AN OUTDOOR LIFE

It is not always necessary or possible to go into the outdoors and on these occasions we can still feel the power and benefit of the outdoors once we have found peaceful oases tucked away in the urban environment. Spending time in these places will be a restorative process once they have been located in your neighbourhood and follow in the tradition of Buddhist temples and other spiritual havens used by native people all over the world.  Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

The surface of the flowing waters of the River Cleddau in the last few moments of daylight illustrating the extraordinary variety of texture, shade and light created by the slope and configuration of the river bed. Painting pretty patterns on the surface of the water above, with surges, boils and ripples lower down revealing the outlying advances of the incoming tide. Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

It is over a month since the first puffins of this season have been seen returning to Skomer Island. On the 16th of April puffins landed on the island and on Sunday 2nd of April approximately 7,300 puffins were gathered in North Haven. This was the opening day of the season for visitors, who would have been able to marvel at the antics of the "sea parrot" returning from over-wintering in the North Atlantic as part of a life-style that is just becoming to be understood. Only very recently have tracking devices been miniaturised sufficiently to enable this small bird to be monitored.  Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

Spring lambs are far too small for eating, so all the lambs in the butchers for Easter will have been born over the winter and been fed on animal feeds of undisclosed origins. This process will impair the flavour of their meat - far tastier is late-season lamb, which will have been properly grass-fed throughout their short frolic-full lives out in the fields. Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

This is the kind of view, imbibed in ordinariness, that instills homesickness when away from home, especially abroad. Similarly viewing on satellite TV a programme with Delia Smith preparing Sunday lunch.  Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

A nesting female swan at the west end of Ashford Reservoir, tucking its head into its feathers and making herself comfortable in what will be her residence for the next two months. The nest is mostly finished in preparation for egg-laying that will take place towards the end of April and is a large open bowl, lined with down and feathers and surrounded by water - as a barrier to land-based mammals.  Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

Winter wheat growing well in the mild spring weather after a gentle winter. The lush, green shoots will be ready for harvesting in July and will produce a high-gluten, quality wheat grain, which will attract a good market price.  Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive" wrote Robert Louis Stephenson and if we travel hopefully in the British countryside this April we will see an abundance of white blossom in the hedgerows - the hawthorn blossom cretaegus monogyna, although known as "May Flower", has arrived. The hedges are also full of blackthorn blossom prunus spinosa. The two are very similar from a distance and can normally be identified by their off-set blooming pattern, but in these times of global warming it may be useful to look more closely at the flowers - blackthorn has firebrick-red pollen whilst hawthorn's pollen is mustard-yellow. Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

Sally saw a fox last night. At first she thought it was Brer Fox but then she realised that it was a real fox on a nefarious mission scuttling to her neighbour's chicken coop.i Photo © Jonathan Lewis / Getty Images Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

In the early morning flashes of white in the high branches of this tree caught my eye and on closer examination proved to be the white undersides of treecreepers spiralling up the branches and feeding off sleepy insects. These small native birds known in the country as "tree mice" can only run upwards.  Bird photo © Dominic Couzens Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

Looking west towards Minehead from the New Pier at Watchet. Steeped in history both ancient and modern it was built to replace the 1862 original West Pier and Mineral Pier after they were destroyed by the Great Storm of 1900.  More recently on the opposite side of the pier, in January 2013, a baby strapped into its buggy was blown by a gust of wind into the water.  Six-month old Sam was rescued by the harbour master George Reeder, aged 63 and a former lifeguard, and made a full recovery. Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

As the sun slowly sets behind Gatesholm Island and the sky darkens, this signpost starts to resemble a Christian cross. Modern pilgrims passing this way worship challenge, hedonism, reflection, insight, sustainability and technology rather than Christ and often follow the same paths followed by the medieval pilgrims on their route to St. Davids. Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

At this time of year Marlowe Sands has an abundance of driftwood that's been thrown-up by a succession of winter storms and after a day or two of dry weather it's ready to burn. A driftwood-fire made on the beach is one of life's pleasures - providing warmth after a bracing swim in the sea and then sustenance in the form of a hot drink and simple, un-faked food. Here is comfort, as described, and also connection with our ancestors, who will also have appreciated this same simple enjoyment.  Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

Living with British weather is rarely boring and, although we are accustomed to changing and variable weather-patterns, most British people retain an optimistic outlook. One of the inexplicable aspects of this is that, in spite of the weather's vagaries, when we have a sunny day we think it is going to last forever.  Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

This rock is floating on water, which defies the laws of physics but is, nevertheless, true for this moment in time - in the last hour of daylight at Freshwater West. This beautiful and magical beach ( the best surfing beach in Pembrokeshire) gathers any waves rolling in from the North Atlantic from the SSW to the NNW and runs them in over its perfect gradient.  Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

What is permanence and what is presence? Both the rock and surfer have both... but on a different time-scale. The surfer is living for the moment and the rock will be here when the surfer has gone, but the rock will not be here for ever.  Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device