
Daily Nature Log: The Walk
The sun was shining beautifully when I started out on my daily walk today. The actual air temperature was hovering around 17°C, but with westerly winds blowing at 18–22 mph, it felt closer to 15°C.
A single crow was pecking around on the grassy area in Foxglove Lane alongside a male blackbird. Both rapidly took flight as I approached. As I passed the children’s playground and entered the recreation ground, I disturbed a pair of magpies that quickly flew away, flapping their wings wildly. I began to walk around the outskirts of the ground, where I noticed a young lady with a small, white Cockapoo-type dog leaving through a gap in the hedge.

When I arrived at the entrance to the cemetery road, I spotted a meadow brown butterfly fluttering around the wildflowers. In a nearby garden, the resident Pitbull was completely preoccupied, playing with a football and its young owner. I passed quietly by and entered the cemetery, where two wood pigeons were resting in the shade of a tree adjoining the entrance. The rookery in the corner was quiet today, with just a few birds drifting around the treetops.
Walking along the central pathway, I spotted several jackdaws and a couple of wood pigeons feeding on the grass verges. When I reached the empty field at the top of the cemetery, a large flock of birds was spread out feeding on the grass. The majority were rooks, punctuated by several jackdaws and a few wood pigeons. They all took flight the moment I entered, and within seconds, there wasn’t a single bird left in sight. I walked over to the wildflower bank in the corner, where I managed to photograph a meadow brown and a painted lady butterfly resting on the blooms.


Making my way to the cemetery gates, I left the cemetery road via a new public pathway. This area boasts a large wildflower field teeming with corn marigolds, poppies, field mallow, and assorted natural plants. I snapped a few photographs here before heading towards the leisure centre.



A large herring gull swooped down to the pavement right in front of me as I walked along the leisure centre road. The bird proceeded to calmly preen its wings before flying up to settle on the rooftop, where it joined two feral pigeons. Continuing on my way, I spotted the same young lady from earlier; her Cockapoo-type dog was now walking alongside another lady and a black greyhound.

Activity Stats
MetricDetails
Distance3.19 miles
Duration1 hour, 12 minutes
Google Fit23 Heart Points
Copyright ©️ Text, photographs and videos Written by John Yeo – All rights reserved