The actual temperature was around 8°C to 9°C, but it felt like 4°C to 5°C due to a strong, brisk southwest wind of 16–23 mph. This ‘feels like’ temperature encouraged me to put my best foot forward.

  A wood pigeon was perched in a silver birch tree next to the children’s playground.   I began walking around the outskirts of the recreation ground and watched a pair of chaffinches racing along the top of the hedge adjacent to Foxy Lane.

  I was aware of an odd stereophonic avian sound as I walked along. On one hand, there was a chorus of gulls loudly calling and screaming at each other above the abandoned factory rooftops. On the other, I could hear the rooks in the rookery, loudly cawing and complaining to each other.

  My ‘friend’, the Pitbull Terrier, was lying still and curled up on top of the trampoline in his garden. He hardly raised his head when I passed by and simply watched me with half-closed eyes. I made a mental note to look in on him on my way back.

  I entered the cemetery and began to walk along the central pathway. Several wood pigeons flew up in alarm as I walked past, and a single rook flew speedily towards the rookery. The rooks in the rookery were murmuring gently to one another in the throes of breeding behaviour.

  A blackbird was hopping underneath the hedge adjacent to the recreation ground. I left the cemetery and began to walk along the cemetery road. I walked back and looked into the Pitbull’s garden to see him standing on all four legs on the trampoline, looking extremely alert.

 I continued along the cemetery road where I noticed a robin perched on the top of a shrub. A sparrow flew into some brambles growing in the hedgerow; I have a feeling there were a few more in the dense branches.

  I walked past the leisure centre where I met my friend Jonathan walking Jack, his Border Collie. I stopped to chat and Jack started barking furiously at a passing car

 I snapped a nice photo and a short video of a pied wagtail bathing in a large puddle of rainwater near the cricket pavilion.

Today, I walked for 2.19 miles in 47 minutes. Google Fit awarded me 20 heart points.

Copyright ©️ Text, photographs and videos Written by John Yeo – All rights reserved.