time for some good news ...
"‘It’s unbelievable the difference a path has made’: how volunteers are building a #cycle network a yard at a time - In the past two years, multiple sections of a hoped-for 76-mile rural #cycling and #walking route spanning #Somerset have sprouted up around the small town of Shepton Mallet, seemingly every few weeks.
These new routes are popular. One 300-metre section of path in the heart of the town, for example, uses one of Historic Railway Estates’ bridges for the first time for a cycle route (an organisation usually more given to infilling its structures).
The path, with its smooth surface and artwork, ducks under a busy road that was previously terrifying for walkers and cyclists to have to cross. Now a large housing area is safely connected to schools, shops, parks and local businesses. Within a year, digital counters detected 104,000 trips – in a town of fewer than 10,000 people."
A fabulous day in Somerset - Bittern, Hobby, Swift, House Martin, Garganey amongst 44 species at RSPB Ham Wall; Wood Sandpiper at Tealham Moor. Good company and great birding.
Great White or Great White Egret (depending on where you come from) with gorgeous breeding season green lores 😀. And some Sand Martin zipping about.