I’ve decided to have a break from the Procrastination posts, mostly because I’m procrastinating about how to proceed. Instead, today, I give you ‘nature red, in tooth and claw.’

Most mornings I walk Gallow Hill, which is pretty much just round the corner from my house. In the last few months I’ve seen the gorse come into full Piña Colada bloom, and go to seed (if that’s what it’s doing), and noticed the baton of yellow taken up by broom (see header image), which has also now gone over. Pea pods now hang on every stalk like jade fangs. I’ve delighted at the sight of tiny purple forget-me-nots, carpets of bedstraw, and majestic foxgloves which are currently opening all over the show. It’s a veritable wild-flower and native plant haven.

But in the last week or so I’ve seen another side to nature on the hill (if you’re squeamish go no further). The side that includes cute little mammals with their entrails exposed:

Bright-eyed, tiny heads with no bodies:

and, today, this:

a slug feasting on a headless carcass.

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In the last post I lamented that instead of working on my book all I do is walk and bake sourdough. I was able to come up with a reason for the bread thing, but the walking…? However, this morning as I was schlepping up a steep path it came to me: I’m training for the possibility of becoming a refugee! Our government is showing signs of insanity, and it’s in the process of allying itself and, therefore, us with the Nero of the Twenty-First century; who knows what could happen in the coming months?

Here’s a nice picture to finish with:

And my latest loaf, with which I am particularly delighted. It’s perfect toasted and spread with the (half jar of) jam I managed to make from the polytunnel strawberries:

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Apart from the bread, which is in my kitchen, all the photos were taken while walking on Gallow hill by me and my phone; the map was made by Robbie of Pocket Mountains.