At 5:00 PM today, it was a breezy 18°C (feels like 15°C with the west-north-westerly wind) as I set off around the recreation ground.
    A lone corvid pecked at the parched, brown grass while a groundsman was busy painting white lines on the pitch. I pointed out the giant hosepipe lavishly watering the nearby town football ground. He gestured to the cricket pitch and chuckled, “They’ve got a bigger area of pitch grass than us.”  Hard to argue with that!
    I strolled down the cemetery pathways, sending three startled  woodpigeons into flight, and paused to photograph a lovely weeping cherry tree. Tucked along the border, tiny purple flowers were braving the drought; Google Lens later identified them as resilient verbena.

   Crossing into the empty field at the top, three magpies scattered into the struggling new woodland. Along the hedgerows, hawberries were just blushing pink, and five or six rowan trees flared brilliantly with clusters of ripe scarlet berries. Two blue tits darted high into the trees along Cemetery Drive.
    Reaching the leisure centre, I counted 20 feral pigeons lined up on the roof, a black-headed gull perched stoically in his usual spot, and a rowdy colony of about ten gulls causing a racket over at the abandoned factory.

   Before heading back, a fellow walker passed by with an impressive Labrador/Husky cross—a handsome dog I managed to photograph once he was let off the lead.

Distance: 1.82 miles
Time: 39 minutes
Google Fit: 20 heart points. 

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