Sunday 10th April 2022 - Having a Moan and Wood Anemones

I am starting today with a moan. Best to get this over with first! My moan is about the increase in rubbish we are currently picking up on our morning litter pick. It’s the Easter break which, this year, because of the varying school holiday dates from region to region, looks as though it is going to span three weeks. It’s a time when we see an increase in the number of visitors coming into the village, either for a stay or just for a few hours, or even the entire day, but why do they drop litter and why don’t they use one of the strategically placed bins or take it home with them? Taking the last two days as an example, we have picked up face masks, dog poo bags (some full, some not), sweet wrappers, lolly sticks, crisp bags, cotton buds, tissues, wipes, various drink containers and cigarette butts. It’s annoying; those who drop their rubbish have no consideration of the environment. I would imagine; villagers who took part in the village litter pick last weekend feel the same. Enough of this, I’ve had my moan, time to move on.

We had some lovely sunny days last week but with a definite chill in the air, especially once the sun went down. Today, there has been less of a chill and we decided to take a walk up to Northrepps and pop in to see a friend, but before we did, Barney had his walk. Poor Barney, age is getting the better of him. A couple of years ago the distance to Northrepps and back would have been a piece of cake for him, but not now. I said to a couple we met, walking their dogs, if Barney had come with us, we would need to have brought a picnic lunch with us, so we could allow for his slow pace and some stops. It was a lovely peaceful walk, with just bird song breaking the silence and the occasional call of an overhead buzzard. Even though most of the trees have yet to break fully open into leaf, we were surrounded by green lushness along the paths and tracks. Reaching Northrepps, we stopped for a chat with our friend, before retracing our steps. This was when I discovered, on the way up, I had completely missed the wood anemones, which over the years have spread and increased in numbers along a bank. A bit further on, Peter pointed out a clump we have not spotted before, growing up through dead ferns. Such a delicate flower, they never fail to make me smile. Today’s photos are of a couple of wood anemone flowers and the path we took up from the allotments, where the mainly bare branches provided an archway above us.