Tuesday 17 August 2010

An afternoon walk.







Come along, get your walking shoes on, bring a brolly as it is a bit cloudy, and let's step out on our afternoon walk. When the sun is out it is a hot day, but as Summer is gradually drawing to a close there is a lot of heavy cloud about, so often the sun disappears - then we shall have to walk a bit more quickly to keep warm.

A lot of the farmers round here have just finished their second-cut silage - easy to see which fields have been cut as the grass is short and yellow. Let's go up one of those fields, it is much easier to walk in the short grass. We pop into the barn to see if anything is visible at the owl box - no sign of life, although we know there are two owlets in there.

Late Summer flowers abound along the sides of the beck - monkey musk, ragwort, rosebay. But mostly they are already going to seed and all the foliage looks decidedly tired. There are butterflies everywhere - have you noticed how they have all come out in the last week or two?

The lane is quite dry for walking and we don't see a soul on our walk into the village. We stop on the corner to photograph a magnificent rooster with his small flock of hens and a group of white ducks. They eye Tess and me carefully but sit still for the photograph.

We call on M - joy of joys, she is in. This is the fourth time I have called and the first time I have found her at home. Lovely chat for an hour and a half - thanks M,S and E for the welcome break.

We return over the fields. The dairy herd has cleverly found its way back for milking. When we saw them on our way through earlier they were all getting restless and beginning to wander towards the farm. Now they have all reached the farm gate and they stand or lie around waiting to be let in for milking. The farmer will have no need to fetch them in tonight.

Tess and I see not a single rabbit on our walk. Tess smells dozens of the critters and pushes into the hedge bottom all the way - but luckily she is on the long lead and has to keep up whether she likes it or not.

We arrive back home foot-weary but happy after our walk - hope you enjoyed it too.

19 comments:

☺lani☺ said...

I feel I'm close nature upon reading and looking at your post! Love it!

Reader Wil said...

Thanks for the walk in your Yorkshire Dales! Tess has a secret life that you cannot smell or see. If dogs could talk...!

Heather said...

How wonderful to have owlets in your barn. That rooster is a very handsome chap and the ducks are so photogenic. A lovely walk Pat - thankyou.

Pondside said...

Your walks through the fields are so different from mine through the forest, but I love yours - the beautiful scenes on which to res the eyes, the descriptions of cows and meeting friends - lovely.

Helen said...

I so enjoyed our walk .... I've often wondered how blog friends from other parts of the world actually sound when they speak ... accents, inflection, gestures, etc.
It would be nice to hear you ....

Penny said...

Lovely walk, gum boots here and mud so your was lovely.

Helsie said...

Thanks for taking us on your walk Pat.
Could you tell me the name of the pink/purple flowers in the second photo? I'm very interested to learn the names of your wildflowers so I can recognise them next time I'm lucky enough to visit from Oz.
Cheers
Helen

Titus said...

Thanks Weaver, I really enjoy taking a walk with you!
Love that cockerel.

Cloudia said...

What a companionable visit. Thank you!



Warm Aloha from Waikiki :)

Comfort Spiral

Golden West said...

So lovely to join you, Weaver, as always.

angryparsnip said...

What a lovely walk and the picture of the little lane was wonderful ! The cows were not bad either....

cheers, parsnip

Mistlethrush said...

What clever cows you have! Or were they a bit bored? I can't imagine why though - the scenery is stunning.
I have to ask what kind of owls. Barn?

Rashi said...

It was random drop here. but so loved the pics of Dales. The afternoon ealk clicks are so very unforgettable...!

Unknown said...

Hello Weaver,

Yes, I have noticed lots of butterflies recently. We took a short walk on Sunday in beautiful sunshine and they were flitting everywhere. I've been watching 'Tales From The Green Valley' on the Yesterday TV station about life on a farm in the 1600s. An old BBC programme I think. It finished last night with harvest time; has been fascinating to watch.

Totalfeckineejit said...

Weaver, what would we do without your walks? They (the words and pics) should be made into a book, I'm not joking and it isn't flattery.
'Weavers walks' or 'A walk with Weaver'-A time capsule/snapshot of English country life.

Peraps a late summer should be called a 'Butterfly Summer' as well as an 'Indian' one. And I've just got to know what 'monkey musk' is.

Gwil W said...

Today you had a more successful walk than I did.
We set off and after 10 minutes someone decided they'd left the soup pan on the flame, so I rushed back and checked. Then I went the wrong way and missed the rendezvous. Someone, not me, lost their hat, but it was my fault. So I had to go and look for it. I couldn't find it. On my way back I saw a man and he said he'd seen the hat on a wooden table in a park. So I went back there and looked. I still couldn't find it. I tried to take a short cut but discovered they were digging up the road and I had to walk through a lot of noisy machinery, dust, mud, trucks loading earth and unloading gravel...ah,well, I doubly enjoyed yours!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Enjoyed you all coming along - if only in spirit. Wouldn't it be nice you were all really there, walking down the lane, chatting, scaring the birds (and the cows).
Still - thanks for your company - I really enjoyed reading you all.

freerangegirl said...

Hello there! Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a lovely comment. You live in gorgeous surroundings! Im really enjoying reading your blog - your writing truly bring the scenery to life. Thankyou :)

ChrisJ said...

I can smell the smells and feel the cool air. I know just how it feels walking those lanes. Give my love to Yorkshire. I think I was told that when the cows are lying down it means it's going to rain. My mother said it was because they were tired!