Dressed in Green

Beautiful morning. I made tea and got Basil out for a walk.

We parked on Tickow Lane on the west side of Shepshed and took the footpath to cross Black Brook. Spring wheat is growing strongly on either side of the path but there are fields of oil seed rape on the other side of the stream before the wheat rises once more towards Belton.

This lone oak tree stands proudly in a field surrounded  by yellow, dressed modestly in its own foliage.

I've seen many orange tipped butterflies along the path here in previous years but there were very few today until we actually moved into a rape field. Several females but only one male, and they seemed smaller than the ones I used to see at Nanpantan Reservoir. Also two peacock butterflies feasting on the rape flowers. The orange tip butterflies seemed to prefer a wild flower that looked a bit like tansy except that the flowers were pink.

I walked with a stick. By the time I got home, my hip and back really hurt. I was shocked to discover that I can no longer tackle the slopes on the path beyond the stream without help.

Retired to bed for a couple of hours. Appointment with doctor at 5.30 pm. I hope that it's only muscle strain.