A ramble in the woods around Groby

Too much to blog and not enough time! I have just been doing so much that I have not really found the time to reflect on what I have been doing. Let me tell you about a walk I went on a week ago. It started near Groby in Leicestershire and worked its way past Groby Pool. I got there at about 4.30 and realised I had arrived too late for the car park. It was a gated car park and that gate was due to be locked soon after I was there. I ended up parking the car in the entrance of Groby Quarry.

People call this lake the largest natural lake in Leicestershire as history has not recorded if anybody ever made it. It has certainly been around for at least 800 years. On a good day you can see a fantastic range of rare birds and other animals, on a good day. I must confess that every time that I have been here it has been a bleak and inhospitable place and I haven't seen anything.

Having not seen anything at Groby Pool I continued on into Lady Hay Wood. It was peaceful. You got the feeling that you might be being watched by deer and other small animals. Then the walk crossed over the main road and out along a farm track.

As the sun set the world seemed to come alive. Birds began to roost, mad squirrels dived around looking for nuts. The crepuscular species of leicestershire don't really bother trying to hide themselves. Geese from Groby Pool took to the air and practiced flying around in their V formation.
As the evening wore on we ended up in Martinshaw Wood. The failing light made it difficult to see around us. As the woods grew darker there came with it a feeling that the watchful eyes that were on you were growing resentful that a diurnal creature like yourself should noisily be interrupting their lives. The darkness became intimidating and it did something very strange to me. It made me want to be as loud as possible. I started singing to myself. Anything to break the silence. Suddenly my dark adjusted eyes caught sight of a large animal running away from us on the path ahead. A badger. Knowing what it was almost made me laugh. I wonder how it is that we can tell when we are being watched. Soon we were back in Groby and back to the car. I think that the drawing in of the daylight will prevent such after-work forays into the wilderness in the next few months but I am already looking forward to next spring.