Marston Meadow Photo Walk

  It took till the afternoon before the weather improved enough for me to contemplate a walk outside with a camera, and I knew that the further I ventured, the return trip became more compromised, but the attraction of being outside won the day. I headed for the road towards the station. On my right was the entry to the expanse of lawn due to become a garden of Remembrance and the extension of the nearby graveyard.

I spotted that on the far right, there was now the sight of flowers for lost loved ones, and presumably the first graves, and a man was making his way towards me from that area; he appeared to be a possible sexton returning from that site. We had a short chat, before I returned to the roadside path and after a further walk along this path, I took the opportunity to cross the road, and enter the park.

I took a different route than normal, by following a path that entered the woods, which I found soon entered a large expanse of enclosed grassland that I had never visited before; I made a note of this as a place to bring my grandchildren in the future. I learned it had been named as Marston Meadow. It was an opportune moment for the cloud cover to open and for the sun to come out.

When I was young I was led to believe that a profusion of berries at this season was a portent of a hard winter, but of late this has not proven to be valid for it is quite some time since we have witnessed a hard winter after such a precursor! I believe that the power of such a fierce force would be most welcome to counter the spread of Covid this Winter.

I made the most of the opportunity of the light and colour I found whilst in this area, especially as there were very few sharing this space; one exception being a lady exercising her dog by using a thrower to propel a tennis ball some distance ahead, and her charge returning it eagerly for a further chance to retrieve it! It turned out from our subsequent conversation her husband was a keen photographer. We chatted for a short spell, until I broke off because some features in the hedgerow caught my eye, and we parted, but not without my sharing my business card details in the hope her husband's shared interest in photography might mean we might meet in the future.

Two highlights for me in terms of images were the powerful cloud structures I captured, and the seriously powerful thorns on some rose branches. A while later, I felt the drops of rain arrive, and the clouds darkened noticeably, I took the opportunity to hide my camera beneath my pullover, but brought it out twice more for the capture of two 'fairy rings' and the unfortunate demise of my right boot which slowed my progress of retreating from the park!