Eight Jackdaws perched in a leafless Sycamore beside the Centre. Beside the garden fence all the wide path was slippery and muddy. So much for keeping my freshly polished boots clean! Once through the gateway the recently grazed grassland looked short and colourless whilst the Anthills stood out with green growth of fescue.
From Skipworth Meadow (AKA Boys Brigade) Old Harry and the urban coastline beyond were visible. Meanwhile, grey clouds crept in from the west. Carrion Crows called from the Large Copse and the distant sound of a mechanical “stone pecker” could be heard. Rain came in as I was half way across the meadow. I noticed how a few Holm Oak had encroached into the hedgerow that divided Smithfield from Skipworth. Evergreen leaves of roadside Laurel added some colour and they displayed dried pea like fruits. A Black Pine had three-inch-long needles in pairs just like a Maritime Pine. However, its cones were much smaller than the latter would be. Maritime Pines were planted around Bournemouth to provide shelter and give a healthy air scented for visiting Victorians. It was another introduction from the Mediterranean like our Holm Oaks. Today a few pools of water we held in these oaks rot holes.
I noticed that the uppermost two foot of an Ash trees branch tip beside Solent house stood out from the rest of the tree. Were they caught in a sunbeam or covered in lichen? No this was this year’s growth. An arm size dead limb was hung up vertically in a Hawthorn. Its eventual falling would be safely onto the verge, so I left it and the Beetle larvae occupied within to remain dry off the ground.
I meandered beside the Woodland / Long Meadow drystone wall line. In places it had been rebuild in others it was still absent. A determined broken, bonfire scorched, and herbicide plugged Holm Oak stem which was as tall as I, still showed growth mostly around its base but also a little at its tip. A couple of dead Elm stems beside the wall revealed, where bark had peeled off, radial Beetle larvae chambers. A cankerous twin stemmed Beech struggled for light as did a Hawthorn beneath the evergreen cover. Despite signs of rot and deadwood the Beech had healthy pointed miniature cigar like buds. A four to five-inch diameter Ash wore a belt which was the remains of a spiral tree guard. A Goat Willow (elongated leaves) had split such that one third of it blocked the line of the wall. It had split where water had sat and showed a staining in a fissure. A Green Woodpecker called from the open meadow.