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12 May. With 6 of us in our family everyday life is generally quite noisy. Moments of quiet and quiet places stand out. On our visit to Walkmill this day Rowan found a hole where he felt mice lived. He has been noticing holes and borrows on walks a lot recently. A reminder that a lot of natures activity goes on away from our ears and eyes underground. At the stream by the corner Rowan found a quiet place to sit and spend a little time. As we walked back towards the Frizington Road carpark towards the end of our walk I was drawn to walk off the path. We had walked off this path a little some time ago when we were gathering leaves for our nature art. This time I had an unexpected suprise and found a clearing. A large space, a clearing. It seems to be fenced off from the woodland. I wondered if it was part of the woodland or own by someone else. All the plans and excitement I had felt about the community asset transfer from the County Council to our Parish Council with our community group and West Cumbria Rivers Trust re awoke. What could be done with this bit of open space? After all these years there are still many new discoveries to be had here.

Duckling update. Nearly one month later.

Can you find this clock? It is within two miles of the school, set into stone! We have walked past it for years, and only seen it recently. The time on it is twenty to nine, and that is the exact time that I took this photo! By Nansie

15 May. Another Friday walk to visit Midgey Gill Woods after dropping shopping at our friends. This time we tried (and failed) to find a path that had a little viewing platform type thing. I had walked up that way from town with the children once and wanted to show it to Jon. In our exploringbto find it we went off the beaten track and walked right down into the bottom of the woods. At one point the others had gone on ahead and I heard a rustling in the bushes by the stream. I waited a little while but didn't find out what it was. Not big enough to be a deer although a dog Walker we met told us she had spotted deer in there. The first picture shows Rowan as he had just entered a "house" the children found in the woods. A big space within over hanging trees the little ones especially loved their imaginative play in it. They had a living room and sofa, a kitchen and Willow can be seen lying on her tree bed! Much fun to be had.

31st May. Visit to Walkmill combined with shopping drop off to Sue a fellow Walkmill Comunity Action Group founder member. We usually walk at Walkmill together regularly and have been doing so for over 10 years. This was our first (socially distanced) walk together in over 2 and a half months since before the lockdown measures were implemented. The start of our walk was to the noise of a number of grasshoppers! A theme arose from this walk of the transformative power of nature. Willow found the grass stalk shown in the first picture. From a distance it could have been mistaken for cuckoo spit. Close up though it was evident it was solid. We were unsure as to what was inside as the white "pod" like structure was quite thick. Later in the walk Rosie and Rowan found another stalk, again with something on. This time the white structure wasn't as dense and it was possible to see a caterpillar within! So was the first one we found also a caterpillar just part way through creating its cocoon (or racoon as Willow thought it was called bless her). The pond was teaming with life and for the first time this year we found tadpoles! Not only tadpoles but half tadpoles half frogs and also little complete frogs. Willow spotted what she thought was a lizard but could have been a newt as they live in the area too. We were happy to see the lily pads flowering, damsel flies and absolutely enormous dragon flies. They were so big and hovered like drones. I joked about it and Rowan thought I was serious and asked where the controllers were. I have never seen ones so big. The last picture shows Rosie and Willow with Sue's dog Barney. I have been sharing visits to Walkmill with Barney along with Sue for over 10 years as well. He is around 11 now so older than all 3 of my younger children. My eldest used to enjoy playing with him when he was Rosie's age now. He has met and bonded with each of the younger 3 as they have come along. He was so gentle and became very concerned should the babies cry, earning himself the nick name "Nanny Barnes". His presence has transformed our walks in Walkmill for the better over the years. We are so aware now though that he is getting older and slower and these walks with him are precious as they are surely limited in number. One of his favourite things to eat are apple cores and the children always share theirs with him. We love you Barney.

31st May. A couple of weeks ago we had been on a walk along the wagon road along the sea from Whitehaven to Parton. We had seen painted stones with uplifting images and messages on that someone had left for others to find. Some days later on a trip to the beach we gathered a few stones and the children painted them. We took them on our walk round Walkimill and the children left them for others to find and hopefully brighten their day. Doing this reminded Willow of the find a book movement that we enjoyed last year.

cameron doing his own beach clean, lockdown excercise.. The fishermans net and crate storage..

The main type of fish available and one of the huts to buy fish from, but as its lockdown they are closed. The life boat station and boat, the boat had been cleaned so the door was open to take a photo.