Running with a purpose

I needed some more footage for my hollow presentation, so I visited two trees on my run around Cottesbrooke. One was the oak where I got stung by a wild bee a few years back. No bees this time, but a nice lot of heartwood decomposition, which was what I needed.

The second was Aulus, the Guardian Oak. This tree still looks really well, I am pleased to report. The inside is a riot of colours and shapes, so that was very pleasing. However, I saw that there were old nails inside the hollow. It's really strange and I could not work out what that was about. One nail was still there; the others had fallen, but tell-tale rust remained. So they were old, old nails. I considered if it might be something to do with fencing. The tree is on a border between fields, after all - and just up from it an oak has "eaten" an old fencepost. Not sure. I like to think it was a shelf, for, perhaps, a little altar. Or a perhaps a perch for a semi-tame owl.

The swans were still at the little lake.

And I saw a good variety of birds. Kites floating over the plough in search of carrion. A buzzard spooked out of the bee tree. A kestrel, whom I think I saw catch something. Flocks of pigeons, corvids and little song-birds. Very good.