A natural path follows the river as it winds its way to the sea.

Easy to follow as countless feet have gone before, eroding the thick undergrowth of grass into a sparse avenue of grass, stones and soil.

Separating the pathway from the fields is an intermittent dry stone wall connecting to natural hedges of hawthorn, intertwined with trees whose canopy reaches across the river giving shade to what’s beneath and protection to those above.

The hedge now ‘laid back’ sprouts new spring shoots in preparation for the coming summer.

Songbirds of many types are flying round, hunting for locations for their new nest, where food, shelter with security will see them and their brood through another summer.

Above sparrow hawks hover as they search the ever thickening undergrowth for movement of their prey. In between are a myriad of flying insects with swallows swooping through as they gorge on the new abundance of food.

Up above the calls of crows warning all to stay away and down below the fish just swim away.

The sun shines through cumulous clouds and again through the canopy of trees, shadows flicker as the branches sway in the breeze. The clouds are full yet still far apart minimising the risk of rain as the day progresses, so my coat remains rolled up and tucked away on my back.

A duck flies in and lands on the water, it shakes its tail and ‘quacks’ to acknowledge its arrival, unperturbed nothing moves or looks about as the duck swims along.

I sit between the trees under the sun and watch birds play in the open air. As I look down the path there is no human sight to see and I immerse myself into the sight sound and smell of the surrounding scene.

As the day moves on the Earth moves around the sun, the quality and direction of light changes as time progress, highlights on trees, stone and water show new things with shadows and colours not normally seen. Life is in abundance yet it’s hard to see as it burrows between the flora & fauna.

Eyes now move to scan the dry stone wall, pick out algae that has dried leaving its mark on the stone, birds stand on the capping stones as they look around surveying the scene. These walls have been there for hundreds of years, what a story they could tell of those that built and now gone by.

The water moves relentlessly on so I follow, the path continues unmade but defined, the going is rough as I manoeuvre in between the roots of trees, stones and mud, the path comes out of the trees and into open land. The wider space connects with your senses as the wide panorama develops before you, splitting the scene into a foreground and background with different aspects on each to ensure the mind is fully occupied. The light now shines direct interspersed only by clouds, the shadows of which race over the countryside.

Walking along with only the sounds of the countryside there to hear a combination which lulls the mind into a state of calm. The ability to ‘see’ increases as you take time to watch and listen, you look at trees and wonder what they are, you look at birds and again wonder what the are.

A mental note is made for reference books to be able to partake in this wonderful scene. So much to see and to take in, as the fields roll into glades, solitary trees into copses and the fields extending into the hills. Photographs taken but somehow none seem to get the atmosphere the scene expresses, that sense of natural calmness and tranquillity yet a bustle of life as it goes about its daily business.

Memory though can be a perfect tool that can picture the best and eradicates the rest. The smells and sounds can play back through the mind as you gaze inside your memory of the scene set before you, if only there was some way to ‘download’ the senses of sight, sound and smell and couple it together with imagination, the scene would then be set forever.