A mad March day, all bright sky and brisk wind. You could smell the sap rising, watch the grass recovering from the tons of snow that have been lying on it for weeks.
Dog and I were back to one of our favourite haunts, the neighbouring farmland that a few years ago was planted up with trees with the help of a grant that stipulates public access. Given the sparse population on the hill it`s like having nearly 300 acres of your own private nature reserve to amble round.
There`s a mix of hard and softwoods, some mature copses (including Edmond`s - see post 10.02.2010)and a stream running down one boundary. A couple of pylons are plonked in the middle over the far side but even they can look majestic when you`re standing right underneath.
It was all about noise today: wind in the trees, running water, madly busy crows, buzzards getting in their way and being chased off. Never a dull moment.
We walked more or less the whole perimeter and checked out the `thinking stones`. In the early days you could sit on the stones and look right across the valley but now you have to stand on them to see over the tops of the trees.
Apparently they`ll start thinning out the softwoods in about twenty years prior to harvesting and re-planting....this is a commercial concern after all....but it`s hard to imagine what it`ll look like by then - or where we`ll all be for that matter.
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