I walk along the morning dark of the old rail bed to the meadow clearing. Here, unprotected by the canopy, the hoar frost has captured everything green and growing its icy grip. Under a protective oak, a frothy profusion of cow parsley plants have taken advantage of the mild weather we had last week. […]
I set off on this mild, gusty morning with a sense of purpose. I’m confident I’m going to find my quarry in the woods today as there were early signs last week. In the denser areas of woodland, I look upwards and see the tantalising glimpses where the hazel stems have reached patches of sunlight. […]
The evergreen gang are such a relief in the woods at this time of year. I walk early and enjoy the visual pleasure of glossy yellow green ivy, darker yew and cedar and blue green holly. Other than these and some persistent bramble leaves, it feels like the plant world is holding its breath. Some […]
The sight broke my running pulse. It stopped me in my tracks. I catch my breath. A tiny bird inspects each side of every branch and twig of a hazel sapling on the edge of the path where I’m running. As it’s still for tiny fractions of a second, I struggle at first to tell […]
Our back garden is all about texture at this time of year. Stripped of a season’s green frivolity, its skin is revealed. In one corner sprawls a youthful crab apple. The bark still gleams in patches but shallow splits are forming down the main trunk. The brittle curling edges of each split are dusted with […]
https://www.placecloud.io/feed/c/0/i/39670239/tunnel-another-time Both restless and looking for somewhere to be still, I’m drawn to an old favourite. Through the gate into the woods, I turn south along the old track bed towards the tunnel. The mouth is muzzled with metal gates, once an incongruous grey, then lovingly painted with bats whose furry faces are now beginning […]
It has been relentlessly wet almost since the start of October. Over the last few days at home, I have been distracted at intervals by the sound of gentle tapping at different windows. This afternoon, a blue tit and then a dunnock sat on the windowsill at the upstairs window less than a metre from […]
I’m distracted from writing by a disturbance in the garden and suspect there’s something going on when I see two jays perched on the fence. Jays do visit but don’t usually hang around very long. These two are clearly up to no good. Watching jays, it’s easy to believe that birds evolved from meat-eating dinosaurs. […]
16th – So enjoying the swifts that it’s almost unbearable the thought that they will be heading home soon. A whirlpool of them over Sydenham station yesterday… feels like they’ve got the urge for going (in Joni’s words). Ordered Lack’s book, Swifts in the Tower, today and will see if I can resist reading it […]
The surface layer in the woods this morning had the imprint of yesterday’s torrential rain firmly marked on it. Later on in the quiet of Wildside at the Wetland Centre, I enjoyed watching black headed gulls tenderly caring for their somewhat stroppy chicks.
