Even though I work in one of the Wildlife Trusts biggest landscapes, the Great Fen, I live in a little flat in Bedford so my wild retreat is more often than not, the Priory Park.

Like lots of other people I’ve been there for a cool paddle down by the river in a very hot summer, (extremely!), brisk walks in two feet of snow when the weather was too bad to go anywhere else, an hour watching kingfishers to calm down after getting horribly over-excited by The Last Jedi (that one may just have been me…)…

This week it was a quiet walk and some fresh air after a week in bed with the flu. The first banded demoiselles of the year and incredible, iridescent oil-slick green and blue damselflies gathered around the mown grass on the river. There was a scarce chaser (the big dragonfly) on the reeds, a heron perched up in the trees and a grebe with its stripy chick on the lake.

The perfect way to get some exercise and clear a blocked nose!