The first weekend in November, I don’t think I actually noticed until later in the day, I guess that’s age and retirement for you. It was a real mixed bag of weather for the whole weekend; pretty cold, calm, sunny, wet, windy ….. anything else?
Saturday was kind of nice, pretty chilly but sunny so, I went for a walk ….. for a change 🙂
I set the walk record to height, I start at around 137 metres and the highest point is 150m, just before the old Oak and then drops down to the road, the little hooked part at the bottom is where I go to have a look for the white Chaffinch 🙂
The blue angled segment is the path to and around the three ponds, not much going on down there at the moment, apart from overhead 🙂
The end of that section goes green, yellow, orange pretty quickly if I choose that route through the woods, it is fairly steep, pretty wet at the bottom but gives me a decent workout.
But, because I spend so much time stopping to watch stuff, take photos etc. my fitness app records it over average as a slow pace walk.
I guess it is over time but, to me it’s a very varied, flat, steep down, steep up walk and some of it I really stride out to get the workout. If the weather is good, I am usually out for 2-3 hours 🙂
The overall distance in this case is 2.84 miles. I set off just after 2 pm with the sun shining but chilly so three layers on 😉
I only reached the end of our fence …
A pair of male House Sparrows sat on the fence in the sun, giving me looks! I’m sure some of these birds are saying “will you clear off?” or similar 😉
The younger, farthest male cleared off.
Quickly followed by this more mature looking bird, dad maybe? They left a solitary female a little further along.
Before she fled the scene too.
I made the entire walk down to the road without taking a single photograph! Must be a record. The light at the Oak wasn’t great and only a few birds visited, it’s also becoming enough just to stand, watch and enjoy them whizzing in and out to feed.
Down at the road, I started seeing Redwing, they’re feasting on two trees at the back of the house where I go to watch for the Chaffinch and there are a LOT of them around right now.
They are seriously shy birds and getting good shots can be challenging , the Fieldfares that arrive with them even more-so! No decent shots of them ….. yet. Spur of the moment I decided to do the ponds loop as it was a gorgeous day so I headed up the bank, following the tree line.
I love all the ‘shrooms around just now, there are loads!
I was well along that path when a Buzzard made an appearance, hanging in the still air.
As I carried on round it came back, I think, appearing from behind me at low level.
I almost go on my butt every time, trying to track them almost directly overhead 🙂
It really took an interest in me, or the lens I was pointing at it?
I absolutely love it when they appear to be interested in you.
I took the steep woodland path back up and it comes out on the main lane just short of the old Oak, I stood for a short while just enjoying the light and the birds flitting to and fro before heading for home. Sunday wasn’t too bad a day either, eventually, started out dreich 😉 but improved a little later on so …
I just headed straight down the lane, no frills today, it’s just shy of 1 mile each way so still a decent walk and the steep hill back up.
I did drop into the woodland path where the little black dot is, just because the colours and the light were beautiful.
The Silver Birch were lit up by the sunlight and a Beech beyond was glowing bright golds and yellows. The big Beech in the line of trees caught my eye too … dare to be different 🙂
And those colours!
I took a look at the Mill Pond and surrounds before heading back up the hill. All the way to the old Oak.
The Coal Tits happily drop onto my hand now to grab a Sunflower chip, the neighbours have joined the feeding game too now, the birds follow us up the lane as we get closer ….. sometimes 🙂
The last half mile, from the old Oak. I could not resist this flamboyant fungus by the side of the lane
And that was my weekend of walking with a camera. I started out by moaning about some of the weather, it wasn’t all that bad after all 😉
November 2025
patch walks
Scozmo's Photery 
Those look like lovely walks! The Buzzard looks like a proper Hawk to me. Great in-flight shots of it. The tree lined lane looks wonderful, and the fungi neat. I like the frilly one too.
Your Coal-Tit reminds me of our Chick-a-Dees. That looks like a great natural feeder. My neighbors feed the birds too. It’s wonderful isn’t it as it brings in more birds. 😊
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HI and thank you 🙂
I love these walks, very, very lucky to have the countryside around here to myself for the most part and almost all the wildlife I could want on my doorstep. I agree the Coal Tit looks the same as or at least similar to Chickadees, I’ve hand fed them in Canada too as I do these now, it’s wonderful.
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You’re welcome!
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