WALKS FOR CONNECTING WITH NATURE   - SYNOPSIS

 These are not intended to be on a regular/weekly basis but as and when.

I find nature is the best way to re-charge my batteries, but the key to the benefit I get from them is very much associated with the weather. I like whenever possible to take advantage of good or seasonal weather whenever I can, but family responsibilities can at times limit this.

My favourite place to take a walk is over my ‘local patch’ in the Roding Valley known as the Roding Recreation Ground. With a mixture of habitats, river, lake and wooded areas plus on the other side of the river there is the Roding Valley Meadows Nature reserve there are always possibilities.

Any walk by myself is fairly leisurely, a requirement if you are going to take in what nature has on offer which to me is what it is all about and hopefully take some photographs. I enjoy taking pictures of what might be described as quite ordinary birds/wildlife as much as something more unusual and always drawn to colour. I regard getting the opportunity to see and photograph nature as a privilege. I have been fortunate to have been tuned into nature since the early 1980’s. Once doing so you always are, even when not on a nature walk! Binoculars are essential for me, and useful should you have them.

I try to get an idea of the weather for the week ahead on the BBC’s Sunday lunchtime news/Countryfile to avoid a walk washout and would then give 2-3 days’ notice of any walk I was planning. If I had to cancel for family/other reason I would do so as soon as possible but being a small family with an added caring responsibility, you can never take things totally for granted.

I would anticipate starting a walk at 10 am from the car park at the end of Roding Road and return there approximately 2 hours later. ‘Long shadow afternoon’ walks from say 2.30 are also worth considering if the Sun is out later in the year. Low Autumn light to me has a real pleasing quality about it.

Currently things are far from their best due to the lack of rain which is not good for nature or how things look, whilst the lake like many is suffering from algae. Many birds meanwhile are in what is known as eclipse plumage as they go through a full moult. This can limit the flying of birds like ducks and until they regain their full ability to fly again. Nature’s best current offerings are probably butterflies and dragonflies although some birds such as swallows and terns might be seen flying over on early migration.

Autumn, my favourite season, is probably the best time to start as it can go from almost full Summer to full Winter not to mention the traditional colours associated with it. The prospect of a first frost might well prompt an earlier start before things melt back to green and is well worth capturing. On the subject of frosts, I have been truly fortunate on two occasions to walk over the fields following a rime frost, which only occurs when you have freezing fog and results in a truly amazing amount of frost on everything.

I have taken thousands of really satisfying pictures over the years there, seen a wide variety of wildlife and this will give you the opportunity to do the same should you wish. No two walks are the same and you never know what surprises nature has in store, which I would hope to be able to spot for you but inevitably can present a challenge even to me.

My other favourite venues to walk are the Royal Parks, Holland Park which I would consider doing say on a seasonal basis, Autumn again providing more than just the one opportunity, plus the daffodils of Green Park. Timing is essential but nature does not always make it easy to know precisely when. That is my excuse should things go completely wrong!

Martin                                                                      August 2025