Saturday, February 12, 2011
West Berkshire
Greger was determined to get out and walk today after his illness, so we drove to Bury Down and ambled round Hodcott Down, West Ilsley and Cow Down.
A small patch of snowdrops was coming out by the seat, the memorial of someone (I forget his name) who trained two Derby winners on these downs. They've made two nice scoops in the seat for your behinds, but unfortunately these were full of water so we couldn't sit down for a rest.
I first saw pictures of backlit sheep in a book by photographer Heather Angel. Needless to say they were a bit better than mine. This is looking across to Old Down.
Getting back up to the Ridgeway from West Ilsley was the hardest part of the walk; the bridleway seemed to go on forever. Mind you, it's always quite a pull, even when we're fit.A bird in the distant scrub had a harrier-like posture, I thought; but then it turned its back and I could see that it was a sparrowhawk, perching conveniently close to some blossoming gorse.
The walk was just under 8 kilometres. The weather was brilliant and we saw yellowhammers, skylarks and corn buntings (the last two singing). It was the kind of day when you can't help your thoughts turning to the first wheatears, even though you know it's far too early. // posted by Christine @ 9:30 AM 
