Went up to buy some new trousers today. Nice weather so I decided to saunter through the local woods on the way to the shop. The council have been actively managing the woods, so there are newly coppiced areas and various stages of regrowth. During the week it's practically deserted as soon as you're 50 yards from the car parks. With yesterday's downpour older tracks have been wiped clean, and the soft path surface has retained fresh animal tracks admirably. Had to keep stopping and examining them. Squirrel and dog predominated, with occasional fox and badger. Some other rodents, probably rats and maybe hedgehog. I've been looking for definite sign of muntjak and roe deer which are rumoured to be in the woods. Again nothing definite, put one fairly well defined path looked to have been made by hoofs rather than paws and disappeared into a muntjak sized hole in the undergrowth.
On the way out I was going quite fast, wrapped up in myself and not really looking. On the return trip, I slowed down and became engrossed in the butterflys, the tracks and the different flora surrounding the paths. Once I'd slowed and immersed myself in my surroundings, I changed a mental gear and dropped back into becoming part of nature. The bird alarms that had accompanied me on the outward trip ceased as my physical and mental energies calmed. Quietness allowed me to identify where dog walkers were the distant alarms and circles of disturbance reached me easily. No animal movement though.
Got back from my trip refreshed and calmed. The shop I'd gone to is a small independent, and must be about the only shop left in Southend that still closes on a Wednesday afternoon! I was after cargo rather than camouflage trousers, but still couldn't find any...
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