Exploring the Outskirts of my Village and through the Wood

It has been a lovely warm day today with the sun shining brightly, so I decided to take a walk on the outskirts of the village.

The road sign serves an important purpose: it urges drivers to reduce their speed as there are frogs and toads making their way to the nearby lake.

It is amazing how trees demonstrate an incredible ability to carry on growing in challenging environments like steep slopes.

Walking up the incline, you can see the lake below, framed by the pretty yellow gorse flowers in full bloom.

At the very top of the hill, I carefully climbed over the wooden stile and proceeded toward the woods. The footpath was strewn with fallen branches.

For safety reasons, several of the larger, older branches have been removed.

I veered left at the wooden fence and descended the stone steps to the stone stile at the bottom.

I crossed over the wooden bridge that lay over the small stream and made my way back onto the road.

The old boathouse loomed in the distance. As I approached, I thought I spotted a hawk perched on the metal fencing surrounding the lake. I wished I had bought my long lens with me. Yet, as I got nearer, I was puzzled as to why it didn't fly off.

As I got nearer, the figure I had mistaken for a hawk was nothing more than a piece of plastic! I'm not sure why it was placed there, but perhaps it was intended to deter other birds from getting the fish. Whatever the reason, it certainly fooled me.

I was relieved to be on my way back as the sky grew quite dark, hoping to reach home before the rain began.