{"id":30636,"date":"2023-04-23T21:47:17","date_gmt":"2023-04-23T20:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=30636"},"modified":"2023-04-23T21:47:17","modified_gmt":"2023-04-23T20:47:17","slug":"river-ock-in-abingdon-april-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=30636","title":{"rendered":"River Ock in Abingdon &#8211; April 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag23\/2023042114a.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nThere was a misty start to Saturday morning along the Ock Valley Walk. <\/p>\n<p>In April, leaves have sprung, and there is a carpet of stinging nettles. They look fresh and not too tall.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag23\/2023042102.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nThere are also the vase-like flowers of Lords and Ladies. Insects are attracted by their smell and trapped by hairs in the tube to allow pollination.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag23\/2023042107c.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nMuntjac deer are sometimes seen in the woodland areas between the two rivers, but they can also be seen in gardens beyond the river, some of which have fences to keep them out from the vegetables and seedlings.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag23\/2023042110.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nThe heron was also there and seemed to stroke the water with one foot as he watched.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag23\/2023042103b.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nThere are large numbers of blackbirds. The leaves of horse chestnut trees have sprouted and unfolded, and look so fresh and green. The upright flower buds will soon become blossoms.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag23\/2023042113a.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nAt first, I could not see the Song Thrush, but its song was so clear that I looked and saw him high near the top of the leaf canopy. I frequently see thrushes in the Abbey Meadows on the ground, but this was the first I had seen on the Ock Valley Walk this year.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag23\/2023042101b.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nI also saw a blackcap for the first time.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag23\/2023042111.jpg\" \/><br \/>\nFurther on, in the fields near Tesco, a tractor was ploughing the ground on the other side of the River Ock. Half a dozen Kites followed and swooped down for creatures disturbed by the plough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There was a misty start to Saturday morning along the Ock Valley Walk. In April, leaves have sprung, and there is a carpet of stinging nettles. They look fresh and not too tall. There are also the vase-like flowers of Lords and Ladies. Insects are attracted by their smell and trapped by hairs in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-river-ock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30636\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}