Turnstone and Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper - with a purple sheen to its feathers
The rest of the day was spent tidying up and cleaning the house and getting ready for a trip to Turin in Italy the following day. With COVID restrictions still in place the trip required a lot of organising and planning which somewhat took the lustre off going away but eventually we were on our way to Heathrow Airport with Julie and Matt for an overnight stay at The Thistle Hotel before flying out to Turin on Sunday 6th February.
Our original plans were for a trip to Munich and Prague in December 2020 but this was cancelled due to COVID and we were given a flight voucher as a refund by British Airways to be used by March 2022. With the expiry date of the voucher looming ever nearer and not wanting to loose out we booked the flights to Turin although we weren't really expecting to be able to travel due to the continuing COVID issues. However as the date of our flight drew ever nearer it appeared increasingly likely that we would be able to travel and so we had to sort out all the red tape beforehand in order to go - travel insurance, Passenger Locator Forms, pre-flight COVID tests at Heathrow Airport 24 hours before our flight, Global Health Insurance Cards, Super Green Passes from the NHS website and COVID tests on our return from Italy (which we booked and paid for and then didn't need to do). We also had to keep checking the rules and regulations daily before our flight in case we had missed something or the rules changed and we had to keep praying that getting back into the UK wouldn't suddenly require us to self isolate on our return home.
While in Italy we had to wear an FFP2 face mask at all times including in the streets (although many people didn't including us at times as we wore much more comfortable surgical masks instead) and we also had to get our Super Green Pass scanned to prove we were triple vaccinated against COVID to be able to enter into hotels, cafes, restaurants, trains, buses, museums and shops. All in all it was a complete faff and not the most restful of holidays and while I actually did enjoy my time away I am certainly in no rush to travel abroad anyway else anytime soon.
Turin was very nice, cold at night but mild during the daytime in the bright sunshine and we had no rain at all during our time there. From Turin we could see the snow capped Alps in the distance but on a day trip to the nearby ski resort at Sauze d'Oulx there was a shocking lack of snow compared to our visit there 10 years ago.
The Alps from the plane
Sauze d'Oulx
Sauze d'Oulx
We did the usual touristy things, visiting the Egyptian Museum and the ex-Fiat factory at Lingotto in Turin and taking a day trip to Milan to see The Last Supper fresco painted by Leonardo da Vinci (which was as expected a little underwhelming).
Egyptian Museum, Turin
Egyptian Museum, Turin
Lingotto Ramps, Turin
Milan Cathedral
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan
The Last Supper, Milan
The undoubted wildlife highlight was a Golden Eagle flying overhead at Sauze d'Oulx being mobbed by a Raven, high up and distant but dwarfing the Raven and with a very noticeable pale head in the strong sunshine.
A close runner up though for the wildlife highlight was seeing Coypu along the River Po in Central Turin, at least 4 were seen and they were surprisingly showy unlike those at Minsmere in Suffolk in the 1980's which were elusive and always seen at a distance.
Coypu, River Po, Turin
Coypu
Coypu
Coypu
Coypu
I also managed to see a nice selection of birds along the River Po in Turin too including Common Sandpiper, Kingfisher, Yellow-legged Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Hooded Crow, Italian Sparrow, Chiffchaff and White Wagtail.
Little Egret
Common Sandpiper
Hooded Crow
Hooded Crow
Italian Sparrow
Italian Sparrow
On the car journey to and from Heathrow I saw the usual Red Kites and Buzzards with the Red Kites showing very well at times. I also saw Redwing, Fieldfare, Golden Plover, Raven and Roe Deer and sadly a dead Barn Owl (Somerset) and a dead Otter (Wiltshire) by the side of the road along with the usual Pheasant and Badger casualties.
All in all it was an enjoyable trip away, restorative and reflective in equal measure, but who knows when I'll head off on a trip abroad again.
No comments:
Post a Comment