Off to the seaside. Much of the day spent with builders, but, despite the grey skies, there was still time to get out and breathe – and my Wild Days are back on track.

It’s hard to explain just how happy walking by the sea makes me. At this time of year the area just above the high tide line is an absolute delight. There are reds, pinks, blues, white and yellows. The variation in flower colour between individual plants of the same species is astonishing. The sculptural shapes and colour combinations of some of the plants which grow right on the pebbles are endlessly fascinating. And that’s just the plants: the bushes are full of colonies of noisy, insistent sparrows. And today, as well as the usual bees and hover flies, there was a tiny blue butterfly battling the wind. I spent a happy 10 minutes completely failing to photograph it and  felt in no way defeated as I wandered on.

I love gardens, and gardening, but for me there is nothing that quite compares to the natural wilderness of the beach. See if you agree:

And if you prefer birds, I offer sparrows:

 

Open spaces more your thing? Views from the beach:

(that was quite a long way off, but I do love a barge!).

I have never actually lived by the sea, despite growing up in Cornwall, but over the past 20 years I have come to rely more and more on a seaside fix to make sense of overfull days and overcommitted weeks.  Wherever I’m based, I know that I need a couple of hours by the sea at least once a month if I am going to function as well as possible.

Note to self: put that time in  the diary now!