Daily Field

The loop

Sketch map of the walk: gate, lower meadow, stile, wet corner, stubble field headland, oaks and the bench
Not to scale. About 2.4 km, forty minutes at an unhurried pace.
  1. The gate. Where every walk starts. The puddle here is the first to freeze.
  2. Lower meadow. Cut once a year in July. Fog collects here on still mornings.
  3. The stile and the hawthorns. Robins, long-tailed tits, and the spindle bush in the corner.
  4. The wet corner. Rushes, water mint, and the ditch that runs only after rain. Swallows feed here all summer.
  5. Stubble headland. The edge of the arable field: skylarks, the occasional hare, field-margin flowers.
  6. The oaks. Three old trees and an ash. Jays in autumn, ivy flowering on the ash.
  7. The bench. End of the loop, by the rowan. Where these notes get written.