The Daily Walk
   The temperature hovered around 14°C, though fresh 15 to 20 mph southerly breezes dropped the ‘feels like’ closer to 12°C. Rain was forecast all day, but it held off just long enough for me to set out—umbrella firmly in hand, just in case.
   Heading towards the recreation ground, a young man passed by with a small white Terrier-type dog. Over on the town football ground, a lone corvid was busy feeding on the turf, joined by three more spread across the rec itself.
   Reaching the entrance to Cemetery Road, I spotted my ‘friendly’ pitbull neighbour flat-out asleep on his garden lawn. The cemetery itself was a hive of activity, seemingly alive with solitary birds feeding in the grass. Rooks kept up a vocal chorus around the rookery, while several jackdaws and wood pigeons mingled at a safe distance from the main assembly.
   At the top of the cemetery, I stepped into the empty field rumoured to be the future site of a woodland cemetery. A younger patch of trees planted a while back is already thriving, and a small white butterfly was busy fluttering along the weedy bank by the allotments. I paused for a couple of photographs: one looking out over the farmer’s fields patchwork-coloured against the horizon, and another capturing the young woodland with the sea gleaming in the distance.
   Turning back towards the gates, I was treated to a spectacular close encounter with a pied wagtail. The bold little bird dropped down right in front of me, almost within touching distance, wagging its tail briefly before darting away.
   My return route took me down Cemetery Road and onto Leisure Centre Road, where six feral pigeons, a gull, and a jackdaw stood in a neat line along the rooftop. A lone sparrow watched from the care home’s hawthorn hedge, and a final group of six corvids fed on the recreation ground, punctuation marks at the end of a splendid active wild nature walk.

Activity Stats
Metric Details
Distance 2.19 miles
Duration 49 minutes
Google Fit 27 Heart Points

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