Conspiracy of dull tasks

Very dull tasks: car repair and dental appointments. Plural. Whilst fairly small in themselves, they seem to have conspired to eat up the little bit of spare time I might have spent getting outdoors.

The weather might be a factor too: until the last week or so, I've often managed to sneak in a short walk between appointments. This means I'm in work clothes, which tend not to include several layers of thermals (a bit too warm in the office, and the beetroot-faced look is not a good one). So that hasn't happened much lately, this being the coldest, and probably windiest, Spring in England since 1962, according to the Met Office.

Still, this blog seems to chime with the zeitgeist about the value of the outdoors: the new National Trust magazine is all about it, including best NT wildlife spotting sites:

• Bosherston Lakes, Pembrokeshire
• Farne Islands, Northumberland
• Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire
• Murlough Dunes, County Down
• Arnside Knott, Cumbria

It also lists NT sites which stage weekly 'parkruns' which sound lovely, although sadly none are near where I live:

• Killerton and Plym Valley in Devon
• Sheringham Park, Norfolk
• Tredegar House, Newport
• Wimpole Estate, Cambridgeshire

Undaunted, I'm inspired to explore Tatton Park, a (fairly) nearby NT site whose 1000 acre deer park dates back to 1290. My last visit revealed a new hide by one of the meres which didn't, sadly, enable me to spot the alleged kingfishers or sand martins, but maybe this time patience will prevail.