Gosford

We arrived in the early evening so there was plenty of time to get settled. Once the tent was up, we all set off for the reverse walk through the forest, to the animal paddocks and eventually the mill race and wheel next the entrance to the site.

As we came out of the woods, in the corner of a paddock, a crows of female deer were grazing. We created as much an occasion for them and admire each other mutually. As the rest of the paddock came into view, the males arrived with their antlers bristling. Their interest certainly seemed slightly less than curious.

By now the temperature was dropping and eventually the overcast sky began to shed its burden whipped along by a cutting wind. The rare breeds of black bulls, multi-horned sheep, poultry and other random farm-yard beasts did not get much attention as we sought shelter.

The next day was seriously sluggish. We all must have needed a good break because we all struggled to find any motivation instead preferring to chill, read a book or whatever. When the sad news came that the Planetarium event we wanted to see was booked out, well we just collapsed in a heap of inactivity.

Eventually we got the energy to prepare for home. Before leaving I set off on at least one decent bike ride through the grounds. Following the supposedly "easy cycle trail" for 6K I wandered round the edges of arboretum and into the forest. Although the trees were only getting ready for the spring, the birds were singing loudly about it; hoping about the branches and flitting between trees. By Greer's Fort - a rath - I decided to pause and see if I could get some pictures of these birds who were proving very elusive but tempting with the flashes of yellow, blue and red feathers.

The rath is fairly large with a variaty of trees surrounding it. In one corner I caught a nest of primroses nicely in bloom. In another while tracking some finches I caught sight of a bushy gray squirrel's tail but by the time I had navigated the puddles and water-logged field I lost its owner up a tree.