Hello all –
I have missed two of our most recent Autumn walks, but not last Sunday when we were accorded some excellent views of Hatfield Broad Oak church, from a number of vantage points along the way. This first walk in November was mostly over open countryside, and, with the exception of some flocks of gulls, there seemed to be very few birds about – we spotted just one red kite, and a possible? owl. The cross field paths were really well marked out and easy to walk over. This was because a quad bike with fat tyres had been run across the newly ploughed fields thereby providing a reasonably solid path.
The majority of trees were still holding many of their leaves although these were in every shade of green, yellow and through to rust, but only a few were quite void of leaf. Along the fringes of the open fields there were many large toadstools (field mushrooms?), their flat caps open and measuring several inches in diameter. They prefer pasture, however, and do not grow where fields have been sprayed with chemicals. We also saw one butterfly, although from a distance, several deer hoof prints and some hops in the hedging
Have a Very Happy Christmas and a Good New Year!
Photograph: Wild hops – BSDFA Website
Best regards -Daphne WJ
