I first noticed it yesterday midday on the way home laden with shopping bags. It was wafting out of the woods, a sweet, heady and tantalising scent. Early this morning I set off through the woods in search of its origin but it’s gone. For nectar production time of day is everything. I’m reminded of […]

It definitely isn’t a chorus. There’s no shared endeavour here or any sense of singing together, despite what we might prefer to believe. At 5:20 this morning, every bird in the woods is fighting for an aural gap and his chance to shine. I’m driven out before sunrise by the desire to have the woods […]

There was a sprinkling of snowflakes just as I leave the house but I’m not deterred. While I know the changing of clocks is meaningless, it still gives me a feeling of urgency to get into the woods. Pushing open the gate in the icy wind, I look up and see redwings moving surreptiously from […]

Of course it’s great that people are finding solace in nature during this time of semi-lockdown, but in well-trodden suburban nature reserves this has different implications from the countryside. I have to confess I’m finding sharing my local patch with an influx of new walkers and runners quite a challenge, and yes I know that’s […]

When there’s craziness everywhere else, there’s even more reason to spend time in the quiet and calm of the woods. Better than worrying about where we’re going to buy pasta and tomato paste. This morning I’m trying to deal with a much more manageable problem.  Is this explosion of stamens on a goat willow or […]

M joins me in the woods this morning.  We walk and talk about family things but also notice the aftermath of the week’s rain and wind. An oak tree is down, and has already been processed to clear the path.  The dark stain of decay is clearly visible on one side of the sawn trunk. […]

I’ve raced past the wooded railway bank so many times on the way to the platform and half-wondered what the fist-sized round leaves were which swamp the woodland floor. Today on platform 2, I see a number of drooping pink flower heads among the leaves just over the wall at the perfect height for a […]

T, H and I stand on the path over the rail bridge looking up at an ivy-smothered oak.  It’s creaking loudly and rhythmically in the wind which, while more gentle than in our recent storms, still has a degree of power behind it. “Does that mean it’s going to fall down?” T asks.  I admit […]

The gravelly stream bed sparkles in the morning sun.  This temporary stream flows under the gate and down to the old railway track, a trickling reminder of yesterday’s rain. The water has cleaned a channel through the layers of mud and leaf mulch built up over this winter. I stand in its path and watch […]

I’ve begun the habit of walking very slowly through the woods on a Sunday morning. As I hear single chime from St Stephen’s church on the other side of the woods, I reflect that this is my worship. At this ponderous and mindful speed I notice tiny things which I suspect would otherwise be a […]