Nature Watch 10
Chat Issue Winter 2004
"MEDITATING" - I am sitting beneath an Alder tree beside Ogmore River; a million miles from it all, a million years pass by, and I´m young again.
The Trout are feeding, slapping out of their element, flashing silver as they catch the rays of the morning Sun. A Robin is constantly "tip-tipping", upset about something; maybe because I am here, a human intruding into his river world.
The River Ogmore flows next to the Clinic. The clinic is to the left of this picure. By: GrahamG
A wagtail lands on a large rock, mid-river, uttering his characteristic metallic "tizzick" call. A collared dove comes down to drink and bathe and I watch it with quiet pleasure.
A flotilla of mallards float quietly along the riverbank, I can hardly see them, they are so perfectly camouflaged to blend in with the greys and earthy colours of the riverbank. When they are still, I can just make out the blue and grey chevrons of their wings. They delve into the shallow water and one female rises with a golden leaf stuck to her head. Then, as quickly and silently as they appeared they turn into the current and float gracefully away back downstream
Ogmore River in Winter By:WebEd
The river is softly singing now,soothing my receptive soul, slowing down my thoughts and I am totally at ease - at one with the river.
Flies are rising, hatching from the shallows, seeds and down are floating on the slight, warm, breeze - some fall gently onto the water. The rippled surface is speckled by silver-grey light coming through the canopy of alder, ash and sycamore above.
I occasionally hear a big splash beside me and across the river, but I am too relaxed to raise my head to spot what it was. There´s a big Trout in there somewhere, I think to myself
I hear the drone of traffic on the motorway further upriver, the sound of activity on the nearby farm and dogs barking in the distance – life goes on. Aeroplanes fly overhead to unknown destinations and I am here, living for the moment …. Lazing by Ogmore river…..completely lost in a slumbery, summer dream