I’ve been trying lamely to get out and do more exercise, and, I have no excuses. Our house is surrounded by fields, beautiful views, and, an empty forest lies no more than a 2 mile walk away.
My walk or slow jog always starts with the view above. We overlook a hill called Criffel. It’s under 2000ft tall but surrounded by the Solway and the valley containing the town of Dumfries, it stands out. The view from the top on a clear day is outstanding.
I took this pic yesterday at the end of the lane. Posted it on Facebook and someone replied ‘Well done David – Leaves’ Yes, I know it’s just a picture of some withering Autumn leaves but I still like it so there Facebook ‘friend’ π
Once past the cattle grid at the bottom of the lane, the hill rises quite steeply to the left. It is a bit of an off putter but thankfully it’s short π
Today, the October sun was shining. I’d taken my iPhone, and decided to look out for any remaining colour aside the falling autumnal leaves. The first thing I found to snap was some bright hawthorn berries.
I decided I’d add an educational snippet to some of my photographs and learnt that Hawthorns are hermaphrodite, meaning both male and female reproductive parts are contained within each flower.
I also found this snippet on the woodland trust website
“Hawthorn was never brought into the home. It was believed that bringing hawthorn blossom inside would be followed by illness and death, and in medieval times it was said that hawthorn blossom smelled like the Great Plague. Botanists later learned that the chemical trimethylamine in hawthorn blossom is also one of the first chemicals formed in decaying animal tissue, so it is not surprising that hawthorn flowers are associated with death.”
Wow – Hawthorn deffo not popular in those days!!!
At the top pf the slope I found some brambles which the birds and foxes hadn’t managed to find.
I then turned to look at the ‘tree line’. I love this spot. I’ve taken pictures of it in every season. I have no idea who took the time to plant them out as there is no house at either end. In fact at the top of the hill there apparently was a false runway built to trick the Germans in WW2.
When I do manage to get my lazy self off the sofa, this is where I sometimes just run slowly uno and down a few times for some exercise. 10 times up and down is 3 miles. I’ve managed 8 so far. Here’s hoping I can improve as I used to be able to go all the way to the forest and back which is 5 miles!!
About half way up the tree line I found these little wild beauties….
Having no idea what it was I used an App Store app called Leafsnap and it cam up with this……
Might not be it but it looks a good match I think . β β
As I strolled up the tree line I kept seeing things I normally pass by. I couldn’t believe there was so much colour this far into October. Whether packing up for the winter or still in bloom nature is still beautiful in its symmetry and colour.
On the way back down I looked up at the clouds and smiled at how lucky I am to live where I do.
‘Sunday – The Tree Line’ was brought to you by David Linden aka @qosfc1919 on Twitter Β©οΈ Dodo Productions 2020
Fifty Seven 