One Thousand Not Out - 25th August 2020

There was the constant patter of rain outside the window all night and by dawn the wind was thrashing the trees and there was persistent precipitation which stymied my attempts to go for an early walk. I popped out to do a little shopping and was joined in the car park by a male Peregrine trying his best to spook the pigeon enough to make one available for breakfast.

By lunchtime there had been no let up but suddenly things changed and patches of blue were visible through the scudding clouds so I got my boots back on and walked up the road to Rede Common.  

It was rather a vain hope that I would encounter any wildlife whatsoever as the wind was howling and the trees were thrashing around but at least it was not raining. My circuit of the common produced a couple of Blackcap and a Lesser Whitethroat but nothing else bird wise but there were several Small Whites, Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns trying to make the most of the break in the weather and a smart Small Copper stopped on the path and briefly opened its wings.

Small Copper

Migrant Hawkers congregated in the sheltered corners and a plump Volucella inanis sunbathed ion a briefly still leaf.

Volucella inanis

 

Extruded resin from an old Cherry

From Rede all the way onto Sheppey

Stag's-horn Plantain - Plantago coronopus A new walk plant!

I scrumped a few nice cooking apples and will return for the damsons tomorrow and my route took me out onto the London Road and under a greengage tree that I did not know about! I looped back towards Bligh Way and then headed under the M2 and down the side of the CTRL which keep the windblown trees safely to my left.

Migrant Hawkers lurked around the green bridge once again but unsurprisingly it was very quiet although to be honest the wind in the trees was so noisy that a Welsh brass band could have lurked undetected.

Migrant Hawker

An adult Hobby cruised over but was still able to turn against the wind and show his aerial prowess and he was followed shortly by two Swifts determinedly heading into the wind.

I popped out by the wheat fields and battled into the gale back up to the reserve driveway before reaching Longhoes where I quite nicely went through my 1000 miles since lockdown on the 23^rd of March. 

My thousand mile view... Longhoes with the weather closing in once again

If you had said back then in those dark days of the early spring that I would walk that far I would have laughed and I set myself no targets other than to not sit idle at home if at all possible.

After two weeks of frantic gardening at the start I headed out for my first proper walk from home on my birthday on the 6^th April and have not looked back since.  Most of these miles have been from my front door in Strood with only a few excursions elsewhere and again nearly all within Kent.  

It has been a cathartic pedestrian voyage of discovery as I have learnt so much about the urban - rural fringe in which I have lived for nearly twenty years and have stumbled on a treasure trove of quality wildlife on my doorstep.

For a people person like me it has all been very strange but at the same time wondrous with just me, my senses and my thoughts for the majority of outings and my blog to share those moments with friends and family.

It is not over yet and there is still time to discover so much more.