Walking East Stoke's lanes: May 2025

I’m starting where I left off last month - with sheep and their lambs, they are so very watchable and quite often willing subjects for photographs, though in this one I think mum was less keen.

Sheep and lambs in their field in East Stoke

Last month the hedgerows and verges were full of nettles and dandelions, this month, well the dandelions are still their but as silvery heads of seeds, but the cow parsley is taking over - and it’s delightful.

Cowslip growing in the long grass with a tree in the background

I’ve only one walk to share this month, but it’s a corker. We headed down School Lane and onto Church Lane before taking the path across the field and past the Red Gutter, though at this time of year it’s hard to see that because of all the growth. The large muddy puddle I slipped my way through in March is long gone, and in its place a dry cracked patch. We’ve had little rain this month, so it’s not surprising it’s so dry.

dandelion heads and pink flowers in the verges
Taking the narrow path heading towards the Red Gutter
no muddy puddle here
Looking back across the field which we've just walked

It’s a glorious view, whichever way you walk across the field - here I’ve snapped the view of where we came from. As it was such a lovely day we decided to extend our walk and head back along the river path, this turned out to be a great decision - I mean just look at those river views and reflections.

reflections in the river trent
Just a few dandelion heads on the river's edge

I’m not sure if these are dandelion heads that have blown into the plant or the plant’s normal modus operandi, either way it was fascinating.

fluff in  a bush

One day we will get over the river and explore the path on the other side, one day!

looking across the river trent
heading along the lush river path flanked by vegetation on either side

It wasn’t long before we were back at the jetty, and a view you may recognise if you’re a regular reader of these posts. The jetty, and the posts remain visible, just - but the vegetation is doing its best to change that.

The jetty, posts and vegetation

We chose a great day for a walk, and I loved the frothiness of the cow parsley - that’s definitely one of my spring things! But I suspect by next month it won’t be quite as frothy as this.

Thanks for joining me for this update, if you enjoyed this post you may also like to see all of the posts in this series.