Woodland Waterfalls

I've been busy over the weekend rebuilding the trailer for the Heron. Much grinding, cutting and welding. Monday was a holiday so it was down tools and take Fly for decent walk. She's not very keen on crossing streams.

John Muir was born two doors along from where I live. His early childhood was spent playing around the coast where each morning I start my day by taking Fly for a walk.  His love of wild places fortunately continued when his family emigrated to America.  

He founded the Sierra Club and was leading in the creation of the Sequoia National Park and the Yosemite Valley.  John Muir devoted most of his life to preserving the natural and spiritual qualities he found in wild places. He wrote that "as long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing." I'm kind of fond of waterfalls myself so I took a couple of hours to wander around Pease Dean to try and capture the start of the Autumn in my own mind.

  It's not the easiest of places to get to but that makes it all the more special.

Fly the pioneer seeking out the trail and checking I'm still with her!

A welcome surprise was this Peacock butterfly. They have been slowly colonising southern Scotland over the last few years. Most people only expect to see butterflies in the height of summer but the Peacock can live for 11 months so hopefully this one will hibernate through the cold of the coming winter and breed next spring.
 A fine day off but back to the grind tomorrow.

Sun 24th June Woodland Scramble

On Sunday the weather was changeable with sudden downpours. Still no sailing and no cycling today. I took Fly back to the west side of Pease Dean in an attempt to try to follow the stream down to the main part of the nature reserve. The woods here are natural due to the steepness of  the gullies in the dean. It is too steep to graze or farm and has been left as it would have been for centuries.

The Ramsons have died back since my last visit but everything else has grown up and the going was difficult.

Above is Sessile Oak. The ground was wet and I had a few slips working my way along above the stream.

The soft ground also meant it wasn't too difficult to follow the deer tracks. Further on I found a flattened area in the grass where a deer had spent the night.

I also came across a badger sett. There was recent digging and a pile of cleared bedding nearby. They often do this when reusing an old sett or if there are cubs around.

Badger cubs are born early in the year in January or February. The damp ground will hopefully mean plenty of earthworms for them

This is not a badger,

The spindly trees show this area has been felled recently and has new trees planted.

 A stand of Sycamore.

The Rain starting again on my way back. A good couple of hours, plenty of stings and scratches and Fly is fast asleep now.