Daily Nature Log ✍️
The sun blazed down from an almost cloudless sky, with temperatures hovering around 18°C and a steady 9 mph breeze keeping things fresh. A wood pigeon kept watch from a rooftop as I set off, while a clamorous crow held court in the pine tree by the sports field.
Circuits around the recreation ground brought me to Cemetery Drive, where the resident ‘friendly’ Pitbull was sound asleep in the garden. Inside the cemetery grounds, rooks circled high above their rookery, wood pigeons scattered at my approach, and a small white butterfly fluttered through the shrubs by the exit gates. Heading back along the drive, the Pitbull was now wide awake and on full alert, accompanied by the persistent bark of an unseen dog nearby.
Along the roadside, Holm Oaks bulged with fresh acorns alongside pines heavy with green cones and fallen brown ones. Out over the golf course, a lone seagull drifted effortlessly on the wind. I passed a dog walker with a sleek black greyhound. I reached the leisure centre to find thirty feral pigeons dominating the roof—twenty taking flight in a sudden flurry before wheeling back to resettle. Opposite the care home, a flurry of twenty sparrows darted from the brambles to an alder, soon joined by thirty more taking refuge in a nearby hawthorn.
Overhead, a colony of a hundred rooks filled the treetops, set against a chorus of noisy gulls. Passing a second lady out walking a brown greyhound beneath the pines, I rounded off another fine circuit.
Today I walked for 3.33 miles in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Google Fit awarded me 24 heart points.
Copyright ©️ Text, photographs and videos Written by John Yeo – All rights reserved.
