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Recent Comments
judith on when the wheels come off MYna on … Myna on A dream come true (and an easy… Myna Trustram on into the past again, naturally… jonathan trustram on Ely Diary Meta
Category Archives: mountains, flowers, landscapes
when the wheels come off
That was one of the first ones. They come to rest in gullies, ditches, gorges. For a few excited moments they roll and bounce, watched maybe, then they’re still for ever. Just come across this, a draft from several years … Continue reading
Arcadia 2, etc.
On the meadows by the river, I’ve seen this three times: a couple approaches a small group of heifers, quietly, slowly, a little cluster of three or four curious but wary animals, and then someone reaches out towards one, it … Continue reading
the Greylag and Arcadia
The landscape in lines, left to right as you walk under the railway bridge at the edge of the town: 1, railway line on a brambled embankment ; 2, damp pasture with reeds and sedge and a shallow lake in … Continue reading
Posted in diary, Eden etc, mountains, flowers, landscapes, walks
Tagged birds, ely, utopia
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Underfoot
In the middle of wild swampland where the trees are intertwined in an inextricable thicket, there is a plain with very green vegetation which attracts the eye by reason of its fertility; no obstacle impedes the walker. Not a particle … Continue reading
how plants become weeds (and vice versa)
Here’s Euphorbia rigida, on neglected ground near olive trees in the Peleponnese. Actually, you can’t see it very clearly. I’ll see if I can come up with a cropped version. It’s April, and this early euphorbia has nearly finished flowering. … Continue reading
Posted in gardens, going round in circles, in Greece, mountains, flowers, landscapes
Tagged Anavriti, euphorbia, phlomis, weeds
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in Greece, 2024
I measure my decline against the mountain’s incline. This year I was still able, slowly, to walk up from Anavriti to Livadi, from 700 metres above sea level to 1400 metres and then back down by a more circuitous route … Continue reading
Posted in mountains, flowers, landscapes, my life, walks
Tagged Anavriti, greece, rewilding
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on horses, birds, ways of seeing
Vesper Flights, p. 190-1. Helen Macdonald too writes from Wicken fen, it’s almost a literary salon! see notes on bird hides and on rewilding. She’s among the reeds: I learned to listen, to tune into noises and let them guide my … Continue reading
Posted in mountains, flowers, landscapes, water
Tagged Alan Bloom, Eric Ennion, Wentworth Day, Wicken fen
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notes on bird hides and on rewilding
Four Fields, Tim Dee, p. 51 A new sort of alienation has already been devised: the tristesse of the bird watching hide. I can feel it now in the strange log cabin that has been erected on Tubney fen. Nothing … Continue reading
A dream come true (and an easy walk)
Yesterday, a sunday, I took the train in the gloom to Lakenheath, one stop on the line to Norwich, not counting Shippea Hill, which according to the map is about five metres above sea level. Lakenheath station is a couple … Continue reading
Easy Walks No 6, at home and abroad
Last year I kept wondering if I’d ever be able to walk all the way up Mount Olympus in Greece. I’ve been half way up, to the first refuge, and come down again that same day. Could I stay at … Continue reading
Posted in diary, mountains, flowers, landscapes, my life, walks
Tagged ely, lotschepass, Switzerland
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like a little black book 