The mercury hovered around 17°C, but a brisk westerly breeze chopped that down to a chilly 14°C. With ominous black clouds threatening an imminent downpour, I grabbed an umbrella and set out. Along the way, I passed a lady with an elderly black greyhound that was rapidly turning grey.
   Reaching the recreation ground, I skirted the cricket pitch. My ‘friend’ the Pitbull Terrier was in his usual spot—perched like a gargoyle on the garden trampoline, quietly watching me pass with an amiable gaze. At the cemetery entrance, a robin made a cameo on a gatepost before diving headlong into a thick shrub.
   Inside, the avian drama kicked off. Three partridges bolted into the air as I approached, touched down in the adjacent empty field, and sprinted away across the grass at an amazing speed. Overhead, a crowd of rooks took flight alongside a few startled wood pigeons. I paused by the wild bank to snap photos of the dramatic sky over the fields.

Alongside a fertile mix of bird’s-eye trefoil, green alkanet, veronica, and mouse-ear hawkweed.

    Heading for the exit, I was treated to a wonderful aural symphony. On one side, a male blackbird poured his heart into a beautiful territorial solo from a treetop; on the other, the rookery fired back with their customary, guttural rasping.
   On the final stretch past the care home, three sparrows darted from the hawthorn hedge to the leisure centre roof, while a pair of pigeons were happily billing and cooing on the roofline of a new-build house.
Clean Stats
Distance: 2.84 miles
Duration: 1 hour 4 minutes
Google Fit: 24 Heart Points

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