The Goosey
Yesterday I went for a walk to and around ‘The Goosey’. taking these two pictures on the way there. It’s an island, south of the town, formed by the two branches of The River Great Ouse as it flows East towards Kings Lynn. It is basically an inland island and consists of two large grazing fields which a local farmer uses to graze his sheep. There is a fence round both fields leaving a green footpath all around the perimeter. In the winter when the river is high after a lot rain the island can be submerged and become a lake!. Yesterday I had my drone out and knowing I would be making a post today took this picture. The island starts at the bottom right corner of this picture and ends at the top left, Its probably about a mile all the way round.
The Goosey
I decided to take option of a walk here as a change from the routine afternoon dog walks nearer to my home. It’s about a mile from my house and probably about a mile all the way round. Also I wanted somewhere different for some photography. I took a few photos on the way including this Heron. I got as close as I could without disturbing him. I just used the lens I had on the camera, Fujifilm 16-55mm f2.8. I had a 70-300mm telephoto lens in my bag but didn’t want to disturb him before I was ready. After I took that photo he took off and flew a bit further along the path and I took another, I think, having given me a full frontal view he thought he would give me a side view !
Apart from that It was an uneventful walk until about two thirds of the way round (clockwise), I encountered a mother sheep and a largish lamb in front of me. They didn’t run away though, just kept their distance, about 3 metres ahead of Max and I. They had obviously escaped over or through the fence from the field out onto the path. I was concerned they would just keep going like this until we completed the lap and then they would be free to access the exit out onto the road. What it really needed was for someone to come the other way and push them back.
I tried a few times to get off the path and into one of the many anglers fishing ‘bays’ called ‘pegs’ all the way round. This would allow them to come back the way they came. However they just stood and looked at us, I tried this a. few times as we went around to no avail. I eventually attempted a new tactic when we came to bigger, longer, narrow ‘peg’ by the side of a hedge. I walked past, stopped, and the sheep stopped. I turned around and walked back quickly into the space and got behind a hedge, out of sight. The sheep didn’t follow immediately. I could see them though through the hedge and they started to come back, very slowly but they eventually got level with us and as I moved behind them they charged back from the way they had come, success !! And homeward bound, for me. There are always reports on the local Facebook page from people warning there are sheep loose and asking how to contact the farmer.
These pictures are on the exit route, just as you walk off the island