The Shortest Day of the Year

Today the sun decides it has gone south for too long and makes it's long journey back towards the Northern Hempisphere.

I began the day with a walk with the dog. The weather was mild (thermometer recorded 10C.) with a strong breeze from the south west. Above there were a few clouds scudding across the brilliant blue sky as the sun was rising through the trees. There were clouds on the horizon, which as the morning wore on gradually thickened up.

It was a beautiful morning for a walk, and for once, rarely, met not another person. Scamp was off lead and furgling in the undergrowth: he threw up a pheasant which squawked off in an ungainly flight over the hedge into the next field! It was so quiet and it was a day to listen to birdsong:all the usual blue tits, a pair of blackbirds, and I think I heard a chaffinch. But it was good just to stop and listen and look around, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the countryside, and feel at peace with oneself, the world and God.

Two birds took off from the middle of the field, and my first though was that the were larks as I have often heard skylarks here in the summer. They were too far away to get any kind of colour or shape identification, but as they flew they sang a very pretty song, but it was not like a song I have heard before, although it was melodic and carried a great distance. Perhaps they were woodlarks, - it had the undulating flight that my bird guide describes, but the territory does not quite fit. Anyway their song made my day and so we turned homeward for breakfast and then church! Have a nice day!