Far From the Madding Crowd

Friday, 20 May 2016

Just About Hanging On

We went to Arne for a walk and also for coffee, the RSPB now have a cafe at Arne and it is very nice. These oak trees are on the coastal edge and both are still alive and in full leaf which is surprising when you see how much of the soil has been washed away by the sea, exposing their roots.

Wednesday, 4 May 2016

Durlston Today

A lovely day at Durlston Country Park, the meadows are now dominated by Cowslips and a few Early Purple orchids too.

Monday, 2 May 2016

Unlucky and at the same time Lucky

Malcolm, my partner and I went to Morden Bog today for excercise so I did not take my camera with me and guess what, we saw a flock of Crossbills. Now I say unlucky because I did not have my camera but lucky because Morden Bog is surrounded by Wareham Forest which is quite an extensive area of pine woodland, so to see a flock of Crossbills is a miracle. So I count myself both unlucky and lucky at the same time. We saw plenty of Lousewort along our route, the picture I have posted was taken at Kingcombe Meadows in 2010.

I think I need to write a hundred lines, NEVER GO OUT WITHOUT YOUR CAMERA.

Lousewort

My Blog

I have taken the title of my blog from Thomas Hardy's fourth novel 'Far From the Madding Crowd' which he wrote in 1874. He took his title from Thomas Gray's poem 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard' completed in 1750. Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset where he lived for most of his life and where he based the stories in his novels. The word 'madding' means frenzied and there is a sense of freedom I get being out in the countryside and being close to nature away from the frenzied atmosphere of the towns and cities. I live in Dorset and like Thomas Hardy, it is where I have lived for most of my life, my blog is mostly about nature in Dorset. I am a member of the Dorset Wildlife Trust. I will include my garden and anything of interest about the natural world in Britain.