Today we (my wife, eldest son and myself) went for a very pleasant walk through the forest at the top of the hill behind the house. The journey took several hours and was quite hard going due to the steep climb on an unused forester’s trail, but the forest looked stunning with flowers growing everywhere.
We were actually aiming for an old logging trail which runs along the peak to another village but we didn’t manage to find it and instead summited and continued down the other side and up and over another peak. Due to the heavy foliage and large amount of boar sign and scat it was quite a nervous little hike. The Golden Oriole was very vocal today, as were the raven, eagle and lark, and many small songbirds, and a strong wind kept the leaves and branches moving so it definitely wasn’t quiet.
The first photo is of a roe deer running out into the meadow after we startled it (it was a long way away by the time I’d got my camera out of its case).
A close up of one tiny section of one of the many giant forest ant hills – and the millions of enormous ants crawling on and around them. Finding a place to sit down is difficult to say the least. They really, really hurt when they bite.
A grave by the side of the trail on a peak in the middle of dense forest. I have no idea what the story is behind it. Certainly quite creepy though, but for someone who loved the forest it’s a perfect location to rest in peace.
Me taking a rest with my Valaska
I spent the entire journey looking out for snakes as we had to walk across several meadows but it wasn’t until we were literally 10 feet from home that we almost walked into an Adder. She was calm, though, and let me take some photos before slowly slithering back into the bush. I really have to cut the grass in my garden today as it’s too high to see snakes moving around – and the kids and dog play in it. We get way too many snakes, mostly of the viper and smooth snake varieties.
A fox lying up in the grass
