Stile and Privet

T rushed up to Bristol to fetch N who has just had a small routine operation. Was he glad to get home - he's had enough of hospitals!

It was a mild, sunny and warm day so this afternoon I took myself for a walk across the farm. There were many different species of fungus growing in the older leys, mostly Parasols and small toadstools.

This is a view from the footpath going west along a newly seeded grass field. The warm weather has certainly prompted a lot of growth. The dark berries are native Privet, once used for dye as the rest of the plant was used for healing swellings or ulcers of the mouth and throat. I don't think I would try that now as the smell of the plant and the colour of the berries seem so poisonous!

Privet evokes some childhood memories. There used to be a scraggy line of privet bushes growing along the playing-field fence of the convent in Weymouth, overlooking the railway lines which also smelt of soot from the passing steam trains. We enjoyed scrambling behind the hedge either to hide or watch what was going on the other side!