Bluebells at Dunster Castle

Beautiful day at Dunster Castle  - The children running through the blue bells in the surrounding woodland.

Old Tree with Bricks.

Walking through Taunton town centre near to the river. Encountered this wonderful old tree and, as I am sure many children have before us, my children clambered onto it's huge lower branches. The ancient trunk has clearly absorbed a brick wall in it's long past, a slow growing amoeba powering on as our lives flit past. Trees and plants amaze me with their deceptive strength as buddleia push apart the walls of abandoned buildings and saplings climb up through pavements and so trees explode and absorb brick walls. If ever we leave this earth, for all of our accomplishments and constructions, the natural world will reclaim the surface of this planet in no time at all.

Swallows return from Africa.

I saw my first swallows sitting in a pair on the telephone cables on the Taunton road as we drove back from Saturday morning football. Tired after their long flight and looking resplendent with their distinctive tails. I conversation it turns out that a pair had returned to roost in a friend's horse barn earlier in the week and within a few days I was seeing them on fences and lines quite regularly. They were appearing in Norfolk as we arrived in Norfolk for Adam's party, perhaps making their way across the country having originally arrived in the south and West slightly earlier having flown up from over the continent.