Although I won’t go into the whys and wherefores, I spent an hour or so with Becky, my granddaughter, up on Butser Hill earlier today. Although it was clear enough to see over to the Isle of Wight, down to Portsmouth marked by the Spinnaker Tower, down the Solent and way over to Southampton we just sat looking out over the Meon Valley with East Meon to the fore. The view from up there can rightly be described as breathtaking.
Currently there are no sheep, or cattle, on the hill so there are many wildflowers in bloom including Musk Thistle, Willowherb, Harebell and Wild Carrot. The scent of the latter drawing such a variety of insect life including flies, wasps and butterflies (blue & white) all busily gathering nectar. You will need to be quick though, if you want to see the flowers. A lady walking her dogs informed us that there may well be cattle moved onto the hillside soon. They will then be followed by natures lawn mowers, the sheep. She also told us about her two dogs, both border collies and both rescued dogs. The youngest had been beaten as a pup and was very cautious of people. Although neither of them was very cautious of young Becky they both steered clear of me.
That’s the nice thing about just sitting. Passers by will stop and talk to you. After the dog walker had moved on with a cheery “nice to have met you” she was followed by a formally dressed chap carrying a camera attached to a huge camouflaged lens. He wasn’t quite so talkative but did wish us a “Good Morning”. I assumed he was a twitcher, although he equally could have been a peeping tom. With a lens that large he could probably see into the bedrooms of the cottages in East Meon a couple of miles away. Really, just kidding. Moments later he was followed by his wife, assumption on my part,who was carrying a large rucksack.
From the hill the patchwork landscape was constantly changing, cloud shadows moving across the fields darkening then brightening with their passing. For a while we watched a Kestrel working below us. Soaring, hovering, swooping then hovering again while other birds, especially the skylarks, provided a musical backdrop calling on the breeze.
Occasionally we could hear the distant bleating of a flock of sheep and further over a herd of cattle were laying under the trees. Doesn’t that mean we can expect rain ? Although later on our way home we passed a herd of cattle, all stood up. Obviously they listened to a different weather forecaster.
As the cloud cover thickened, reluctantly, we had to call our visit to a halt due to someone being a little cold and hungry.
Who mentioned “cattle cake” ?
WrAnTz 