of the best places to be.