Daily Nature Log ✍️
    Stepping out into a breezy 20°C (feeling more like 18°C), I spotted two elderly ladies walking a pair of sleek black greyhounds under the pines by the recreation ground. Above them, the rookery was in full, raspy throat, its racket carrying for miles.

    Turning into the rec ground  I spooked a pair of blackbirds straight into the hedge, while a duo of gulls grazed peacefully in the centre. At Cemetery Drive, I paused to snap a picture of the usual ‘friendly’ Pitbull lounging out back. The loud, indignant squawks of a juvenile herring gull drew my eyes back to the field just in time to catch its parent taking flight—no doubt having touched down while my camera was trained on the dog.

    Inside the cemetery, a handful of sparrow-sized birds darted into the border shrubs before my approach sent a dark cloud of around 30 rooks airborne. Half headed for the top field, the rest rejoined the noisy, swirling flock above the trees, completely unfazed by a lone wood pigeon cruising past in the opposite direction. Stepping into the field triggered yet another black-feathered exodus, this time to the local telegraph wires.

   Leaving the cemetery, another wood pigeon watched on from a nearby ledge, while a youngster rested in the roadside weeds below—learning the hard way that fledgling life is tough work. Passing the leisure centre, a flock of roughly 20 feral pigeons fluttered and perched along the roofline, and a woman walking a yellow Lab did a sudden U-turn, presumably having left something behind.

Today’s Stats:
Distance: 2.27 miles
Time: 52 minutes
Heart Points: 20

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