Home
Went for a walk the other day, up a track and over some fields. I stopped for a while with a couple of people watching the birds on their neighbours' feeders which they put in the hedge opposite their houses - lots of assorted finches, especially Chaffinches, Goldfinches and House Sparrows. I suggested they keep an eye out for Bramblings which are about at the moment - there was one when I was last at Minsmere.
There's an official footpath further up the lane and the other side of a ditch, then there's the Path Everyone Uses, which cuts off a corner and runs along the field edge the other side of the ditch. The farmer doesn't mind, he has the field edge and corners sown with wildflowers and things to attract the bees and butterflies. There was still a late bumble out when I got there.
Well the sun was going down and dazzling below a cloud, which probably didn't help, and the grass was long and damp as I went down into the ditch and tried to climb up the other side.
I missed my step and went arse first into the bottom of the ditch.
Didn't hurt myself as I landed on a load of vegetation. In fact it was rather comfortable, I was in the same position as if I was sat in a recliner. The problem was, to get my feet down underneath so I could stand up again I had to use my arms, and everywhere I tried to put my hands was a mass of brambles and thistles and nettles.
At one stage I was thinking I'd just lie there until spring, but eventually I managed to get back to my feet with a load of pricked and stung fingers.
My first thought was "I'm bleeding, I should fetch my meter!" I extracted most of the thorns and carried on, but birdwise it was a dead loss. Just the usual Rooks, Jackdaws, Pigeons and Black headed Gulls. No winter thrushes, no sign of any Golden Plovers, nor the Barn Owls - the main reason I'd gone out late in the day. No sign of the Kites either and not even any Buzzards.
A load of assorted bigger gulls flew over, back towards the estuary to roost, and at least there was a half decent flock of Starlings - about eighty - which may have been heading for Minsmere or somewhere to join in a murmuration. I met a few people and their dogs but no-one else had seen anything of note either so as the sun went down I headed home for a well deserved dinner, ground pork with the peppers and chillies as a change from the beef.
There's an official footpath further up the lane and the other side of a ditch, then there's the Path Everyone Uses, which cuts off a corner and runs along the field edge the other side of the ditch. The farmer doesn't mind, he has the field edge and corners sown with wildflowers and things to attract the bees and butterflies. There was still a late bumble out when I got there.
Well the sun was going down and dazzling below a cloud, which probably didn't help, and the grass was long and damp as I went down into the ditch and tried to climb up the other side.
I missed my step and went arse first into the bottom of the ditch.
Didn't hurt myself as I landed on a load of vegetation. In fact it was rather comfortable, I was in the same position as if I was sat in a recliner. The problem was, to get my feet down underneath so I could stand up again I had to use my arms, and everywhere I tried to put my hands was a mass of brambles and thistles and nettles.
At one stage I was thinking I'd just lie there until spring, but eventually I managed to get back to my feet with a load of pricked and stung fingers.
My first thought was "I'm bleeding, I should fetch my meter!" I extracted most of the thorns and carried on, but birdwise it was a dead loss. Just the usual Rooks, Jackdaws, Pigeons and Black headed Gulls. No winter thrushes, no sign of any Golden Plovers, nor the Barn Owls - the main reason I'd gone out late in the day. No sign of the Kites either and not even any Buzzards.
A load of assorted bigger gulls flew over, back towards the estuary to roost, and at least there was a half decent flock of Starlings - about eighty - which may have been heading for Minsmere or somewhere to join in a murmuration. I met a few people and their dogs but no-one else had seen anything of note either so as the sun went down I headed home for a well deserved dinner, ground pork with the peppers and chillies as a change from the beef.
while walking I fell into a hawthorn bush managed to get back to my feet and staggered home to bed. Woke up in the morning with cuts and scratches all over not to mention the blood on the bedding 
I was younger then but as my recent excursion goes to show things don't improve with age 