January 16th 2021

“Where do you want to go today?” says I.

“To the waterfall,” says she.

“Which one?” (We don’t have waterfalls nearby but there are two weirs)

“The big one.”

“At the pretty village?”

“Yeah! No. No no no no no. The other one. The really loud one.” (They’re both pretty loud.)

“At the muddy wood?”

“No. No no no no. Yeah! That one!”

So, after that very helpful conversation, I decided I would take a gamble on where we walk to today. I like to involve Wee Daftie in some decision making. It’s not always straightforward and sometimes takes quite a lot of creativity to make her suggestions fit into real life but I’d still rather give her some freedom of choice.

We walked along the same paths we often do, trying to find some new things to see and talk about. Today was a day for nature.

I’m no expert but I did read a lot of Farthing Wood Friends as a kid, I have an great memory for odd details and I like to learn. Whenever Wee Daftie asks a question, I try to give her comprehensive answers. I don’t always know the answers, of course I don’t. I am the first to admit I know nothing but I make a point to find out. We have books, we have the Internet, I have a fab app called Seek. I don’t always know the answers, but I definitely try to find out!

I don’t need a reference book to tell me what this beautiful thing is.

The weather was gorgeous for walking. Chilly, bright and dry. It has been raining overnight so the grass was a squishy mess. Decked out in warm, comfortable gear and wellies, we headed off for an adventure. Adventure Backpack came with us, of course.

It was a day of spotting unusual things right from the start. The rainbow being the first. Living by the water, we see plenty of seabirds on the daily. Oystercatchers, gulls, sandpipers and a big ol’ cormorant all live along the pier beside us. Even though we see these things often, it’s slightly unusual to see a sandpiper hopping along the muddy grass, poking about for grubs. They more often seen, y’know, on sand.

We learnt today this called a turkey tail fungi! Oddly beautiful, beautifully odd

After all the rain later, the water was really high and thundered over the weir. There are normally some ducks that stay down here but the currents were so strong that they had all cleared out. Or maybe even been cleared out by the fast-flowing water. Either way, not a duck in sight.

We then rambled on up to St Mark’s Park for an exploration of the woody bit there. It’s not really big enough to be called a wood but it is fun to wander through, duck under the low branches and investigate the area. It was here we saw the fungi and also where Wee Daftie took a small tumble over a root. She was so brave, dusted herself off (ie smeared mud from her hands onto her leggings) and was determined to keep going. Which was great that we did as we ended up having a brilliant walk, spotting loads of amazing bits of nature to talk about.

By the time we made it home, we surpassed our step target for the day and taken note of oystercatchers and curlews in a rugby pitch, a cormorant in a fresh water pond, a heron, ducks, swans, gulls, tufted ducks, moorhens, coots, so many robins and lots and lots of mud. Totally spoiled to live in an area with so much natural beauty to see and learn about. I love how excited she still gets when we see a bird or find out the name of a plant or see the same patch of grass we always walk over. I really want to nurture this as long as possible and these walks are definitely helping. So proud of my Wee Daftie.