Daily Nature Log ✍️
    The wind was nippy enough to trim a degree or two off the thermometer, but the wildlife on the outskirts of the recreation ground didn’t seem to mind. Four rooks and a solitary gull were busily probing the turf, framed by a delicate border of white yarrow peeping through the hedgerows. Further along, a local gave me a chuckle with the candid admission that his plump little schnauzer was carrying a bit too much winter ballast.

    Inside the cemetery, a sudden rustle sent five redwings—or perhaps fieldfares—scattering from a berried rowan in a flurry of alarm, while a squad of rooks took off in neat formation toward the allotments. A restless small white butterfly fluttered past the exit gates, refusing to land. Down Cemetery Drive, amidst a chorus of vocal corvids, a male blackbird rustled through fallen leaf-litter and a crimson-breasted robin vanished into the hedge. Over at the leisure centre, twenty feral pigeons stood lined up like spectators along the roof next to a lonely corvid, while a single gull claimed prime position on a nearby house ridge. Rounding off the loop, two magnificent holly trees hung heavy with scarlet berries, gleaming in the autumn air.

Stats
Distance: 2.26 miles
Time: 48 minutes
Heart Points: 26

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