- Details
- Written by: Stephanie Gaunt (Battleaxe)
This blog is an extract from one published on Stephanie's own site (https://www.hastingsbattleaxe.com/) and has been reproduced here by her kind permission.
Battleaxe has gone a bit lethargic and stodgy. Have used some sunny intervals to go for fairly-half-hearted walks, and as ever, taken some pretty photos. Here is the Country Park. The light on this particular day was very special – and it is good to see the Exmoor ponies, even though they are not at all interested in us. But nor should they be. You don’t want ‘wild’ ponies like in the New Forest, where they hang round car parks and stick their heads in car windows looking for food.
The new Visitor Centre looks nearly finished, and it will have a cafe in – good, because our old favourite, the Coastguards, has now closed for good.
For us, a walk struggles to be a proper walk without a stop for a cuppa and a bit of cake somewhere. Or even a beer and a sandwich… Also, lets face it, Battleaxe is a bit of a fair weather walker. Philosopher asked if we should go out this morning and I say ‘Nooo it looks so grey and it’ll be far too muddy.’ But it is always worth it to get out. Fresh air always lifts the mood. Trouble is, in this Covid time, as Philosopher also says, the less we go out, the less we want to go out…
On another day in the Country Park, this time on the East Hill, we were struck by all the holly berries – and the gorse in bloom already/again… the weather may have been dull and damp but it has been astonishingly warm. No frost as yet.
As you can probably gather from reading this, Battleaxe is not in a terrifically good mood. The Covid vaccine is dangling on the horizon. Us older ones should probably get it early next year, if the Government can actually deliver. However, it still means we have the winter to get through, and like many people I’ve spoken to, the thought of getting Covid now, when the end might be in sight, seems even more scary and dismal.
- Details
- Written by: Martin Allen
My life runs free,
From glen to glen,
Clear air, clear mind.
I'm Odonata gliding through canopied tunnels,
I'm Vipera berus snaking over sandy heath,
I'm Hirundo rustica swooping the valleys.
Switchback trails and stairways to heaven,
A brutal ascent to ‘Hughie’s bench’,
Through fires of golden gorse.
Legs scream, heart pounds, lungs fit to burst.
At the top,
I stop,
To inhale the beauty below,
Breath taken.
(by Martin Allen)
- Details
Viburnum lantana has many common names but is generally known as the Wayfaring Tree. Right now it is laden with bright red berries that will slowly ripen to black and are popular with thrushes.
In 'The Englishmen's Flora' by the late Geoffrey Grigson, he says" they can be eaten by humans with no ill consequence, but also, I think, no great pleasure."
So, one to admire and leave to the birds.
- Details
- Written by: Simon Dallyn
On hearing an unfamiliar bird call, I looked up and saw this bird at the top of a bush. Not a great photo as I only had my phone on me but hoping someone will recognise it !
- Details
- Written by: Andrew Colquhoun and Stephanie Donaldson
Click here to listen to Andrew Colquhoun and Stephanie Donaldson in a dialogue about Swifts.