AN OUTDOOR LIFE

The birds ARE here... arriving in this landscape with its views and vast skies and seas it appears at first to be empty of life. But as I settle and take it all in, listen and tune-in, cast my eyes slowly across the mudflats and grasses I start to notice, hear and see movement and bird-song. The birds are there alright - they've always been there, they've been there for centuries, for millennia, getting on with their lives of habitual routine, disturbed by us but adjusting around us and we would miss them if they were not here. Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

At the end of the ridge between Holford and Hodder's Combes in the Quantock Hills lies this mound and cairn. In common with other tumuli the location of this one is an amazing vantage point with a wide view out across the Bristol Channel. This type of burial mound appears all over the world and although in Britain this is most likely to date from the Middle Bronze Age 1600 - 1200 BC, there was a revival of the Scandinavian burial-style after the Anglo-Saxon invasion, between 500 and 600 AD. Following their burial the buried person could enjoy the view and the living members of the tribe could feel safe with their ancestor watching over them. Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

Now the willow tree is joining in on the act and starting to stir - of the genus Salix, from the Latin salire, to leap, it literally springs into life. And the verb "to sally", meaning "to go forth boldly" comes from the same root. Also brings to mind Roger Deakins' praise of trees (from "Wildwood")... "Nothing can compare... (to trees) ...for signalling the changes in the natural world. They are our barometers of the weather and the changing seasons. We can tell the time of year by them. Trees have the capacity to rise to the heavens and connect us to the sky, to endure, to renew, to bear fruit and to burn and warm us through the winter - there is nothing that excites the imagination and passions as much as the flames of a log fire." Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

Apart from their potential for stinging humans and animals stinging nettles deserve to be promoted into the premiership league of super plants - nettles are the favourite food of many butterflies and are packed with nutritional benefits, Vitamins A, C and K and minerals including magnesium, iron and calcium. Clinical trials have proved the effectiveness of nettle root in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. The wonders never cease - feeding less than 1% of dry nettle in chicken feed will colour egg yolks as effectively as synthetic pigments. Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

The Dorset Down is one of the oldest breeds of native sheep and is known as "the king of the prime lamb breeds", renown for early maturing lambs fed from grass. The rams are extremely sturdy and quite capable of servicing some twenty ewes in twenty-four hours - I imagine a red-faced over-excited farmer, clipboard and stopwatch in hand, counting them off! Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

In the heart of the bramble patch appears a tunnel, as used by rabbits, who love the cover and protection that the dense prickly undergrowth provides. Uncle Remus knew how comfortable rabbits are in bramble patches and describes his immortal character Brer Rabbit, having been ensnared by Brer Fox using the Tar Baby, pleading not to be thrown into the bramble patch - skin him, rip his body apart, anything other than the bramble patch. And of course Brer Fox throws him in the brambles and Brer Rabbit escapes to provide a memorable example of how to get recalcitrant idiots to do what you want. Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device

According to the son of Charles Darwin teasels are partially carnivorous. They are adorning the fringes of this grassland in large numbers and their seeds are helping goldfinches survive the winter. Teasels were used in the woolen mills for "teasing", that is raising the nap on woolen fabrics, before being replaced by metal equivalents. Another fascinating aspect of these striking sculptural plants is that they have medically significant procoagulant properties.  Sent from my Blueberry  ®  mobile device