Day twenty one - A Walk in a Country Park

Day Twenty one - Consall Nature Park

We parked at the visitor centre car park and walked down through  the woods towards the river, railway and canal.

We kept catching glimpses of the sun through the trees but the weather seemed quite cool for mid June.

First we went down to the ponds.

 

Damselflies were flitting amongst the vegetation around the edges of the pond

Then we walked round to the boardwalk and wandered along listening to the rippling stream and the birds singing overhead.  We saw grey wagtails, great tits, blackbirds and robins along here.

Down over the river just in time to catch our first glimpse of the steam train which runs on the Churnet Valley Railway between Cheddleton and Frogall.

The up into Crowgutter wood

and then back down again to the canal towpath

We looked back at Consall Station

but decided to walk the other way to the locks

We saw wild honeysuckle

 and horsetail along the way

At the locks we sat for a while watching a kestrel above us

Then we went back the way we had come along the towpath and up to the bridge just in time to see the steam train coming back the other way from Frogall to Cheddleton.