A Breezy Town Trek
   With Margaret off to her gym mobility session, I stepped out at 11:30 am for an optician’s appointment in town. It was a bright 24°C, though a 15 mph easterly breeze dropped the ‘feels like’ temperature to a comfortable 19°C—ideal conditions to complete my daily active wild nature walk.
   The blazing sun was busy heating the concrete as I stuck to the shady side of the street. Along the main road, a lone magpie pecked at the grass beneath the pine trees. Further on, a splash of beautiful flowers caught my eye; they looked like Michaelmas daisies, but a post-walk Google search rightly corrected me to Fleabane (Erigeron). Just as I hit the corner to town, a wood pigeon dashed rapidly across my path.

   The local dogs were out in full force today. I passed a family with a yellow Labrador, followed shortly by a pair of large black and white sheepdogs. Over the car park, a single gull drifted lazily through the cloudless sky, whilst a Cavapoo and a poodle trotted along on their afternoon excursions. Before heading to my appointment, I paused to photograph an abandoned railway carriage completely flanked by shrubs—one choked with morning glory bindweed, the other buried in hedge bindweed.

Business concluded, I crossed the main road for the return leg. Overhead, two gulls pulled off a perfect mid-air crossover, while a third sat proudly on a chimney pot. Given the spectacular amount of guano painting the roof tiles below it, I have no doubt there is a nest established there!
   The pavements were teeming with resilience, sporting wildflowers cracked into the concrete, walls, and fences. One overgrown garage driveway was a delightful tangle of daisies, dandelions, and mallow. I also snapped a blue, bell-shaped specimen that Google Lens later identified as a Campanula, before capturing a genuinely magnificent, towering, aged tree that turned out to be a Monterey Cypress.
Walk Statistics
Distance: 2.0 miles
Duration: 42 minutes
Google Fit: 28 Heart Points.

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