Walking East Stoke's lanes: June 2025

July 8, 2025

Even though I was away for the first part of June I’ve still managed to sneak in two walks, one to the pub for lunch and back again - probably not one of my best ideas as it was one of those very warm days! And the second on another of the heatwave days, but not until the early evening when things had cooled slightly, and thankfully there was a warm breeze.

It’s interesting to see how the same routes change throughout the year, and for this post with the sun too. I’m not sure if my phone camera needed a clean, or if that’s just the affect of the sun in my photos, who knows - probably a bit of both to be honest!

BLACKBERRY BUSHES TUMBLING OVER THE CRASH BARRIERS — MOOR LANE

I was surprised to see the blackberry bushes already clambering over and through the crash barriers, but on closer look some of the flowers were still visible and the fruits were only just starting to form. Phew, I love some blackberries but it felt way too early - thankfully nature agrees.

The seemingly ever flowering gorse wasn’t flowering - it looks like we missed it’s swan song, as pods of seeds were in their place. Nature has its calendar doesn’t it, and that includes growing sloes ready for them to turn a deep blue later in the year.

The foliage was lush and full along the path to Elston, so it was great to get a glimpse of the crops in the field beyond the path.

CROPS GROWING IN THE FIELDS BEYOND THE PATH — ON THE PATH TO ELSTON

And the haws are starting too, some more advanced than others.

HAWS TURNING TOWARDS RED — ON THE PATH TO ELSTON

Just look at the thorns on this, the stem had been folded in half but it was still growing and ready to catch whoever got close enough. The rose’s flowers had gone, and there’ll soon be hips in their place I’m sure.

LOOK AT THE LARGE THORNS ON THE ROSE STEM! — ON THE PATH TO ELSTON

ROSE HIPS TO COME — ON THE PATH TO ELSTON

This clump of rather dishevelled daisies by the roadside caught my eye - I knew exactly how they felt being out in the heat! Thankfully though I could retreat inside for a pub lunch, so it’s not all bad.

DAISIES FRESH AND IN DECLINE ON THE ROADSIDE — MOOR LANE

A few days later and after spending the day avoiding the heatwave’s temperatures and the sun, I needed some air. There was a brisk wind, which turned out to be much brisker than I anticipated, but it was nice to have a bit of a blow down Moor Lane, with an oddly warm summer wind mostly against me, whichever direction I walked in!

THE GRASS ON THE RIGHT WAS BLOWING IN THE WIND — MOOR LANE

There were seed heads, lady birds, clouds above hedgerows and a lone red poppy growing in the verge. More unusually a clump of purpley-blue geraniums also caught my eye, not exactly what I expected to find on the side of this country lane.

A RED POPPY GROWING IN THE VERGE — MOOR LANE

GERANIUMS GROWING IN THE VERGE BRINGING A POP OF BLUE/PURPLE — MOOR LANE

Heading back towards home from the A46 I was captivated by the young teasels swaying in the wind, and it was pure joy.

A TEASEL ESCAPED THROUGH THE CRASH BARRIER — MOOR LANE

The teasels also reminded me of a long gone family friend who made hedgehog animals from dried teasels, with hand stitched clothing - something I hadn’t thought of for a very long time, but a memory that was clearly not that far away.

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.

Walking East Stoke's lanes: May 2025

June 4, 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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Walking East Stoke's lanes: April 2025

May 7, 2025

The month started and ended with some great weather, and we got out and walked various lanes around East Stoke in both of those good spells, and more besides.

After a busy weekend involving a long car journey to West Sussex and back it was an easy choice to get out in the lanes when the weather looked like this.

Which is how my first walk of the month ended up walking to and from my weekly yoga class in neighbouring Elston, MOH joined me for the journey there - it really was just too nice to be indoors.

It was great to see nature waking up, and to feel the sun on my skin as I walked the thirty minutes or so to the next village.

And just look how blue that sky was, an almost unbelievable blue for the start of April. But what’s almost as unbelievable is that just to the left of the tree below is the busy A46, you’d never know from the picture would you?

It was great to see the blackthorn blossom, and that prickly rambler - I’ll need to remember where this is when I’m looking for rosehips later in the year!

What a gloriously colourful start to the month, which although it would be repeated, it didn’t last and the grey skies returned, and I’ve captured the ‘ripple’ of clouds in our next venture out a couple of weeks later. This time our route took us down towards the River Trent.

And we’d clearly arrived for nettle and dandelion season - they were everywhere, even growing out of the Stoke Hall boundary wall.

It was a typical spring day, and the photo of the open gate to Stoke Hall is probably the most spring-like picture I’ve taken.

A few days later over the Easter weekend we took a brief stroll with family down to St Oswald’s Church, and I couldn’t help but be amused by the sheep that are seemingly on the top of the wall. I’m assuming the ground level is higher on the other side, as they didn’t look that precarious at all.

We snuck in a final walk on the penultimate day of the month, another warm one - but this time the sky was full of wispy clouds as we headed down Moor Lane, once again walking from the crossroads to the bend.

It was a walk where the wildlife was much in evidence, and one of the yellow wagtails obligingly perched on the top of the hedgerow for way longer than I’ve seen before - it’s reward a photo, well several actually. We spotted the hare sitting in the middle of the field shortly after that, this is a much zoomed in shot - and still it’s just the silhouette that’s visible.

The wispy clouds are cirrus clouds - I had to look it up! - and it seems they can be a sign of approaching weather changes, particularly warm fronts, which makes sense as the days after I took this photo the forecasts for the mini-heatwave.

I couldn’t end this post without some more sheep, and their lambs. These are in the field at the crossroads in East Stoke and on the warmest days sensibly spend their time under the large oak tree.

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.