Calke Abbey part 3

Last part today, of our ramble around Calke Abbey and the Staunton Harold Reservoir. A couple of pictures of the reservoir firstly. As we left the Abbey and church behind and said goodbye to the deer, we walked back down to the shore of the reservoir. Here, we were afforded the sight of a plane heading int East Midlands Airport, you can just see it in the middle of this picture.  You can also see how dry the weather has been by the large expanse of 'beach' which has been exposed at the water's edge.

Some sections of the reservoir are picturesque in the extreme, with Weeping Willows cascading into the waters and lilies covering the surface with their pads and yellow flowers. Simply beautiful...

Having headed back along the entrance drive to the Abbey, we crossed the road which leads to the village of Ticknall and walked across a field which gave us a wonderful view of the village and the spire of the church of St. George which dominates the view from here. As usual, the church was covered with scaffolding, so the image was slightly (but only slightly) spoiled.

Among the most impressive plants which we saw on our walk, were the Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans) which were growing in the field from where the last view was taken. Fiercely spiny and frighteningly thorny, the flowers are a fantastic purple colour and require much closer (and careful) inspection. The many tiny, black, pollen beetles which were munching their way around the flowers were also appreciating them.

Another impressive plant was one of the crops grown by the local farmers. This was a field of Maize which we walked through earlier on our trek. The crops were all crying out for rain, so the showers which have fallen this week, have been very welcome.

Back to Jayne's house for coffee before returning home. Thanks again to Jayne for the walk and we look forward to the next one.