Bird life in fields near the derelict barn

After my regular visit to the farm shop near Bisley where I checked on their stock of my cards, I wandered down the nearby single track lane leading to The Sydenhams,  a small collection of houses at the head of the Slad valley. I parked near the stile at the point where the original ancient route across the Cotswolds became a footpath once again.

It was lovely standing listening to several skylarks whilst looking over newly sprouting crops in fields with stone boundaries. On these hilltops you can see for many miles in several directions. Buzzards looped over one of the copses of beech trees between the fields. 

My eye caught the further deterioration of the derelict barn near to the copse. I’ve watched it over many years, from the time when it was still used to store farm equipment. About ten years ago the roof collapsed and since then nothing has been done to repair any of the building, which is not very old.

As I took a few pictures of the barn with the shifting light from the sun’s rays which occasionally burst through the fast moving cloud cover, I saw two skylarks suddenly ascend from the foot long vegetation in the field. The birds flitted around each other for a few seconds, apparently facing off to each other. I tried to refocus on them but couldn’t get them sharp. But I thought the very unusual scene of them together is worth adding as an ‘Extra’.

The barn is actually about a hundred yards further away and to the left of that scene.