LAND 39
Post autumn equinox, I perched under the bell tower at Ruts Church, with commanding views all around. I made a couple of quick sketches of the sun rising in the east.
After the extended Indian summer, the day felt a little cooler. Ragged flocks of small passerines bounced over the fields. Overhead, my first fieldfare of the autumn.
I had expected flocks of goldfinch to feed in the field in front of the church – full of teasel and other wildflowers – but a sparrowhawk hid in a nearby tree and only one finch briefly turned up before quickly departing.
I headed south down the hill towards the coast, pausing to look back towards the church.
The area was gently undulating with large fields, recently tilled and planted. The landscape was dominated by the whoosh and grind of several huge windmills. The sea blended invisibly into the sky, and a distant oil tanker seemed to float in the sky.
Eventually I made it down to a narrow and seldom-visited road passing north and parallel to the coast. I paused for a while on a well-positioned bench and painted the grey sea and sky.
Rain threatened but never arrived. I carried on down to the beach at Gines Minde, as ever glad to be by the sea. I looked north with my telescope at the cormorants gathered on the white granite cliffs of Hvidkleven.
Heading north again I took a shortcut along a field edge and paused to paint the new rapeseed growth.
From here I walked on very quiet and secluded roads. Nydam, a narrow and picturesque lake was sheltered in a narrow valley. Above me a kestrel, sparrowhawk and buzzard sparred playfully in the updraft.
I carried on through the intensely cultivated land east of Ruts Church. By now I was tired and lacking inspiration. At the day’s end I made one last painting of the distant church through the milky light of the setting sun. The day was done.
LAND 39
WEATHER REPORT – Overcast all day. Temperature 11 – 19 degrees. Wind 3 – 5 m/s, from the south. Hours of precipitation: 0 hour. Hours of sunshine: 0 hours.
STOPS with the BIVVY – 0
KILOMETRES WALKED – 17.14 km
DAY LASTED – 11h and 55 m
PEOPLE TALKED TO – 2
BIRDS SEEN and HEARD – 45 species (1 new, lesser black-backed gull) = 130 species in total.
LESSONS LEARNED – I should have checked my gas. I ran out and was unable to make tea.
IN MY HEAD – Biogas dominated completely.
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