A Muggy Midsummer Stroll
   Close and muggy today, with a 7-mph easterly breeze taking the edge off the 20°C air. The gull colony was in full voice as usual, but a male blackbird on a nearby rooftop easily stole the show with a beautiful solo. Down by the cemetery road entrance, comma and cabbage white butterflies fluttered through the wildflowers.

  My ‘friend’ the Pitbull Terrier paced his boundary in silence—until a dog two doors down barked, triggering an immediate canine reply. Inside the cemetery, a pair of wood pigeons kept watch from separate concrete ledges, while a lady with a Cockapoo cross and a Pekingese followed in my wake.
   Heading past the main road wildflower garden, butterflies were everywhere, rushing about in the humid air, and a sparrow made a frantic dash into the hedgerow. Up at the leisure centre, seven feral pigeons sat in a perfect rooftop line-up, and a lady walking a black Labrador offered a friendly smile.

Clean Stats
Distance: 1.9 miles
Time: 40 minutes
Weather: 20°C (felt like 18°C), muggy, 7 mph easterly wind
Wildflower Bed Activity: Comma butterfly, cabbage white butterfly, assorted others, 1 sparrow
Avian Count: Gull colony, 1 blackbird (singing), 2 wood pigeons, 7 feral pigeons
Canine Encounters: 1 Pitbull Terrier, 1 barking neighbour, 1 Cockapoo type, 1 Pekingese, 1 black Labrador
Google Fit: 31 heart points

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