The Walk Narrative

   The afternoon served up a classic British weather cocktail: a bright, sunny facade masking a biting, northwesterly wind that dropped the ‘feels like’ temperature down to a bracing 4°C. Braced against the intermittent showers, I set out, immediately spotting a pair of wood pigeons executing a perfectly synchronised, side-by-side flypast across the road.

   Down at the town football ground, a six-strong rook committee was busy inspecting the turf. Skirting the recreation ground, my inner investigative journalist took over when I spotted a spectacular, high-pressure leak spurting from the cricket club water tank. I captured the plumbing crisis on camera, but since a couple of local lads were already on the scene, I safely assumed the cricket club’s emergency hotline was already ringing.

   Passing by his domain, my usual friend—the lively resident Pitbull Terrier—surprised me by sitting as quiet as a judge in his garden. Entering the cemetery, the mood shifted to pure spring colour; I took a splendid photograph of a vibrant yellow Laburnum shrub by the gates while a roaring crowd of thirty rooks held a noisy convention in the treetops above. Up at the farmer’s field, a solitary blackbird was ignoring the politics, quietly pecking for tea among the pine cones, surrounded by a carpet of beautiful Bird’s-foot trefoil flowers.

   On the return leg, a tiny wren played peek-a-boo, darting like a bullet into the roadside hedge. My final avian headcount took place at the leisure centre, where six feral pigeons and a lone jackdaw were holding the high ground on the rooftop, casually watching a man and his Terrier-type dog march past the front entrance.

Daily Activity Stats

Metric Detail

Distance 1.87 miles

Duration 40 minutes

Google Fit Points 19 Heart Points

Actual Temperature 8°C to 11°C

Wind Chill (‘Feels Like’) 4°C to 6°C

Weather Conditions Sunny but cold; breezy northwesterly winds & intermittent showers

Notable Wildlife 36 rooks, 2 wood pigeons, 6 feral pigeons, 1 jackdaw, 1 blackbird, 1 wren, and 1 very quiet Pitbull.

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