Our creche, our home, our promised land is too a mausoleum
We live beneath the spires of those who claimed a bygone aeon
No more they breathe but still they stand, at least now for a time
We take our turn in this annum and to their heights we climb
The wind was blowing heartily as I set out towards the castle this morning, doing little to dampen the songs of Dunnocks and Chaffinches around the Learning Centre. These days it seems that anything less than a yellow weather warning is barely worth noting. I briefly turned my attention to the Stinging Nettles outside our front door. Fresh young specimens pushed tentatively up out of the soil, spreading their leaves in the shadow of their dead ancestors. their green-brown stalks stood erect above, like the columns of an ancient forgotten city.
Down in the Dell I watched a pair of squabbling Grey Squirrels duel in the overlapping branches of two Holm Oaks. I also noted a profusion of Blistered Cup in the waterlogged soil near the base of the bridge. This fungi is commonly found on piles of woodchip, perhaps the sawdust from all the tree works has provided it with fertilizer. The loud chirp of a Wren caught my attention as I started to leave, the small bird hopping on to a pile of timber then launching deftly into the sky.
I continued round Durlston Head, taking the brunt of the wind as I neared the Great Globe. What I found amid the grasses was most pleasing. Fresh petals of Germander Speedwell and Shepherds Purse have joined the ranks of Durlson’s other early flowers. Take a look round the Car Park for Lesser Celandine and the odd Dog Violet as well. A stem of Common Broomrape also adorned the landscape, standing tall above Sea Beet and swathes of Cleavers.
Under shelter of what tree cover I could find I made my way to the Small Copse. Stinking Iris berries were scattered on the woodland floor, with a few logs lined with King Alfred’s Cakes arranged into a rough den in the centre. With these discoveries I turned tail and walked back, readily assisted by the wind in the last leg of my journey.