Yesterday was the first day of spring and, although I've taken an occasional stroll along the local lanes, I haven't ventured 'off-road' for quite a while. So, today's morning sunshine persuaded me to dig out my waterproof boots from the garage and venture out onto the hill.
Almost immediately, I saw evidence to confirm that that spring had, indeed, sprung. These catkins, for example.......
The next thing that I noticed was that those responsible for the upkeep of the hill seem to have done a lot work to clear away some of the damage caused by the quite severe winter we've experienced. Several trees and branches which had been brought down by the sheer volume of the snow which had rested on them had been dragged to the edge of the forest - presumably to wait for some form of motor transport to take them away.......
Other maintainace work which I saw being carried out involved efforts to prevent trees and branches from damaging telephone or electricity cables. I was intrigued by the perceived requirement for warning signs; however - as evidenced by the positioning of the 'traffic' cones (and the erosion caused by tyres) - these woods are constantly being used by mountain-bikers......
In the lower photo, one of the workers can be seen with a long pole which he used to pull the branches away from the cables before the second man climbed up to remove the offending foliage with a chain-saw.
Elsewhere, something else I encountered during my walk which was new to me was a rather fine, inscribed, wooden bench which has been placed in a convenient alcove in the local church-yard. I may be cynical - but I'm sorry to have to say that, in this day and age, I feel that charity may be being stretched beyond a reasonable limit to suppose that it will remain there for very much longer - because it had no means of securing it to the ground.
