Stanborough reed marsh

A decent sized (alder?) tree has fallen on the spot where I usually stand near the railway bridge. Probably would have time to get out of the way, you will be glad to know, unless I happened to have been asleep at the time. An odd sign has appeared from the railway authority on the underside of the arch of the bridge. It says that any blockage of the watercourse should be reported to the authority as it may affect safety on the railway. Hard to understand, given that the track is perhaps 30 feet above the river. Curious.

Strange illusion, walking along the path, as if the river is higher than the land. Can't be true, of course, the path is only wet from the rain and there was no sign that it has encroached.

Fast-growing shrubs of some sort have reached the same height as the gallows tree so that it no longer stands out quite so starkly. I managed to accidentally scare a geriatric wood pigeon out of a tree; and it, in turn, scared me because I didn't know it was there. Otherwise extremely little wildlife around today: two fishermen, a couple of Coots (no, not the fishermen), and the odd duck. But very little else.

My eyes and heart are filled with so many beautiful things and I cannot fathom their mystery.

Unfathomable peace

Nature is not always stunning, not always emotionally moving, not always conventionally beautiful. But if you watch for long enough, its infinite layers in one wholeness, its incredible variety inherent in repeating patterns, and its incessant movement even in stillness are always unfathomable.

And even though the police sirens wail, the helicopter circles an accident on a nearby road and the trains intermittently rush noisily behind me, unfathomable nature is imbued with unfathomable peace. A peace that goes with me when I leave the riverside.

Most of the swifts here yesterday have gone. South, I guess.

'The Fall' was not when we left the Garden of Eden. It was when we forgot we are still living in it.

I mean that the Peace is in you already. Go inside and relax into it...

The crows are flying at a raven(?) in the birch tree but he's not budging!