A Stroll in the Woods

This morning the scales showed I had lost 3lbs, which for one small moment I thought was good news before I remembered that I gave blood yesterday. So this is my weight with an empty arm.

As exercising with too little blood is not a good idea I needed find something gentler that would nevertheless count towards Juneathon. Perhaps a walk in the woods?

I am lucky because Ashridge is near and it is one of my favourite places, somewhere that always refreshes . Beech, oak and birch, deer and who knows how many birds, away from the main paths everything is tranquil. Sometimes when I feel completely alone I like to stand completely still, just listening and looking. I wish I could identify birds by their song but I have no idea. All I hear is the texture of interweaving calls and the best I can do is to try to count the number of different songs. At moments like this time passes, but I cannot stay too long or it would not count as a Juneathon.  One has to stride on.

In the distance I see a patch of blue flowers and think it unusual because bluebells should be finished but getting closer is see the flowers are quite different. The petals start as blue and bell-like but are then forced apart as the green seed-bladder grows larger (if you click the picture to see a larger version, this can be seen more clearly).

I have no idea what the flower is so if anybody knows this inadequate naturalist would be pleased to hear from you.

Stats for Juneathon Day 3:
Time walking: 1 hour