Over the hills

Today was a taste of Spring to come, hopefully. As we made our way up along the well worn sunken track-way through Brenscombe Wood and up onto the Purbeck Hills above, the low sun shone brightly through the trees, casting long shadows. The views from the ridge are spectacular. Purbeck is radiant, bathed in energizing light. We walked paths old and new today. To us anyway. Paths which meandered along the edges of fields, through wood fringed sunken tracks and fragmentary patches of a once all encompassing woodland. We found places we'd never seen before; I love finding new places or walking new paths in areas through which I've walked for years, it's that juxtaposition of the familiar and the unfamiliar. The Isle of Purbeck is so beautiful. Everywhere the birds are singing as life all about prepares for Springs arrival proper. Trees are bursting to bud and you can't walk for green sprouts reaching for the Sun. You can feel it, the energy, it feels familiar, then it is really, as we've experienced the cycle many times before. It's not just you've actually experienced it physically, it's in our DNA, a deep connection with our natural environment.  There would have been a time when we felt the seasons and their changes even more strongly, just like the other animals. All we feel know are the echoes of our primal connection with the land. Nowadays we don't need to be so aware of natures changes, with our networks and systems, though once it would have been fundamental to our very survival.  And may well be again. On many levels it's always worthwhile trying to rebuild that connection.