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Swineham 7

Followed the path beside the River Frome down to Swineham, through the reedbeds, where the breeze sets the whole landscape in motion, and you walk in a world of half-seen things and unseen things. The rattle of dragonfly flight, and a glint of sunlight on wings. The endless pent-up grumbling ("And another thing...") song of Reed Warblers. A black-capped Reed Bunting clinging to a reed as it sways back and forth in the wind - now you see it, now you don't.

Don't get your hopes up. It's hard to photograph half-seen things... )
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Roses in the Rain, the Secret Garden 11

Celebrated the return of the British summer - grey sky, rain and gales, at last! - and the acquisition of a new macro lens, by visiting the Secret Garden at Carey. Strangely, I had the rose garden entirely to myself. Just me, with my umbrella occasionally blowing inside out, and the roses uncomplaining in the wind and rain.

Perhaps too many photographs of roses )
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On Gussage Down

Wind and cloud. I am grateful. I've missed having proper weather during our recent spell of nothing-but-sunshine. Followed the ancient Roman road from Gussage All Saints up onto Gussage Down, to visit the much more ancient Neolithic long barrows.

Long rambling post with many pictures )
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From Flower's Barrow looking West 2

The paths across the Army Ranges are open for the half term holidays, so I walked up to Flower's Barrow Iron Age hillfort on a fresh blustery morning.

Cliffs & flowers )
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Aquilegia longissima, Holme Gardens
Aquilegia longissima.

Another warm morning. The gardens at Holme looked lovely in the sunshine, but this harsh light is horrible for flower photography. My camera just couldn't cope with the light/shadow contrast, and none of my pictures came out well.

Read more... )
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Orchid 2

A walk through the streamside meadows near S. Farm, with the cuckoos calling. The wind full of down from the willow trees.

Read more... )
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West Dorset Holloway 5

'Holloway' comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'hol weg', and refers to a sunken path that has been grooved into the earth over the centuries by the passage of feet, wheels and weather...

'The Old Ways' Robert Macfarlane


A resolutely uncircular walk )

Holloway

May. 15th, 2025 07:04 pm
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Hell Lane 3

A day spent exploring West Dorset holloways, and remote paths across the hills, some of which weren't where they were meant to be. (The paths, not the hills. Though possibly the hills as well. "Who moved the hills?") Got very lost and tired and hot. Will post more photos another day.
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Green Man Festival, Bradford on Avon 2025
Dancers and stalls at the Green Man Festival, Bradford on Avon. I don't remember the festival being quite this busy and crowded last year. Perhaps because the festival was being co-run by the town council this year, and the pound signs lit up in their eyes at the prospect of renting street stall spaces to as many sellers as possible?

The atmosphere was still wonderful - a little like being at a medieval great fair - but I did struggle a bit with the crowds.

A few snatched photos )
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Powerstock Common 7

Powerstock Common is probably the closest thing to wild woods we have in Dorset. Once a royal hunting ground, then an area of common land, never enclosed (perhaps too boggy to be worth the expense), now a nature reserve of tangled woods, ponds, rough pastures.

The green and the blue May woods )
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Briantspuddle 1

An overcast start to the day, and a fresher wind this morning, for which I was grateful. The last few days have been unseasonably warm and humid. Left the car in the little car park by Culpepper's Dish, and took the bridleway through the woods down to Briantspuddle village, where the wisteria is flowering on the cottages.

Read more... )

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