Having walked snippets with the family, I marched the full 6k by myself!
It took me only one hour twenty minutes to complete. This included a couple of brief photo stops. I noticed the mushrooms (?) pictured above that I’ve not noticed before as well as mountains of moss, that I have noticed before. I also saw lots of squirrels. I really should’ve taken photos because they were often crouched or even stood up straight on, not just scurrying sidewards/away.
There were many nests in the barren trees and it’s hard to fathom that they’re still intact given that full trees have blown over…
https://planetpaul.blog/2021/02/27/natures-force/
Chainsaw wielding personnel were on with this!
Having clocked this previously, I believe that the above is a badger set. There are two sizeable entrances (Not particularly clear in the photo) much bigger than rabbit holes. Foxes have also been seen in the area so I guess that it could also be home to them and not badgers. I think that it has more of a badger vibe though. It does sit quite high but such is the lay of the land. There is a small stream that divides the path and earth from where the set/den sits.
I also believe that I saw two woodpeckers. One was in a bush right beside the path then flew to an isolated and sparse tree where there was another of the birds. Looking at my book/online, I can’t see what else they could’ve been. I heard what I thought were woodpeckers a little further on. The sound seemed to be coming from a different angle but they could’ve moved or my sound locationing was off!
I also saw lots of robins but unusually, not a single red kite. It was incredibly foggy mind so I couldn’t even see a very loud helicopter!
It was nice to just knuckle down and walk. As pleasant as it is with the family, two children mean that I spend a lot of time walking sidewards. Hopefully I’ll be able to go on a proper hike soon!
