Weekend Run - 13km (...catching up on the rest my week off)

dannewton just finished a 13.15km run, that lasted for 81 minutes.
This run helped dannewton burn 1003.0 calories.

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Description from Strava: Following up on from the post a couple of days ago... I've currently in the middle of a rather enjoyable weeks holiday from work. I say 'holiday' but we haven't gone away anywhere, as money is a little bit tight at the moment.

Instead, we having been heading out on various day trips...

On Friday we headed out to another little nature reserve up at Scotton Common.

It is a place that has been on our 'to visit' list for several years now, and it kept getting put off and pushed back. We finally managed to head up there today, and were slightly underwhelmed by it to be honest!

The reserve is kinda split in 2, the first half is mostly wet heathland surrounded by Oak and Birch woodland.

It was only small, so we took our time to look carefully around here... and apart from an abundance of Large Skippers (like the one seen above) there was slim pickings. I've struggled with recent Moth Traps as the number are low, and it appears that trend can be seen elsewhere... just very little going on... considering we are fast approaching summer, it is concerning.

After stopping for lunch we then went checked the other half:

It was a large field which used to be farmed until it was bought the wildlife trust, and now exists as a large meadow for the benefit of wildlife.

Once we found a way in to the field (the entrance/stile was hidden with vegetation), the field wasn't much better. The grass/plants were shoulder high and no clear path through or around the field. I didn't fancy wading through the vegetation to try to find anything, and my partner who is suffering with hayfever refused as grass pollen levels are super high at the minute.

So we decided to give this one a miss. Fortunately we remembered that there is another reserve, just 10 minutes further up the road, so we decided to try our luck up there

And so we drove up to Messingham Sand Quarry. As the name suggests, its an old quarry that has been retaken over by the wildlife trust in order to provide more habitat for wildlife. There is a large lake, plus a couple of smaller ones, with meadows in-between

Wildlife was still thin on the ground, but at least we saw something!!

Dragonfly - Black-tailed Skimmer - Orthetrum cancellatum

Butterfly - Speckled Wood - Pararge aegeria

Messingham was a much better reserve, and we've made a note next time to come here instead off wasting time at Scotton Common lol!

On Saturday we headed back down to Fineshade Wood:

On Wednesday we had visited the reserve to look for wildlife, such as the recently reintroduced Chequered Skipper. However the aim on Saturday was just to spend time with family. My Dad and his dog Lola joined us, along with my brother, and his wife and daughter.

It was only a little walk mostly as my niece has only just turned 2, but it was nice to catch up with everyone and have a stroll in the sunshine. We did this short walk before stopping in the cafe for lunch, and then did an even shorter walk afterwards.

After we said goodbyes and everyone headed separate ways to go home, I decided I hadn't done enough exercise, so headed out for a short 6km run before tea:

And that now brings me up to Sunday (ie today). I was due my usual long run as part of the weekend, but after a busy and hectic week, I dialed that down to just 13km

I don't think I could have managed much more than that to be honest!

The run was a gentle zone 2 plod down to Harmston and back. It took me over my weekly distance target of 60km...

And along with the 22km of walking I managed as part of visiting all those reserves, I'm sure you'll agree that this has been a productive week off! Lots of places explored, lots of new stuff seen, I've managed to get back to a more 'normal' training week AND I've managed to get stuff done round the house too!

I'm heading back to work tomorrow, and quite frankly I'm looking forward to taking it easy and having a few comfortable, easy days to help me recover from the holiday haha!

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If you would like to check out this activity on strava you can see it here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/11719884205

About the Athlete: Living in the UK, I am an intermittent Runner, but always striving for more consistency. When I'm not training I can be found photographing insects or listening to really loud angry music (which is the best type of music obviously!)

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