November.

No random titles this month. Just a simple ‘November’.

Because, this month, I tried to make things simple again. I took a short break to try and reset. I have felt some tricky feelings brewing throughout 2022 and I knew I was starting to find things overwhelming and difficult. I’m sure I’m not the only one and I often feel guilty for feelings like this, given how lucky I am to have the life I have.

But thoughts and feelings don’t work like that so I had to accept my situation and take steps to get better. There’s still a way to go, but I’m getting there and some of the steps I took in November, as usual, involved wild spaces, wild encounters and wildlife. Hope you enjoy the read.

Making things simple

To follow the above, briefly, it was on Monday 7th November that I stopped. I accepted that I needed some help and took the necessary steps. I know it’s always hard before it gets better, but I’ve been here enough times.

And the first step to feeling better was a walk on the 7th. I have found it difficult to sacrifice my walks over the past few months. Work and other commitments have taken priority. So on this particular afternoon, I listened to my gut and followed my instinct, which resulted in a walk.

It looked like it was going to chuck it down, but I wanted to walk. So I walked. And it wasn’t a usual, rushed walk. I just listened to what I fancied at that moment in time and let my feet lead me – the field walk to Ditchford Farm beckoned. As I walked, the newly-returned fieldfares greeted me (along with the rain!), as did a great-spotted woodpecker. It was perched beautifully at the top of a bare tree.

As I reached the road towards Tidmington, I had another choice – go the short way on the road or the long way through the fields. My heart said fields. So it was a long walk. Definitely a form of escape – I would’ve walked and walked and walked if I could’ve – but a necessary one. And the sun came out towards the end too.

Wildlife Spots

No new wildlife spots this month, but the highlight has been the redwings. There’s been a lot of fieldfares too, but I didn’t realise last winter that we get so many redwings locally.

Fieldfares are a bit easier to spot from a distance – they have a grey patch on their backs and they make a yapping sound. Redwings, on the other hand, have a strip across their eyes and, as you’d expect, have red patches under their wings. In the low light of winter, these patches can be difficult to see so the main giveaway is the eye stripe. But that’s only if you can get close enough or get a good enough view through binoculars. This year, I’ve been on a few local walks where I’ve been lucky enough to see this properly.

It turns out redwings are much more common than fieldfares though – 8.3 million redwings winter in the UK each year. Fieldfares, on the other hand, are in the 100,000s. I’m not sure whether any of my neighbours realise how lucky we are to get these visitors. They absolutely love our hedgerows and trees!

Autumn vibes

November was bizarrely mild until the very end of the month. There were some concerning reports that trees have started to bud again, thinking it’s Spring. That said, I’ve enjoyed seeing the Autumn colours coming through. The cherry tree in the garden, for example, seemed to sparkle with warmth on a really bleak, grey day. I opened the blinds and the bright gold hue of the leaves reflected straight back. It was beautiful.

Arts and crafts

Quite a while ago, a work friend bought me a hedgehog felting kit. It was one of those things that I hadn’t ‘gotten around to’, but I decided that November would change that. It clearly says on the packaging that you should be careful when using the felting needle – “watch your fingers”, I believe it says. So what did I do? Bang, bang, bang, OUCH! Yes, I drew blood. No, the hedgehog didn’t suffer for it (somehow!)

In addition to a new craft, I was busy working on a few different art pieces. I still can’t share some of these yet as they’re gifts for various people. But I really enjoyed putting these Christmas postcards together. The first was inspired by four birds that I tend to see nearby over winter: robins, long-tailed tits, fieldfares and redwings. The second is what it says on the tin: trees and snowmen (with a little catspiration!)

*Gasp*

Let me finish on quite a story! I had the most unexpected wild encounter towards the very end of the month. My partner and I were meeting up with my family in Stratford-on-Avon. I parked at ‘The Greenway’ car park on the outskirts of town – parking here means that we can have a nice stroll along the river into the centre.

Let me set the scene. The route from the car park towards the river is an enclosed footpath, set back from a 40mph road. A whole variety of people were using the path on this particular Saturday morning – families, joggers, couples, cyclists. Trees line both sides of the route and there’s farmland just over the rough scrub, away from the road. I’d gone slightly wrong when we set off from the carpark and an older couple asked if we were lost. We weren’t and, in hindsight, the slight detour was a blessing.

As we walked, there were a range of birds singing and it was busy on the path so there were quite a few distractions. But as we walked, we noticed a grassy strip next to the rough scrub and, out of nowhere, something came bounding along it. We weren’t far away and assumed it was a dog. But everyone – including the creature – suddenly stopped in their tracks. I gave a little gasp.

It can only have stopped for a second or so (maybe even less than that). As it took off and headed straight into the farmland, we saw its large, sleek body disappear. There wasn’t even time for a photo. A bemused cyclist from behind asked us ‘do you know what that was?’ Yes. It was an otter. What a stroke of luck!

I hope you had a good November – here’s my full wild list