Magnificent “Male” Fern

Yesterday’s forecast was not good but it has been over a month since I was last there. Since losing my wife two years ago my motivation for life has plummeted and that includes my biggest passion – my woodlands. I could not get enough of it before but grief has changed everything and robbed me of so much more.

I want to rejuvenate my enthusiasm for it and it is just the medicine I need but simply getting out of bed to face another day takes a huge effort now. Well one of my projects was to build a pole lathe there and I was kindly given a rather wood-wormy bowl turning lathe which I wanted to attach to two dead oak trunks. so that was the motivation to go. If I get this thing operational, it will give me some mindful enjoyment and therefor more incentive to go to the woods. At this time of year there is not so much work to do other than clearing overgrown paths, so some creative activities will hopefully draw me back to the woods more frequently. This is how it’s looking so far. I need to make a treadle and a spring pole to provide the foot power for it.

What was the surprise encounter? It had been raining on first arrival and I was sitting in my shelter quietly contemplating. There was a sound to my left and from the corner of my eye, some hurried movement which I thought was a dog. No, there were two female roe deer running fast down the path just a few metres in front of me. Tan coloured in their summer coats and looking sleek and fit. They didn’t notice me as they flashed past, headed down into the next door plot and turned back giving me a second look. Too fast to grab my camera but what a beautiful sight.

Sadly Ash Dieback disease is still making it’s mark on the saplings but more distressing is seeing that some of my mature trees are showing serious damage, some almost dead now. I may have to fell some of them later for safety reasons.

As I wandered around, there was a male blackbird kicking off with it’s constant alarm calls. It didn’t like my presence and when I zoomed into it, I could see it had a beak full of berries so I presumed it had a nest of chicks to feed nearby. I moved on to let it do it’s feeding duties.

This speckled brown butterfly was enjoying the sun. There is not much more to tell about the day so I’ll leave it there.