For a while this month, I seemed to lose my voice, online at least. I took a break from Facebook and Twitter, preferring to watch the blackthorn bloom and fade then bud and leaf, than be bombarded by notifications and newsreels. I’ve taken to standing beside the car for a moment before heading out on …
Goodbye September, Hello October
The end of August and most of September passed by in a whirl of phone calls, paperwork signatures, and bottomless cardboard boxes. It is said, September is a great time for making new starts, which I hope bodes well for us. All this stress and frantic activity is down to one little (actually rather big) thing; …
Local Patch: jumpers at dawn, fairy street-lamps by the ditch.
13th August, and already it feels more like September. I am certain that the year, in the rush to escape the last grasping clutches of the summer's heatwave, has over run and got a whole month ahead of where it should be. Not that I'm complaining however; this is my favourite time of the year, …
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Lammastide
August 1st. I walked to work today, taking a route across the common to avoid the busy main roads. I felt the need to spend some time in nature, as thought it were trying to catch my attention over something important I had near forgotten. As my steps dropped into a rhythm of root rock …
Pine needles radiate childhood picnics
May was a frantic month; the peak of the busy season at work and at the allotment. June will be no different by the looks of my diary. I decided to take a walk in some local woods, to calm my soul ahead of another wave of commitments. It is amazing to see, thanks …
Little April Shower
If March is the month of winds and the last snows, April is certainly the month of showers. So far this year, in my little corner of Sussex at least, it has been a cold, wet spring. Following the thaw that swelled the ditches with melt water and liquified within the ground to create sodden …
Blackthorn Winter
It has felt like we have been poised on the cusp of the seasonal change for weeks. The cold weather we associate with winter lingered long into the 3rd calendar month of the year, and according to the weather forecast, hasn't yet been completely banished to the mysterious artic north. But snow isn't just a …
Patch Watch: February 15th, Bumblebee and Bullfinches
I have taken to walking often on the heathland. I leave work for an hour at lunchtime, follow the path through the wood and cross the busy main road. As soon as the gate clunks shut softly behind me, I am in a different world. For a short time I can put all thoughts of …
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Patch Watch: What a Lot of Wellie-Weather!
After a relatively dry 2017, the first month of the new year seems to be excited to have discovered rain, and has been enthusiastically demonstrating this day after day. Few bright days have punctuated the curtains of rain, but when they have, they have been glistening gems. We may complain about the wet weather, but …
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Happy New Year
A bright sunny morning, and a quiet day to myself. Time to pour a refreshing drink of sparkling water infused with healthy fruit and herbs, shake off that post christmas fuzziness and settle down with pen and paper to plan the coming year. I am getting ahead of the game and drafting out some January …
Sussex Field Notes 