This has been a slightly frustrating week for me.

I’ve had lots of jobs to do around Dookes H.Q. and despite plodding away at them progress has been a tad slow! Actually I guess I’m not being fair to myself, because progress has been made and with some things you have to be patient to do what here in Cornwall is called a “Proper Job.”

As a small reward for my endeavours it seemed only right to get out on one of my two-wheeled friends and enjoy some half decent weather on the Devon/Cornwall county boundary.

I’ve often said before, sometimes I need the total immersion of riding to find some inner peace. On those days I don’t stop much for photos or anything else, except fuel. So please excuse the lack of photographic record and be happy for me that I truly had a very pleasant ride of over 150 miles!

Today, by way of contrast, I found myself back on my beloved North Cornwall coast and today I ended up doing a spot of bird watching!

This time of year the Cornish countryside comes alive with birdsong and non are sweeter than the diminutive Skylark, Alauda arvensis.

The small brown birds sing a beautiful song that trills through the air as the bird often hovers high somewhere overhead. The song is usually the male bird marking out his territory in a performance that often lasts many minutes, before the little chap drops out of the sky and if a female is about often engages in a quite comical little dance!

In the UK Skylarks have declined by more than 50% over the last 25 years, as a direct result of increased intensive farming methods, so I was thrilled to be surrounded by quite a squadron of them.

Then it just got better! The first Swallows of the summer flew in to join the party!

These little long distance travellers are another of my favourite wild birds and as harbingers of summer are welcome in the skies above my head anytime!

As my own free, yet private, airshow unfolded around me, I realised that there wasn’t anywhere else in the world that I wanted to be at that moment!
It wasn’t a bad place to be at all!
Have a great weekend!

Catch you all soon.

Dookes