Looking for a rowan

Allegedly there is a veteran rowan near Daventry. It's on the Ancient Tree Inventory.

I went there. It involved parking inconveniently far away, sliding down a slope, climbing a barbed wire fence and creeping up a field. It involved scaring a sheep with what looked like a broken leg (that made me very unhappy and I couldn't tell the farmer as I was trespassing) and finding no evidence of a rowan tree.

I did see some old fruit trees and a lovely sweet chestnut.

Getting out of the field was even worse. I didn't want to scare the sheep again. So this time it involved a barbed wire fence, a blackthorn thicket and a deer fence. Then walking even further back to No Name the car. And I was wearing wellies.

To cheer myself up, I trespassed in a wood I had seen on the way to the non-existent rowan. This is where I found just about the largest badger sett I had ever seen. There were holes all around the sides of the hill on which this plantation is growing. Many of the holes looked abandoned, but part of it is definitely active.

Though a man-made wood, this place had a nice feel about it.

For the second time in a week, I roused a roosting tawny owl. Once again, I only saw the back of it flying away. I heard jays... and found this.

I sat on a slope as the setting sun filtered its mellow light through the trees and didn't feel so unhappy about the absent rowan.

To celebrate, I went to the Althorp Coaching Inn for a half of cider. As I drove home, I spotted a rather nice rowan on the edge of the park where I feed the crows. It's three minute's walk from my house.