Shadows Shortening
Sunday, 28. June 2009, 15:55:23
It's too hot... 
It seems only a heartbeat ago that I was walking this open trail around the farm under a milky-blue winter sky and wearing my thick green coat and predator-friendly woollen hat to ward off the effects of -9C, feeling the icy stabbing in the legs that comes with prolonged spells in the subzero outdoors, listening to the crunch of boots upon frosted grass. Now I've swapped the wool for my tilly hat, a relic from summer travels in Waterton, and I'm shaking dust, not frost, from my shoes. The pace of walks has slowed. Leila pants. I just overheat...slowly
and watch the horses cooling themselves with a drink from their trough.
Field bindweed has sprung up along those once-frosted trails...
...and nesting sparrows, not roving flocks of foraging finches, are now the main attraction in the stable yard. I am amazed at how well camouflaged they are against the flint walls
So still. The air is heavy with the heatwave. Only the skylarks seem to defy it, belting out their frantic songs from somewhere above the downland ridges. Not a fox or deer is to be seen. But there is wildlife here. And it's following humanity.
Lesser black backed gull - I think; I couldn't see the leg colour and the distance was too great for size to be much help. I don't see either black-backed gull here that often so would be grateful if a gull-watcher could confirm
Gulls and tractors are no more easily separated than ravens and wolves, or lions and jackals. But something else has taken note of the harvest of the hay, and is seeking to exploit any small creatures disturbed by it.
The kestrel hovers and swoops over the lines of cut meadow grass. I watch him for some time. It's hot. So hot. Leila sits in my shadow, and we wait, attempting to be as patient as the delicately flying hunter above.
The tractor passes on another circuit of the meadow. The farmer acknowledges me with a nod - I'm sure that he has guessed that I'm photographing the kestrel.
I wonder if 21st century tractors come with air conditioning If so, he must be cooler than Leila and me
EDIT - just in case anyone's wondering, the strap around Leila's muzzle is a Halti, a device rather like a halter which helps prevent dogs from pulling on the lead. She doesn't really need it any more, to be honest, but it's handy when you have a young, lively and very strong dog who doesn't want to walk to heel!
It seems only a heartbeat ago that I was walking this open trail around the farm under a milky-blue winter sky and wearing my thick green coat and predator-friendly woollen hat to ward off the effects of -9C, feeling the icy stabbing in the legs that comes with prolonged spells in the subzero outdoors, listening to the crunch of boots upon frosted grass. Now I've swapped the wool for my tilly hat, a relic from summer travels in Waterton, and I'm shaking dust, not frost, from my shoes. The pace of walks has slowed. Leila pants. I just overheat...slowly
and watch the horses cooling themselves with a drink from their trough. Field bindweed has sprung up along those once-frosted trails...
...and nesting sparrows, not roving flocks of foraging finches, are now the main attraction in the stable yard. I am amazed at how well camouflaged they are against the flint walls
So still. The air is heavy with the heatwave. Only the skylarks seem to defy it, belting out their frantic songs from somewhere above the downland ridges. Not a fox or deer is to be seen. But there is wildlife here. And it's following humanity.
Lesser black backed gull - I think; I couldn't see the leg colour and the distance was too great for size to be much help. I don't see either black-backed gull here that often so would be grateful if a gull-watcher could confirm
Gulls and tractors are no more easily separated than ravens and wolves, or lions and jackals. But something else has taken note of the harvest of the hay, and is seeking to exploit any small creatures disturbed by it.
The kestrel hovers and swoops over the lines of cut meadow grass. I watch him for some time. It's hot. So hot. Leila sits in my shadow, and we wait, attempting to be as patient as the delicately flying hunter above.
The tractor passes on another circuit of the meadow. The farmer acknowledges me with a nod - I'm sure that he has guessed that I'm photographing the kestrel.
I wonder if 21st century tractors come with air conditioning
If so, he must be cooler than Leila and me EDIT - just in case anyone's wondering, the strap around Leila's muzzle is a Halti, a device rather like a halter which helps prevent dogs from pulling on the lead. She doesn't really need it any more, to be honest, but it's handy when you have a young, lively and very strong dog who doesn't want to walk to heel!
I like his coffee-colour coat, too 
WIDGETIZE