Mammoth

I've had in my hands today a huge 300 million year old fossil that J found as she was rebuilding a section of old stone wall - she kindly invited me to see it.  It had been used as the inside filler for the wall.  It's of a lepidodendron - a giant (at least 30metre high) fern 'tree'. The symmetrical pineapple-like detail on the outside is incredible and you could also see a central core of the plant too.  I haven't seen many fossils in my lifetime and this one has blown my mind; coal is made from these plants!

The fieldfares and redwings have definitely arrived.  I had seen some flighty flocks around that I thought were them but today I had a little nudge from a local walker that they were feeding in the hawthorn trees. It amazes me every spring and autumn how birds and insects find their way here.

In the air, we also had a huge RAF airbus doing low circuits of the village which just seemed to add to the atmosphere of an exciting morning's walk through the fields and local lanes.