30 Days Wild Day 12: Fresh Air and Contemplation

Due to a heavy workload, I've been stuck indoors all day. It's been a very oppressive, stormy one and despite having all the windows wide open, I was feeling quite suffocated by the evening. I've also been having a bit of a low day so of course my motivation for most things wasn't particularly forthcoming. In an attempt to perk myself up and clear my foggy and full-to-bursting mind, I made myself a cup of green tea (apple and pear flavour in case you were wondering) and took it across the road to the field opposite.

This is one of my favourite places to have a quiet moment, particularly on summer evenings, when everything is slowing down and the air is mild. I stood leaning on the fence looking across the field to the line of trees in the distance. I quite often see high numbers of rabbits along the edges, their ears just poking above thick tussocks of grass, but there were none today. The rain was still dripping from the leaves above me after the earlier downpour we'd had and the sky had that funny, stormy colour to it; purple-grey swirled with yellow.

Through the thin mist that hung low across the grass, I could make out a lone roe deer grazing. The six horses that occupy the field during the summer months took no notice of it. The evening soundtrack was dominated by blackbirds, both laughing, chucking and singing their beautiful, clear song. A pair of robins chattered to each other in the bush beside me and I could just make out the silhouette of one preening itself.

Something that did really perk me up earlier in the evening was a chance glance out of my bedroom window. I quite literally did a double-take as I saw what at first I took to be a thrush but once my eyes adjusted through the slightly warped glass (con of a 19th century cottage), I realised it was in fact a Green Woodpecker. I have seen them locally in the past, but never on my home patch right outside our house! It was a wonderful sight especially the Great-Spotted family have stuck around all day too and one of them was visible on the tree behind the Green. Two species of woodpecker in one frame is pretty special in my book. 

Not the greatest photos I'm afraid!

I'll admit that the spell of fresh air did help to lift my mood. I have quite a lot on my mind and I'm juggling lots of things so it's easy to get bogged down. Sometimes the simple moments really make a difference.