Monday 29th June 2026

I needed the rest on Sunday.

And with falling temperatures and no evening game, I slept better than I have for a week.

So the question on Monday morning was whether to go to the gym, or wait until Tuesday as normal.

In the end, I thought another day of rest would do it, so would try to lay in.

In the end, I didn't. Up early enough so that it was cool before ethe sun got higher and warmer.

Coffee and checking on the world.

Slow to start.

However, with the day being sunny, not too breezy, and just warm, what better way to spend time than to go back to Sandwich Bay.

Before then, Jools had a mentoring session at the gym,. I would drop her off, then go to the vets to collect new syringes and drop off the sharp box, before going into town for another B12 injection.

Jools was dropped off fine, even after leaving our departure a little late. I collected the syringes, and had twenty minutes to get into town, find a place to park beside ASDA and then walk through to the surgery.

This I did with three minutes to spare, I took a seat and was waited to be called.

Suzanne welcomed me, we made small talk while she got the shot ready. I turn my gaze away and she jabbed.

See you on Wednesday!

Back outside, and back to the car and braving the one way system along London Road to up through Buckland and back to the sports centre to wait for Jools.

We were all done by eleven, so took a steady drive along the Sandwich Road past Eastry, then through the houses to the estate.

And once at the observatory, we found the car park nearly full, so we find a space. I go inside to make sure there was no ringing so that we could enter the fenced area to look for orchids and other rare plants.

The Southern Marsh are over for another year, but the numbers of Marsh helleborines have trebled in the two weeks since I was last here. I take a few shots.

Then go round to the other side of the enclosure to look for another rare plant, Yellow bartsia. The area where they usually grown in large numbers flooded over the winter, and vegetation is only now returning.

But as I walk along the path, I see three spikes of my target species, just beginning to flower.

On the way back to the observatory, I am distracted time and time again by butterflies: A Brown argus, a couple of Gatekepers, several Meadow Browns, even more Marbled whites, Large and Small skippers, and several Small coppers, all of which I chase and snap a couple.

We walk back over the meadow, over the road then along towards Deal until we come to a stile, through that and into the Land of the Dragons.

Four pools have been dug, three of them since one of our target species, the Dainty damselfly was rediscovered here. I know which pond to focus on, and soon find several male Dainty.

Which I snap.

And then a single female, which I also snap.

Around the original pond, where the vegetation is thickets, there are many more damsels and dragons, including a Red-veined darter which after ten minutes of chasing, I get shots of. A life tick.

We sit for a while, enjoying the sunshine and breeze, and the fact we have nothing to get back for, just lunch and some more relaxing.

This is our life now. And is great.

We walked back to the car, then began the drive home, going via Deal so to call in at Sainsbury's, as we needed some bread and decent olive oil.

Cold pressed Italian olive oil, though they didn't have any from Tuscany, they did have a bottle from Umbria, so bought that. Also a baton roll for lunch, and some meat and bacon to put in it.

So that once home we had a refreshing brew and half a baton each.

The afternoon was spent writing and listening to stuff before it was dinnertime, feed the cats and make Caprese and warm the bread up.

We eat, drink and were merry.

All done in time for the first game of the Evening: Brasil v Japan, which was a very good game: Japan scored in the first half, and Brasil had to dig deep in the second to level, then score the winner in injury time.