a wet walk

we start out today under the threat of dark grey clouds and a strong wind from the south west, apparently pushing them away, further toward the coastal horizon, visibly blanketed in rain.

rooks and jackdaws wildly circling above in the wind and joining with the geese on the sugarbeet field.

hedgerows full of colour,  amongst dogwood, field maple and ivy,  guelder rose berries shine out.

along the edge of the wood, showers of leaves tumble out of the sky, in advance of driving rain.

we slither down into the ditch and up again into the wood, in search of shelter.

a big ivied  oak keeps us dry for a while. the wood is full of hazels, their leaves shining like big gold coins in the rain.

dripping trees spatter us as we  make our way along the inner edge; once there was a fair trackway along here.

the eastern horizon is cut off by the slope, and low clouds blow across shedding more rain.

out in the open we find puddles full of bright leaves reflecting dog and photographer.

the geese begin to blow across with the cloud, in small groups, squeaking and honking.

we cross the meadow , veiled in gusting grey swathes of rain.

the willows in this boggy bit of scrub along the bottom are still bright with leaves.

the green lane offers no shelter, but its colours are gorgeous, the hazels are just at their most yellow.

the geese have been congregating in the barley field here, but they don’t like my presence and fly up into the wind.

I rush up the lane in search of a good (camera) shot as they peel off back to the sugarbeet.

the hedges in the lane glow with orange and yellow. a vivid streak of red, a string of bryony berries; a beautiful, but poisonous member of the tropical gourd family.

bracken lines the lower end of the lane, copper fronds bleaching to pale yellow.

the roads run with rain water as the edge of a shelf of cloud edges across the sky, blue following behind.

we walk home in the dry.