Just a bus ride away, exploring the Loxley Common seemed the perfect use of a sunny weekend. Alongside the Wadsley Common, they cover over a 100 acres and promise quite the spread of wildlife.

I was greeted, or rather ignored by some Great Tits on arrival. Each of then consumed in their vicious destruction of blameless branches to bother about any humans passing underneath them. The robins were a lot more welcoming, and would offer you a few glances from their posts near the path before disappearing into the undergrowth. The friendliest by far were the bees, who seemed content to hover near the ground, just out of step as you walked along. There was one particular individual who was convinced my shirt was a possible source of pollen and took her time really making sure. I've observed bees going about their business, but this was the first time I could actually see the length of tongue that goes into it and it is a memory that will stick with me for quite a while.

The birch trees were dense, but their silvery barks made everything light and open. The ground beneath was dotted with new fern growth, their heads still tightly curled. Any open spaces were filled with Bilberry bushes and the bright green of their leaves. My favourite spot however, was what I've decided to call the stone graveyard. A hollow filled with broken stones slowly disappearing underneath the dry remains of last year's growth. The most striking was a long, broken column of rocks, half sunken into the ground, like the vertebrae of some long gone creature newly exposed.